Frontex: 20 years of war on migrants in defiance of rights

in collaboration with Migreurop

The conference aims to take stock of the Frontex agency on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of its foundation.

Several specialists (researchers and NGOs) will speak on the situation at border crossings since the revision of the agency’s mandate in 2019, its impunity (and the legal tools to deal with it), and its externalised activities in the Balkans and Africa. The conference will also be an opportunity to consider the future, particularly with the adoption of the European Pact, before reiterating our watchword: “Frontex must be abolished!”

Introduction: The agency’s insidious development over the last 20 years – 10 mins : Brigitte Espuche, coordination Migreurop

1) The state of play since 2019: persistent abuses, deadly practices – 15 mins : Laura Salzano – Researcher in European migration law and professor of European law, University of Barcelona

2) The agency’s external action vs civil activism: the case of the Balkans and the African continent – 20 mins: Nidzara Ahmetašević – Independent Researcher & Aïda Thiam, Journalist and activist of Boza Fii (Senegal)

3) Frontex, judge and jury: the impact of its risk analyses & expansive development – 15 mins: Matthias Monroy, Editor of civil rights journal Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP and nd.Der Tag

4) Structural impunity vs control and legal tools – 20 mins : Omer Shatz, Director of front-LEX, a senior fellow at the Democracy Institute’s Rule of Law clinic and lecturer in international law at Sciences Po. Paris & Ruben Robbesom, Policy Advisor to MEP Tineke Strik (Greens/European Free Alliance)

5) Frontex, symbol of European security-oriented policy: a stronger role in the Asylum and Migration Pact – 15 mins: Yasha Maccanico, Statewatch

Conclusion: The agency must be abolished! – 10 mins : Stéphanie Demblon, Abolish Frontex

Q&R