The role of Frontex in Search and Rescue 2016-07-07 How do Search and Rescue (SAR) operations work and what is the role of Frontex in them? Search and Rescue (SAR) is always a priority for everyone operating at sea. International law obliges all captains of vessels to provide assistance to any persons found in distress at sea. SAR is also a specific objective of the operational plan of every Frontex joint maritime operation. For this reason, vessels deployed by Frontex to an operational area are always ready to provide support to the national ... Read more
Frontex asks for additional 269 officers for registering migrants 2015-11-12 Frontex has called on the authorities of EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries to contribute an additional 269 officers to help screen, fingerprint and register migrants at the European Union’s external borders.Member States have so far agreed to provide 320 officers to help at the external borders most affected by the unprecedented migratory flows this year, mainly in Greece.Frontex has already strengthened Operation Poseidon Sea and deployed 133 officers on Lesbos and other Greek ... Read more
Frontex hosts 1st European Coast Guard Cooperation Network Meeting 2016-11-08 Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, is hosting the first European Coast Guard Cooperation Network Meeting in Warsaw on 8-10 November to highlight the new agency’s expanded role in the maritime arena. Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri and EFCA Executive Director Pascal Savouret The gathering brings together representatives of more than 40 different national authorities of EU member states, including coast guards, navies, border police, customs and maritime authorities. ... Read more
Commissioner Avramopoulos at ED4BG 2015-05-22 Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Union’s Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner, was the guest of honour at the sixth annual European Day for Border Guards (ED4BG) organised in Warsaw by Frontex on Thursday, 21 May. During his opening speech, Commissioner Avramopoulos praised the work of border guards across Europe along with the role Frontex plays in the management of EU external borders. He congratulated the Agency on its 10th anniversary and spoke about the 30 years of the ... Read more
Frontex deploys Rapid Border Intervention Teams to Greece 2010-10-25 Warsaw, 25 October 2010 - Yesterday at 22:49 Frontex received a request from the Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Christos Papoutsis to deploy Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) as well as operational means to increase the control and surveillance levels at Greece’s external border with Turkey. This is the first time since the creation of the Agency in 2005 that Frontex has deployed the RABIT teams – a group of specialised border guards made available by 27 EU countries to deal with ... Read more
Meet Frontex Officers 2018-03-07 Every year, Frontex deploys thousands of officers to different external borders of the EU. They come from different Member States and have various tasks: some are border surveillance officers, while others are fingerprinting and registration experts or debriefing experts. Here, we introduce different officers who have been deployed in our operations, and let them explain their work. FINGERPRINTING AND REGISTRATION EXPERTS Frontex assists Member States with identifying and registering all ... Read more
RABIT Operation - Situational Update 2011-01-13 Warsaw, 12 January 2011 - On the basis of operational data gathered during the implementation of Operation RABIT, Frontex confirms further decreases in the number of irregular migrants detected at the Greek-Turkish land border. Throughout the year 2010, October saw the maximum number of migrants apprehended (7607), with an average of 245 detections per day. Since the beginning of Operation RABIT 2010, a decreasing trend in the number of detections was observed compared to October: in November ... Read more
Luxury Smuggling 2011-05-06 Since 2009, the Italian Calabria and Puglia regions — the ‘toe’ and ‘heel’ of Italy respectively — have been subject to an increasing flow of irregular migrants originating from Asian countries, departing by boat from the Turkish coast, and circumnavigating Peloponnesus on their way to Italy. During 2010 and 2011 there have also been cases of migrants who had been gathered on the Greek mainland and departed from the Greek coast towards Puglia. The operational area of Aeneas has also been ... Read more
540 000 migrants arrived on Greek islands in the first 10 months of 2015 2015-11-10 More than 540 000 migrants have arrived on the Greek islands in the first ten months of the year, which was 13 times more than in the same period of 2014. Syrians continued to account for the largest number of arrivals, although in recent weeks the share of Afghan nationals has risen significantly.Despite the worsening weather conditions in October, more than 150 000 people made the journey from Turkey to Greece last month compared to fewer than 8 500 in October 2014.As a direct knock-on ... Read more
Land Border Surveillance Demonstration and Workshop 2012 - Invitation 2012-06-27 One of the key objectives of Frontex is to keep Member States informed about new technological developments in the field of border control. In this regard, Frontex seeks to put more emphasis on organising, with the help of Member States, practical demonstrations of new technologies. Surveillance of land borders has to ensure effective detection of irregular immigration activities. The technical systems involved include different types of sensor and specific communication systems and software, ... Read more