‘Italy, Libya patrols proving to be very effective’
Anti-migration patrols by Frontex off the island’s shores have been cancelled after Malta pulled out of the planned operation Chronos, scheduled to start this month.
Read more: Times of Malta
Monthly Archive for April, 2010
10th of March 2010, Paris – Lagos (Nigeria) with a stopover in Madrid/Spain – organized by France, coordinated by Frontex.
In a very old plane from EgyptAir were loaded:
From Norway: 8 Nigerians
From Denmark: 5 Nigerians
From France: 8 to 10 Nigerians
From the Netherlands: 1 Nigerian
In Spain: another 20 Nigerians
of whom 10 to 15 women and 2 or 3 children from the age of 8 or 9 years. From all the countries per deportee 3 own ‘escorts’ and from the Netherlands and France medical personnel. All deportees were handcuffed, cuffs attached to the waist with a bodycuff, and feetcuffed, these attached with a strap to handcuffs. They were decuffed only just before arriving in Lagos. There was a delay in Madrid due to resistance of some of the 20 deportees when entering the plane. On the plane they did not recieve hot food, only bread and cheese, which was not enough. There was no television or radio during the flight. They were ‘released’, dumped at the cargo part of the airport in Lagos.
Continue reading ‘Deportation by Frontex charter – a report’
On April 12, 2010, 126 migrants detained in the samos detention camp (Greek island) started a collective hunger strike. Their demands are
- Freedom, immediate release with the “white paper” (allowing them to travel within Greece for thirty days)
- An end to the transfers to detention centres close to the greek-turkish land border in the north, where numerous illegal deportation to Turkey are taking place. Such transfers happen between two and three times a month in Samos, the last one happened on April 9, when 40 migrants were taken.
- Transparency about the work of so-called translators in the camp. As it turns out, these often are officiers employed by Frontex, who offer their translation services, but abuse the trust of the refugees and use the access to the refugees to determine their identity and prepare their deportation. There is a particular problem with the Frontex officers who in the process of identification often change the country of origin of the migrants on paper.
In the last days, as many as 14 Frontex officers were in the detention centre. There is also talk about migrants being beaten up, some cell phones were taken, while the phones in the camp also don’t work, making it hard to communicate with the hunger strikers. No laywers seem to be present at the time.
We get the information that on 8th and 22nd of April 2010
Charterdeportations to Nigeria will take place from Vienna. We expect that
this will be joint deportations, coordinated by Frontex, like it happened
several times before.
Last information about a joint deportation to Nigeria in March with people
deported from several countries: 10 from Germany, 6 from Greece, 5 from
Austria, 5 from Norway. (Source in french, summary in german)
Update: Call for action (German)
The Maltese soldiers involved in a fight with civilians in Mitilini, Lesvos were constrained to defend themselves when they were attacked by Greek locals, the Armed Forces of Malta said. The AFM said in a statement that two Maltese soldiers on Frontex duties on the Greek island were in a downtown bar early on Wednesday when they were off-duty. For no apparent reason, Greek locals in the same bar attacked them. One of the two AFM personnel managed to extract himself from the bar, and sought the support of three other colleagues of his team, who were also off-duty, to extract their remaining team member from inside the bar, where he was having problems with the aggressors.
Continue reading ‘Drunken Frontex officers were kicked out of Lesvos’
Frontex, the EU’s border control agency, is reportedly eyeing the possibility of using unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for its anti-migration patrols. Arms manufacturers, it has been reported in specialist media, have been asked to advise Frontex on how their products can be used to stop asylum seekers entering the bloc’s territory. Frontex, the EU’s border management agency, is to organise an event in Spain this coming June at which several makers of pilotless drones will give presentations.
Continue reading ‘Frontex eyes drone planes for migrant searches’
“Member States remain responsible for the consequences of returning people to third countries”
The European Commission has recently proposed to strengthen the EU Border Agency Frontex. If this proposal is adopted, Frontex would be able to co-lead border patrol operations with EU member States, deploy liaison officers in third countries, and coordinate joint return operations.
Bjarte Vandvik, Secretary General of ECRE, is meeting today Ilka Laitinen, Director of Frontex, to discuss about civil society’s involvement in Frontex work and the impact of the revised mandate on the respect of fundamental rights within the context of Frontex activities. ECRE has asked Michal Parzyszek, Frontex Spokesperson, what these changes would mean for Frontex in practice.
Continue reading ‘ECRE INTERVIEW WITH MICHAL PARZYSZEK, FRONTEX SPOKESPERSON’
