The EU Returns Agency: The Commissions’ Ambitious Plans and Their Human Rights Implications

Abstract

The effective return of irregularly staying migrants is identified as an overriding objective in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, while return operations are the fastest-growing activity of Frontex. Since the 2019 amendment of its Regulation, the agency has received a significant augmentation of its mandate and capacity in pre-return and return-related activities. This way, Frontex takes a centre-stage role in the Commission’s plan to intensify returns. This article fills the relevant gap in existing literature, updating our knowledge on the latest legislative developments in EU return operations and answering questions related to their human rights implications at a time when the scrutiny over Frontex is at its peak. The article discusses the human rights risks of these operations and the effectiveness of the available safeguards. This article is the product mainly of legal doctrinal research, i.e. the analysis of the relevant EU law and legal literature, along with civil society and institutional reports and other empirical documentation. At the same time, it also looks at quantitative data on the agency’s return activities from 2004 until 2019.

Mapping EU Externalisation Devices through a Critical Eye

“…European Journal of Migration and Law 26 (2024) 108-135 criticised for its operations within EU territory, its operations beyond EU borders are under-scrutinised. 160 Gkliati and Kilpatrick specifically criticised the deal with Albania for not containing the necessary human rights safeguards. 161 Partnership agreements are likely to raise serious issues of compatibility with the international refugee and human rights law.…”

Border control within Spanish prisons? Intersections between immigration control and imprisonment at the southern border of Europe

“…On the other hand, the priority given to expulsions to Georgia and Albania represents a departure from previous years (Fernández-Bessa and Brandariz, 2018). These deportations are favoured by the intensified efforts of the EU to deport Eastern European nationals from non-EU countries through readmission agreements and special FRONTEX operations (Gkliati, 2022). This suggests that Eastern European nationals have also become a racialized and national other in Spain and confirms the idea that xeno-racism is on the rise in many EU countries (Weber and Bowling, 2008; Tuck et al, 2022).…”