Frontex is criticized after the dissemination of an information campaign for migrants. “Instead of protecting our borders, the EU finances multilingual posters to explain to migrants how to file a complaint against our police officers and our border guard”rebellious the MEP Fabrice LEGGERI on X this Monday, September 15. For the former executive director of the European border and coast guard agency-he resigned in 2022, believing that he had “had” plus the political means necessary to carry out the mission entrusted to it ” – “Frontex must become a shield again against migratory submersion, not an assistance window!” ».
Behind these posters, a page on the agency’s website provides brochures translated into 24 languages. You can read there: “Respect for your dignity, your physical and mental integrity, the right to request asylum and not be subject to discriminatory treatment are part of the fundamental rights. You have the right to file a complaint if you believe that your fundamental rights have not been respected as part of a Frontex activity. »»
A supervised procedure
The documents recall that all the actors involved in the agency’s operations – data recording, taking fingerprints, escorts during forced returns, performers or doctors – are required to respect these rights. The complaint can be filed directly by the person concerned, but also by a lawyer, an organization or a mandated third party. The procedure provides for a first exam by the agency’s fundamental rights officer. If it is deemed admissible, the complaint is transmitted to the executive director, and, when national agents are concerned, to the authorities of the Member State in question. The deposit can be online, by email or by post.
“All the people involved in these activities are required to respect the dignity and the freedoms of migrants”insists the agency on its site. But for part of the political class, this campaign blurs the essential mission of Frontex, supposed above all to ensure the security of the Union’s external borders.
