Frontex Return Operations and their Human Rights Implications

Abstract

With around 150 joint surveillance operations at the EU external borders since 2005 and a budget that has been constantly expanding in parallel to its mandate, Frontex and its evolution, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCGA) has become the most important actor in border enforcement in Europe. Undoubtably, most of the attention in literature has been given to the border control operations of the agency. However, return operations have been the fastest growing activity of Frontex, and they have quickly developed into an area that warrants particular attention.

Return operations have been part of the initial conception and the original mandate of the agency and were found in its founding Regulation in 2004. The first return operation was carried out in 2006, but the number of returns carried out only started increasing in 2016, while the agency only received a major enhancement in its return competences and budget with the new EBCG Regulation in 2019, which brings the agency closer than ever to the original vision of the Commission for a fully-fledged a European Border Police Corps.

This rapid evolution has not allowed academic literature to catch up and focus on Frontex return operations in particular. This contribution, drawing from the author’s own research on the work of Frontex more generally and its human rights responsibilities in particular, as well as other policy oriented research, attempts to fill this gap and respond to the desire to understand this new animal and its consequences upon fundamental rights. This chapter looks into the development of the return activities of the agency and focuses on the 2019 amendment of its Regulation. It discusses the human rights sensitivities of these activities, as well as the available safeguards for their protection. Finally, it looks into the responsibility of Frontex for potential violations during return operations.

Keywords: Frontex, Border Guard, Migration, Refugee, Asylum, Border, EU, Returns, Deportations, Refoulement, Human Rights, Fundamental Rights