Frontex and Asylum-Seekers: Between Securitization and Human Rights

In the last few years, the European External Borders agency Frontex has become the focal point for the sharp criticisms of pro-migrant and human rights groups for what they see as violations of human rights standards at the external borders of the EU. In particular, there has been significant criticism of the impact of the activities of Frontex on asylum-seekers. As a result, there have been some changes that have sought to reinforce the importance of human rights in the activities of the Agency. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine these changes and to assess the extent to and the ways in which they have addressed the criticisms that have been levelled at the Agency. For that purpose, this paper is structured as follows. First of all, the paper presents the activities of Frontex. This analysis underlines the strong emphasis that is being put on security, whereas human rights do not appear to be identified as an important factor to be taken into account in these activities. It also identifies the lack of identification of asylum-seekers as a distinct group with specific needs. Secondly, the paper examines the various criticisms that have been levelled at Frontex with regard to the issue of the respect of human rights, those of asylum-seekers in particular. Thirdly, it analyses the various changes that have been gradually introduced to respond to these criticisms and assesses the extent to which they have addressed those, before drawing some conclusions.