clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

EU border agency chief must quit over refugee abuse, parliamentary report says

July 19, 2021 at 12:22 pm

European Council President Charles Michel (C) and Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte (R) meet officers of the Frontex mission as they visit the Padvarionys border post close to Belarus in Medininkai, Lithuania, on July 6, 2021 [PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty Images]

The EU border agency Frontex has failed to protect the human rights of asylum seekers, according to a European Parliament report, according to the Guardian.

The report’s author, Tineke Strik told the Guardian that Frontex “did not fulfil its human rights obligations and therefore did not prevent future violations.”

Strik, a Dutch Green MEP, wants the agency’s Director Fabrice Leggeri to resign or be fired.

Frontex knew about the human rights violations and pushbacks by Greek forces in the Aegean, Germany’s Der Spiegel wrote last Thursday.

Der Spiegel reported that a months-long investigation by the EU Parliament led to the conclusion that Frontex had evidence of illegal pushbacks by the Greek coast guard yet “failed to address and prevent the violations of fundamental rights.”

Last February, Frontex was under investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the EU’s independent corruption watchdog, over allegations of illegal pushbacks of migrants heading to Greek waters from Turkey in its effort to stem the flow of refugees and asylum seekers.

READ: Amnesty slams Greece for brutally deporting asylum seekers