In this blog we take a step back and review all the awful things that have happened this last year and attempt to trace how the European Union - an institution that prides itself on its values - has entered into a new stage of its war on migration.
Introduction
The use of migratory movements (more commonly known as “migration flows”) as a tool of aggression or intimidation is neither a new nor a rare occurrence. But, 2021 has been one hell of a year for the acceleration of the European Union’s War on Migration. The weaponisation of migration has continued, for example when people on the move were ferried to Ceuta in Spain or currently at the Poland-Belarus border. But it also includes the infamous Frontex (the so-called European Border and Coast Guard Agency), whose cooperation with the Libyan regime was further uncovered, whose officers are partly being armed and that is obtaining drones to create high-tech, militarised EU-borders. But most egregiously, this includes the fact that pushbacks were basically called to become legalised by 12 EU states because external borders “must be protected with maximum level of security”. This is an outright war on the freedom of movement and on people who are on the move, no matter if they are asylum seekers, migrants or refugees.
In this blog we take a step back and review all the awful things that have happened this last year and attempt to trace how the European Union - an institution that prides itself on its values - has entered into a new stage of its war on migration.
Border Tensions
A very blatant case of the weaponisation of migration happened earlier this year, in May. Moroccan authorities encouraged people on the move - approximately 12,000 people in total - to enter the small Spanish territory of Ceuta, in North Africa. The Moroccan government is trying to coerce the international community into recognizing its claim on the territory of Western Sahara. After Spain provided medical aid to its pro-independence leader Brahim Ghali, Morocco responded by “waving in” people on the move at its border to Ceuta, Spain. Hours later, Spain had pledged 30 million euros to Morocco for border policing. Since 2007, the EU has provided 13 billion euros in funds in return for strict border controls. Whenever Morocco wants to assert political pressure on the EU, or Spain specifically, it only needs to bring people on the move to the EU’s external borders. The EU is being extorted because it is unwilling to have a politics of solidarity and act according to international human rights.
This same tactic was used by the Turkish government under President Erdogan before. But most recently, the authoritarian government of Belarus has adopted this tried-and-tested strategy to pressure the EU. An estimated 4,000 people have been stuck in the now-inaccessible zone at the Polish border with Belarus, and there are an estimated 10,000-20,000 people in Belarus looking to cross into Poland. These people on the move have been stuck there for months, forced to sleep in the cold, without shelter and food because they were encouraged by the Belarusian government to make the journey through to Poland. A multitude of people have died, including a one-year old Syrian child. This is utterly inhumane and again motivations are political: Belarus wants the EU to remove sanctions, which were put in place after President Lukashenko crushed anti-government protests.
Yet, the Polish side of the border conflict is also motivated by politics. Poland’s far-right government wants to project its anti-immigrant policies. The most sinister part of this performance so far, occurred on December 6th, when a concert took place, organised by the Polish Defense Ministry called “wall behind the Polish uniform” (“Murem za polskim mundurem”). It was located at the EU’s external border with Belarus, to “show support for troops defending the eastern border”. Reactions to the event varied from absolute disgust to un-denying support.
Yet, the weaponisation of migration does not only happen when authoritarian regimes pressure the European Union. We have witnessed first hand - as has every other member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) - that violent pushbacks have become the norm at the European Union’s external borders. They have not only become more frequent throughout the last year, but also more violent and more diverse tactics are being used.
At Josoor, we monitor the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders. We have seen frequent accounts of pushback incidents in which groups were forced onto islands / islets and left there without food and assistance. Pushback groups also included women and children much more frequently. Levels of violence have increased too. Almost every single pushback testimony we took throughout 2021 involves one or more forms of violence that amounts to inhumane or degrading treatment and/or torture. This is happening with the explicit or implicit approval of EU member states’ governments. As anti-immigrant policies are proving to be beneficial in domestic politics, the war on migration continues to proliferate.
The Frontex Saga
Frontex has been a continuous topic of discussion throughout 2021. The agency has 26 country members and is currently operating and present in at least 22 countries on both land and sea borders. As in previous years, Josoor and partners in the BVMN have been documenting pushback testimonies that accuse both national authorities in Frontex operational areas and Frontex officers themselves of being involved in pushbacks. Testimonies mention “the flag of the European Union” on a “light blue armband” on officers’ uniforms. We wrote an update on the “Frontex Saga” back in April 2021, explaining why Frontex is highly problematic, where we explain more details.
In recent months, Frontex’s continued cooperation with Libya has been scrutinised, despite Frontex’s denial of any cooperation with the state. European journalists and NGOs have collected a mounting body of evidence suggesting otherwise. Documents released in October, following an open-records request by the European transparency group FragDenStaat, show that Frontex even sends the locations of migrant rafts directly to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. Furthermore, Whatsapp exchanges prove their collaboration and cooperation with one another.
Despite all this, there were discussions about arming Frontex officers with weapons by the summer of 2021. This did not happen by summer because Frontex’s budget was blocked by the European Parliament. But, recently, it came to light that Frontex has chosen a weapon’s manufacturer in Austria, gearing up for supplying their officers with weapons. On 9th December this month, Frontex announced that Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri signed an agreement with Lithuania’s Minister of Interior Agnė Bilotaitė to deploy Frontex standing corps officers equipped with service weapons provided by Lithuania. So, in 2022, Frontex officers will be armed with weapons, a scary addition to the EU’s war on migration and externalisation.
High grade tech
2021 has seen a continuation of a prominent shift in focus on investing in high grade technology at borders. The fence on the Greek-Turkish border has been extended by 40km in the wake of the fall of Kabul in August, fitted with sound cannons and drones to monitor the border area. Poland’s border with Belarus is becoming the latest frontline for technology, with Poland approving a €350 million wall along their border, fit with advanced cameras and motion detectors. Two Guardian journalists, Kaamil Ahmed and Lorenzo Tondo mapped out the European Union’s vast array of specialised technology to monitor and deter people on the move (see below). They note that the EU has been central to stepping up their border technologies across many different member states. Amongst the new tools being used by the EU are drones, sound cannons and various devices to detect people through their body heat or heartbeats.
Yet, this is part of a long-term trend: Since 2018, Frontex and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) have contracted Elbit and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (IAI/UAV) military drones. Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company, develops its drones together with the Israeli military and promotes its technology as “field tested” – on Palestinians. In October 2020, the EU signed two new contracts, worth €50 million each, for the supply of unmanned drones. These contracts take the European border militarisation to the next level and are used for no other purpose than to prevent people seeking protection and a safe future from reaching Europe. In 2018, the EU predicted that the European security market would grow to €128bn by 2020. This year, a team of investigative journalists uncovered strong connections between Frontex and the weapon industry. Beneficiaries are arms and tech companies who heavily court the EU and member states.
Legalisation of pushbacks
2021 saw a move to legalise pushbacks in some states. Hungary successfully legalised pushbacks back in 2015, meaning that Hungarian police are now allowed to automatically push back asylum seekers who are apprehended on Hungarian territory within 8 km from either the Serbian-Hungarian or the Croatian-Hungarian border.
On October 7th this year, 12 EU member states declared that all external borders “must be protected with maximum level of security”. Their proposition included the idea to “adapt the existing legal framework to the new realities”. Essentially, they called for the legalisation of pushbacks, EU funding for border walls, and measures to respond to a “hybrid attack characterised by an artificially created large scale inflow of irregular migrants”. On October 14th, Poland passed legislation that aimed to legalise pushbacks in response to the ongoing and unravelling situation at the Polish-Belaruisan border.
On October 21st, a statement was released by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, calling on EU member states to stop ongoing pushbacks and to immediately end any attempt to legalise this illegal practice. The Council of Europe has expressed increasing concern over human rights violations of people on the move. In particular the denial of access to asylum and returns without individual safeguards, which are often accompanied by brutal violence or endangerment of human life. Thus, the problem is not only that there is a growing movement to make pushbacks legal, but that they have already become the norm in many EU member states.
A recent ruling against one of our partner organisations at BVMN, “Are You Syrious?”, found their volunteer Dragan Umičević guilty by High Criminal Court in Zagreb. He was accused of aiding the irregular crossing of the family of little Madina, a six-year-old girl who died during an illegal pushback from Croatia. In the verdict, they ordered “Are You Syrious?” to pay a steep fine. Despite admitting that the family of Madina already was in Croatia, the courts still consider the actions of “Are You Syrious?” as assisting an illegal border crossing. This sets a dangerous precedent as it means anyone can be charged with assisting an illegal border crossing, no matter where they are. On top of this, the courts wrote that Dragan Umičević knew the “family’s asylum was already rejected twice”, which means that the courts are interpreting a pushback as an asylum process.
What will 2022 look like? - Hybrid Warfare
We do not know how this war on migration will continue. We are no experts on migration and EU policy. However, looking at the trends of the last years, we foresee the violence and suffering only becoming worse. Illiberal, anti-immigrant forces will grow in influence and extort those parts of the EU, which might still try to act according to a value-based politics. Money is being invested into borders and a whole border-industrial complex is benefiting from increasing anti-immigration sentiments. Civil society activism is mostly focused on saving lives, as organisations like Josoor or Search and Rescue organisations are stepping up where states are failing to perform their duties. Yet, these states perceive this as “interference” and criminalises solidarity. The persecution of those saving lives of people on the move will only get worse, as the criminalisation of solidarity will continue.
The problem is that the European Union is at war. States around the world are trying to create strategic advantages through so-called “hybrid warfare”. This is the concept of exploiting vulnerabilities in adversaries to attack them without necessarily using physical force. This coupled with physical violence at the EU’s external borders, as well as the rise in the far right across Europe, paints a bleak future in the coming years. The vulnerability of the EU is that it is not living up to its self-proclaimed standards by championing an inhumane, restrictive migration policy. It has put itself into a position where it can continually be extorted by the sort of actions we are witnessing at the Poland-Belarus border. Furthermore, its citizens, who still believe in human rights, will not, in the foreseeable future, allow for overt violence against people on the move. Thus, the EU will always pay-off states at its borders to keep them - and the violence done to them - out of sight.
But this is not a sustainable solution. Unless Europe wants to give up all pretense of being a collection of states based on humanitarian principles and values, there can be only one solution. Europe must face the reality of migration, end the escalating war on migration and finally, see that supporting people on the move is not a risk, but an opportunity - and simply the right thing to do.
Introduction
The use of migratory movements (more commonly known as “migration flows”) as a tool of aggression or intimidation is neither a new nor a rare occurrence. But, 2021 has been one hell of a year for the acceleration of the European Union’s War on Migration. The weaponisation of migration has continued, for example when people on the move were ferried to Ceuta in Spain or currently at the Poland-Belarus border. But it also includes the infamous Frontex (the so-called European Border and Coast Guard Agency), whose cooperation with the Libyan regime was further uncovered, whose officers are partly being armed and that is obtaining drones to create high-tech, militarised EU-borders. But most egregiously, this includes the fact that pushbacks were basically called to become legalised by 12 EU states because external borders “must be protected with maximum level of security”. This is an outright war on the freedom of movement and on people who are on the move, no matter if they are asylum seekers, migrants or refugees.
In this blog we take a step back and review all the awful things that have happened this last year and attempt to trace how the European Union - an institution that prides itself on its values - has entered into a new stage of its war on migration.
Border Tensions
A very blatant case of the weaponisation of migration happened earlier this year, in May. Moroccan authorities encouraged people on the move - approximately 12,000 people in total - to enter the small Spanish territory of Ceuta, in North Africa. The Moroccan government is trying to coerce the international community into recognizing its claim on the territory of Western Sahara. After Spain provided medical aid to its pro-independence leader Brahim Ghali, Morocco responded by “waving in” people on the move at its border to Ceuta, Spain. Hours later, Spain had pledged 30 million euros to Morocco for border policing. Since 2007, the EU has provided 13 billion euros in funds in return for strict border controls. Whenever Morocco wants to assert political pressure on the EU, or Spain specifically, it only needs to bring people on the move to the EU’s external borders. The EU is being extorted because it is unwilling to have a politics of solidarity and act according to international human rights.
This same tactic was used by the Turkish government under President Erdogan before. But most recently, the authoritarian government of Belarus has adopted this tried-and-tested strategy to pressure the EU. An estimated 4,000 people have been stuck in the now-inaccessible zone at the Polish border with Belarus, and there are an estimated 10,000-20,000 people in Belarus looking to cross into Poland. These people on the move have been stuck there for months, forced to sleep in the cold, without shelter and food because they were encouraged by the Belarusian government to make the journey through to Poland. A multitude of people have died, including a one-year old Syrian child. This is utterly inhumane and again motivations are political: Belarus wants the EU to remove sanctions, which were put in place after President Lukashenko crushed anti-government protests.
Yet, the Polish side of the border conflict is also motivated by politics. Poland’s far-right government wants to project its anti-immigrant policies. The most sinister part of this performance so far, occurred on December 6th, when a concert took place, organised by the Polish Defense Ministry called “wall behind the Polish uniform” (“Murem za polskim mundurem”). It was located at the EU’s external border with Belarus, to “show support for troops defending the eastern border”. Reactions to the event varied from absolute disgust to un-denying support.
Yet, the weaponisation of migration does not only happen when authoritarian regimes pressure the European Union. We have witnessed first hand - as has every other member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) - that violent pushbacks have become the norm at the European Union’s external borders. They have not only become more frequent throughout the last year, but also more violent and more diverse tactics are being used.
At Josoor, we monitor the Greek-Turkish and Bulgarian-Turkish borders. We have seen frequent accounts of pushback incidents in which groups were forced onto islands / islets and left there without food and assistance. Pushback groups also included women and children much more frequently. Levels of violence have increased too. Almost every single pushback testimony we took throughout 2021 involves one or more forms of violence that amounts to inhumane or degrading treatment and/or torture. This is happening with the explicit or implicit approval of EU member states’ governments. As anti-immigrant policies are proving to be beneficial in domestic politics, the war on migration continues to proliferate.
The Frontex Saga
Frontex has been a continuous topic of discussion throughout 2021. The agency has 26 country members and is currently operating and present in at least 22 countries on both land and sea borders. As in previous years, Josoor and partners in the BVMN have been documenting pushback testimonies that accuse both national authorities in Frontex operational areas and Frontex officers themselves of being involved in pushbacks. Testimonies mention “the flag of the European Union” on a “light blue armband” on officers’ uniforms. We wrote an update on the “Frontex Saga” back in April 2021, explaining why Frontex is highly problematic, where we explain more details.
In recent months, Frontex’s continued cooperation with Libya has been scrutinised, despite Frontex’s denial of any cooperation with the state. European journalists and NGOs have collected a mounting body of evidence suggesting otherwise. Documents released in October, following an open-records request by the European transparency group FragDenStaat, show that Frontex even sends the locations of migrant rafts directly to the so-called Libyan Coast Guard. Furthermore, Whatsapp exchanges prove their collaboration and cooperation with one another.
Despite all this, there were discussions about arming Frontex officers with weapons by the summer of 2021. This did not happen by summer because Frontex’s budget was blocked by the European Parliament. But, recently, it came to light that Frontex has chosen a weapon’s manufacturer in Austria, gearing up for supplying their officers with weapons. On 9th December this month, Frontex announced that Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri signed an agreement with Lithuania’s Minister of Interior Agnė Bilotaitė to deploy Frontex standing corps officers equipped with service weapons provided by Lithuania. So, in 2022, Frontex officers will be armed with weapons, a scary addition to the EU’s war on migration and externalisation.
High grade tech
2021 has seen a continuation of a prominent shift in focus on investing in high grade technology at borders. The fence on the Greek-Turkish border has been extended by 40km in the wake of the fall of Kabul in August, fitted with sound cannons and drones to monitor the border area. Poland’s border with Belarus is becoming the latest frontline for technology, with Poland approving a €350 million wall along their border, fit with advanced cameras and motion detectors. Two Guardian journalists, Kaamil Ahmed and Lorenzo Tondo mapped out the European Union’s vast array of specialised technology to monitor and deter people on the move (see below). They note that the EU has been central to stepping up their border technologies across many different member states. Amongst the new tools being used by the EU are drones, sound cannons and various devices to detect people through their body heat or heartbeats.
Yet, this is part of a long-term trend: Since 2018, Frontex and the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) have contracted Elbit and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (IAI/UAV) military drones. Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company, develops its drones together with the Israeli military and promotes its technology as “field tested” – on Palestinians. In October 2020, the EU signed two new contracts, worth €50 million each, for the supply of unmanned drones. These contracts take the European border militarisation to the next level and are used for no other purpose than to prevent people seeking protection and a safe future from reaching Europe. In 2018, the EU predicted that the European security market would grow to €128bn by 2020. This year, a team of investigative journalists uncovered strong connections between Frontex and the weapon industry. Beneficiaries are arms and tech companies who heavily court the EU and member states.
Legalisation of pushbacks
2021 saw a move to legalise pushbacks in some states. Hungary successfully legalised pushbacks back in 2015, meaning that Hungarian police are now allowed to automatically push back asylum seekers who are apprehended on Hungarian territory within 8 km from either the Serbian-Hungarian or the Croatian-Hungarian border.
On October 7th this year, 12 EU member states declared that all external borders “must be protected with maximum level of security”. Their proposition included the idea to “adapt the existing legal framework to the new realities”. Essentially, they called for the legalisation of pushbacks, EU funding for border walls, and measures to respond to a “hybrid attack characterised by an artificially created large scale inflow of irregular migrants”. On October 14th, Poland passed legislation that aimed to legalise pushbacks in response to the ongoing and unravelling situation at the Polish-Belaruisan border.
On October 21st, a statement was released by the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, calling on EU member states to stop ongoing pushbacks and to immediately end any attempt to legalise this illegal practice. The Council of Europe has expressed increasing concern over human rights violations of people on the move. In particular the denial of access to asylum and returns without individual safeguards, which are often accompanied by brutal violence or endangerment of human life. Thus, the problem is not only that there is a growing movement to make pushbacks legal, but that they have already become the norm in many EU member states.
A recent ruling against one of our partner organisations at BVMN, “Are You Syrious?”, found their volunteer Dragan Umičević guilty by High Criminal Court in Zagreb. He was accused of aiding the irregular crossing of the family of little Madina, a six-year-old girl who died during an illegal pushback from Croatia. In the verdict, they ordered “Are You Syrious?” to pay a steep fine. Despite admitting that the family of Madina already was in Croatia, the courts still consider the actions of “Are You Syrious?” as assisting an illegal border crossing. This sets a dangerous precedent as it means anyone can be charged with assisting an illegal border crossing, no matter where they are. On top of this, the courts wrote that Dragan Umičević knew the “family’s asylum was already rejected twice”, which means that the courts are interpreting a pushback as an asylum process.
What will 2022 look like? - Hybrid Warfare
We do not know how this war on migration will continue. We are no experts on migration and EU policy. However, looking at the trends of the last years, we foresee the violence and suffering only becoming worse. Illiberal, anti-immigrant forces will grow in influence and extort those parts of the EU, which might still try to act according to a value-based politics. Money is being invested into borders and a whole border-industrial complex is benefiting from increasing anti-immigration sentiments. Civil society activism is mostly focused on saving lives, as organisations like Josoor or Search and Rescue organisations are stepping up where states are failing to perform their duties. Yet, these states perceive this as “interference” and criminalises solidarity. The persecution of those saving lives of people on the move will only get worse, as the criminalisation of solidarity will continue.
The problem is that the European Union is at war. States around the world are trying to create strategic advantages through so-called “hybrid warfare”. This is the concept of exploiting vulnerabilities in adversaries to attack them without necessarily using physical force. This coupled with physical violence at the EU’s external borders, as well as the rise in the far right across Europe, paints a bleak future in the coming years. The vulnerability of the EU is that it is not living up to its self-proclaimed standards by championing an inhumane, restrictive migration policy. It has put itself into a position where it can continually be extorted by the sort of actions we are witnessing at the Poland-Belarus border. Furthermore, its citizens, who still believe in human rights, will not, in the foreseeable future, allow for overt violence against people on the move. Thus, the EU will always pay-off states at its borders to keep them - and the violence done to them - out of sight.
But this is not a sustainable solution. Unless Europe wants to give up all pretense of being a collection of states based on humanitarian principles and values, there can be only one solution. Europe must face the reality of migration, end the escalating war on migration and finally, see that supporting people on the move is not a risk, but an opportunity - and simply the right thing to do.
