News


Conclusions of the Management Board on cases referred to in the WG FRaLO report as still open in Frontex

2021-05-07

The Management Board at its extraordinary meeting in May 2021 has followed-up further on the alleged so-called “push backs” in the joint operations coordinated by the Agency or within the same operational area, and has taken note of the state of play of the 5 cases referred to in the WG FRaLO report as still open in the internal Serious Incident Report (SIR) procedure of the Agency (4 cases have been concluded and their SIR status is closed; as for the 5th case the final SIR report from Frontex is still pending), and underlined that all activities of the Agency must be in line with EU-legislation, incl. Fundamental rights and international law, the Frontex Code of Conduct and the applicable national law. The Management Board will continue to monitor the progress of the Agency’s assessment of the fifth and final case until it is closed by the Agency.

The Management Board welcomes the Agency’s updated Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Serious Incident Reporting and expects the new SOP together with the recruitment of Fundamental Rights Monitors will significantly improve Frontex’s capacity to ensure effective monitoring of its operational activities. The Board asks the Executive Director to continue reporting about the progress in implementing the Board's recommendations of 5 March 2021, in particular as concerns the follow-up to be given by the Agency in case of violation of the applicable law.