Cooperation with non-EU countries is an integral
part of the Frontex mandate to ensure implementation of the European integrated
border management (IBM) and one of the strategic priorities for the agency’s
work.
Together with partners from outside of the EU, Frontex
works to develop an increasingly connected global border management community
that lives up to the highest standards for border management, coast guarding,
law enforcement and return, guarantees the protection of fundamental rights and
closely cooperates addressing irregular migration and cross-border crime.
Frontex develops and maintains a reliable network
of partnerships with the competent authorities of non-EU countries,
particularly in countries neighbouring the EU, as well as in countries of origin
and transit for irregular migration.
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Cooperation with non-EU countries is based
on clear priorities outlined in the Frontex
International Cooperation Strategy. Frontex is committed to ensure that the
agency’s international cooperation work is:
- coherent
with EU laws and policies, including its foreign and security policy;
- implemented
in partnership with other relevant EU actors;
- always
respects fundamental rights;
- risk
analysis driven;
- considerate
to mutual interests of both parties and
- committed
to sustainable solutions.
Frontex international cooperation spans across all areas
of the agency’s operational work, from information exchange, risk analysis,
joint operations, to return, training, research and innovation.
Cooperation is usually based on working arrangements signed between the agency and the competent
authorities of the non-EU country.
Our partners take part and contribute to various
Frontex activities, and benefit from the agency’s support in terms of technical
assistance and training. For example:
- A wide
network of Frontex-led regional intelligence
sharing communities plays a crucial role in facilitating information and knowledge sharing,
as well as joint analysis between the EU and the participating non-EU countries.
These include the Western Balkans Risk Analysis Network (WB-RAN), the Eastern
Partnership Risk Analysis Network (EaP-RAN), the Turkey-Frontex Risk Analysis
Network (TU-RAN) and the Africa Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC).
- Observers from certain non-EU countries can, with consent of the host Member
State, be invited to participate in the agency’s operational activities.
- A number
of coordination
points have
been established at border crossing points between two non-EU countries that
have a working arrangement with Frontex, and are activated for a defined period
on the request of the partner countries. Observers from the European Border and
Coast Guard Teams are then deployed to these coordination points to facilitate
cooperation and information exchange, particularly in relation to early
detection of irregular migration trends.
- Frontex
can also support countries neighbouring the EU with Frontex coordinated joint operations
with executive powers. An
international status agreement with that country will have to be concluded by
the EU for this purpose.
- EU funded technical
assistance projects complement
and enhance the agency’s external cooperation work, supporting the development
of sustainable border and migration management solutions in non-EU countries.
- Frontex Liaison Officers in non-EU countries facilitate
dialogue and the implementation of cooperation on the ground.
Frontex contributes to the implementation of
bilateral and regional cooperation frameworks on migration and fosters regular
dialogue with non-EU countries by contributing to multilateral fora. We support
the work under the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM), the
Khartoum-, Rabat-, Budapest Processes, the Valetta Summit follow-up and other
Commission-led initiatives. We offer expertise and contribute to ensuring
sustainability of these platforms.
The agency also continues to facilitate dialogue at
operational level through Frontex-led initiatives such as the International Border Police Conference (IBPC).
Frontex has concluded working arrangements with the authorities of 18 countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cape Verde, North Macedonia, Georgia, Kosovo*, Moldova, Montenegro, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States.
The agency
has also signed working arrangements with the CIS Border Troop Commanders Council and the MARRI Regional Centre in the Western Balkans.
All Working Arrangements can be
found here.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.
Frontex
continues to strengthen its cooperation with non-EU countries through targeted technical
assistance projects, utilising various
Commission funding instruments. The agency strives to ensure that its technical
assistance action complement EU’s overall external relations policies. While
each project focuses on a different priority region and topics, all project
activities address specific needs of the beneficiary countries and support them
in building their capacities in the field of border security and management.
The technical assistance projects contribute to laying the foundation for
strategic cooperation, or build up on already established functional
relationships between Frontex and the national authorities of relevant
countries.
Currently, three
EU-funded projects are being implemented with an overall funding of 14 million euros,
and a fourth one is in preparation:
EU4BorderSecurity (Read about Frontex in Arabic)
Beneficiary countries: Southern Neighbourhood countries
Timeframe: Dec 2018-Dec 2021
EU Grant: 4 million euros (European Neighbourhood
Instrument/DG NEAR)
Project goals:
- to enhance border security in the Southern
Mediterranean region, particularly North Africa and the Levant, by
fostering bilateral and regional cooperation
- to
familiarise the participating countries with the mandate
and work of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency
-
to build trust, understanding, structured partnerships, and exchange of
experiences and practices in the Integrated Border Management (IBM)
domain
-
to
enhance the capacity of the participating countries to conduct risk
analysis, situation monitoring, as well as tactical border and coast
guard operations, thus contributing to the fight against security
threats, particularly organised crime and terrorism in the region.
EU4BorderSecurity at a glance - factsheet about the project.
Strengthening the Africa-Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC)
Beneficiary countries: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia.
Timeframe: 2017- 2023
EU Grant: 4 million euros (funded by the European Union)
Project goals:
- Consolidated and enhanced inter-regional information-sharing structures of border management authorities aiming at establishing more direct cooperation channels, sharing common challenges and possibly finding common responses, thus contributing to a more effective border management system;
- Reinforced operational and technical capabilities of the partner countries, through providing support for information exchange that can lead to investigations to dismantle criminal networks;
- Increased capacities of beneficiary countries to draft and share strategic and operational risk analysis on regular and irregular migration flows, border security, cross-border crime, smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings.
Achievements:
- Six risk analysis cells were established: Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, and Senegal. More RACs to be opened soon;
- Capacity building activities through plenary and regional workshops, joint analytical field missions etc. are contributing to local ownership and appropriation;
- Over 50 workshops and expert meetings;
- Supporting the sharing of over 250 reports within the AFIC network.
Regional Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management in the Western Balkans and Turkey (IPA II), Phase IIBeneficiary countries: Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey
Timeframe: 01/07/2019 – 30/06/2021
Project Partners: EASO, IOM, UNHCR
EU Grant: 3,4 million euros (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance/DG NEAR)
Project goals:
- to introduce and share
EU standards and best practices on protection-sensitive migration
management;
- to support the beneficiaries
in developing a protection-sensitive response to mixed migration flows by
strengthening their identification, registration, referral, asylum systems and
return mechanisms.
Eastern Partnership Integrated Border Management Capacity Building Project (EaP)
Beneficiary countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
Timeframe: 07/2014-12/2018
Project partners: ICMPD, IOM, WCO
EU Grant: 4.5 million euros (European Neighbourhood
Instrument/DG NEAR)
Project goals:
- to improve
training capacity of the project’s beneficiaries;
-
to implement
tailored training programmes;
-
to enhance
the ability of the agencies involved in border management to improve security,
protect vulnerable individuals (including asylum seekers, victims of human
trafficking), prevent cross-border crime, decrease corruption and enhance
professionalism.