Frontex officials preventing information on pushbacks reaching HQ, says report

Topic
Country/Region
EU

A report in The New York Times says that Frontex officials have been discouraging the filing of reports on pushbacks at the Greek-Turkish border.

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"Four officials with direct knowledge of Frontex operations said that agency officials have been discouraging crews from filing reports on pushback incidents, and, in some cases, have stopped initial alerts of violations from being filed as “serious incident reports,” at times after consulting with the Greek authorities.

They all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were concerned about losing their jobs, or were not authorized to brief the press.

The Frontex spokesman, Chris Borowski, said the agency took the reporting of violations very seriously. “Pushbacks are illegal under international law,” Mr. Borowski said."

See: E.U. Border Agency Accused of Covering Up Migrant Pushback in Greece (The New York Times, link)

 

Further reading

02 December 2020

Frontex: thumbs-up for the "Management Board Working Group on Fundamental Rights and Legal and Operational Aspects of Operations"


24 November 2020

Greek authorities ordered pushback to Turkey, documents show


17 November 2020

Frontex: will a Management Board "sub-group" find the truth about pushbacks?


27 October 2020

Frontex to carry out "internal inquiry" into allegations of direct involvement in pushbacks

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