Responding to the European Commission’s proposed reform of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation (the Frontex Regulation) that vastly expands the agency’s budget, powers, staff and mandate, without commensurately expanding its human rights safeguards and transparency obligations, Eve Geddie the Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office said:

“The European Commission’s proposed changes to the Frontex mandate once again prioritize expanding the agency’s powers to deport, enforce border control, and operate beyond the EU without expanding the agency’s human rights obligations in turn.

“This includes giving Frontex new powers to carry out forced returns between non-EU countries, paving the way for a broader role in ‘return hubs’ in third countries. This reform compounds the risk of EU complicity in human rights violations and raises further hurdles to transparency and accountability.…