(Brussels, 21 September 2011) – A new report released today by Human Rights Watch (HRW) reveals Frontex’s direct involvement with exposing migrants to inhuman and degrading treatment in Greek detention centres.

The report, “The EU’s Dirty Hands”, examines the Frontex deployment of 175 border guards in November 2010 to the Evros River region, located at the Greek border with Turkey. Personnel contributions were made by Norway and several EU member states.

This “Rapid Border Intervention Team”, or RABIT, apprehended migrants crossing into Greece and knowingly transferred them to poorly maintained Greek-maintained detention centres.

Conditions were found to be severely overcrowded and unsanitary. In the Fylakio detention centre, located 12km from the border in northeastern Greece, detainees are exposed to raw sewage. In another centre, migrants are forced to sleep on cardboard – or directly on the concrete floor – and to urinate in bottles because they don’t have access to toilets.

Unaccompanied minors are mixed with unrelated adults, and no effort is made to separate women from unrelated men. Persons with special needs and vulnerabilities are not given individual screenings.

Frontex officials responsible for coordinating the RABIT operation, as well the border guards who intercept migrants, are aware of the inhuman and degrading treatment migrants experience in detention. In some instances Frontex personnel refused to participate any further in light of migrant rights abuses.

But in most cases personnel continued operations. “This is the procedure”, one Frontex official said to HRW, “We do things according to our mandate.”

During its investigation, HRW did not find evidence showing Frontex personnel directly impeding migrants from accessing the Greek asylum procedure. Nevertheless, Greek authorities actively dissuaded detained migrants from applying for asylum, threatening them with more time in detention. As with detention conditions, Frontex was made aware of these cases. They argue that they could not have done anything since asylum procedures are not within their mandate.

HRW identifies several EU actors as being directly culpable for violating migrants’ fundamental human rights: Frontex personnel for knowingly exposing migrants to inhuman treatment, Greek authorities for abysmal detention conditions, and EU member states at large for contributing national border guard personnel to the Frontex RABIT operation.

“This report breathes life into one of our worst fears, that Frontex operations are directly involved with violating migrants’ human rights”, says Philip Amaral, JRS Europe policy and communications officer.

“It is no secret that Greek detention centres expose migrants to inhuman and degrading conditions. Even the European Court of Human Rights has affirmed that Greece is incapable of upholding migrants’ basic rights. Truly, there is no excuse for the EU and the member states to perpetuate this situation any further.”

HRW recommends that Frontex suspend its operations in Greece until conditions for migrants improve. Furthermore, they urge member states to show EU solidarity by relocating migrants detained in Greece to their own territories.

The new Frontex regulation, adopted by the European Parliament on 13^th September, includes several provisions that could improve protections for migrants. Among these is the provision for a ‘fundamental human rights officer’, who would actively monitor how Frontex operations impact migrants’ rights and access to asylum procedures.

Benjamin Ward, HRW deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, argues that in order for the provision “to have stronger teeth”, the fundamental rights officer should be permitted to report rights abuses directly to the European Commission, for the purpose of initiating infringement procedures against member states.

 

 

For more information, contact:

 

Philip Amaral

Policy & Communications Officer

JRS Europe

+32 2 250 32 20

europe.advocacy@jrs.net