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Border externalisation: documents from the Coordination Group on Migration published

Statewatch is publishing more than a dozen documents from the Coordination Group on Migration, a secretive body in which the European Commission and EU member states coordinate expenditure on external migration control projects.
Statewatch is publishing more than a dozen documents from the Coordination Group on Migration, a secretive body in which the European Commission and EU member states coordinate expenditure on external migration control projects.

The documents include detailed overviews of a number of proposed projects in North Africa, such as ‘EU Support for Border Management Institutions in Libya and Tunisia’ and ‘Supporting Sustainable Protection, Return and Reintegration in North Africa’.

There are also a number of shorter “project fiches”, covering proposed projects such as ‘Strengthening the operational capacity of the Egyptian Navy and Border Guards in managing migration flows and provide Search and Rescue at sea’ and ‘international cooperation against migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings in North Africa’.

The documents are being published alongside the latest edition of the bulletin Outsourcing borders: Monitoring EU externalisation policy, in partnership with migration-control.info.

The bulletin also contains analyses on possible future changes to EU deportation law; and the growing role of Frontex in reintegration policy, and its effects in The Gambia and Nigeria.

The analyses on reintegration policy notes that Frontex is being granted a more substantive role in reintegration policy, with the agency seeking to harmonise and standardise approaches across the EU and its member states.

However, it warns that this has “severe consequences in West African countries”: in The Gambia, Frontex’s role has led to complications and confusion for deportees; and in Nigeria, questions have been raised over both a lack of transparency and support for deportees.

The analysis on EU deportation policy looks at a number of recent Council documents published with previous editions of the externalisation bulletin.

It notes that the Hungarian Council Presidency has focused discussions on “expanding detention, introducing extraterritorial deportation camps, and watering down safeguards, likely with a view to making the Commission’s forthcoming proposal for a new deportation law even harsher for individuals.”

The latest externalisation bulletin is available here, and the ongoing archive of documents is here.