A contribution by Frontex Referendum.
According to media reports, Frontex is planning to deport approximately 1,700 Iraqi nationals who are currently stuck in Poland. These are people who recently crossed the militarized border region between the EU Member State Poland and Belarus. At the border between Belarus and Poland, the situation is worsening: Several hundred to a thousand people have been waiting in the wooded border region for weeks, some of them. The only answer from Europe? Barbed wire, military and brutal pushbacks, instead of a quick pick-up and help.
And those who made it across the border into EU territory should now be brought back without further ado. With Poland’s current approach, which is solely based on complete isolation and militarizing the border, it is unlikely that the waiting people will have received a fair asylum procedure in such a short period of time. And now Frontex is supposed to get rid of the people from Poland. That would be mass pushbacks carried out by the EU border protection agency Frontex.
According to the EU Commission, Frontex is also available for operations in the border region itself, but Poland is still resisting EU support. The fact that Frontex wants to support the Polish security forces, not surprisingly, Frontex Director Leggeri praised the brutal actions of the Polish troops in full weeks ago: «Executive Director Leggeri […] was impressed by the means used to secure the border . He also thanked Poland for the cooperation with Frontex since the beginning of the crisis through the constant exchange of information and the provision of data on the situation on the Polish section of the external border for the agency », the agency said in a statement.
The brutal defense policy of Poland, which violates the right to asylum, is praised from the front ranks of Frontex. The dead and suffering that this policy produces on both sides of the border are meanwhile not regretted at all. The human rights situation? Leggeri is not worth a line. With the mass repatriations, Frontex would again not stand up for human rights, but would help enforce the European policy of isolation by force – co-financed by Switzerland, which is watching the situation indifferently.
We asked the Frontex press office and the Federal Customs Administration: What exactly is the role of Frontex in the planned deportations, on what basis are they planning them at all? And what role does Switzerland play in this? Updates will follow on this blog.
Sources
EU must prepare for more migrants trying to enter, border agency chief says
Swissinfo/Reuters, 12.11.2021
Nikolaj Nielsen on Twitter
Twitter, 11.11.2021
Frontex Executive Director visits Poland’s border with Belarus
Pressemitteilung von Frontex, 4.10.2021
Flüchtlingskrise an polnischer Grenze: Schweiz schaut hilflos zu
Nau.ch, 12.11.2021