Border Guard Agency Research Articles

Devious refugees and harmless borders? How Frontex inverts deviance and blame

This commentary demonstrates how the risk analysis reports of Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency) invert deviance and blame by lumping together smugglers, refugees and migrants and portraying the latter as responsible for their own suffering at Europe’s borders while obscuring the role of restrictive migration policies and border controls in producing irregularised migration in the first place. Showing how this discursive framing furthers the securitisation of migration and displaces accountability for border deaths, the author argues that it is important to question the objectivity of Frontex’s risk analyses since they contribute to normalising securitised border controls in response to irregularised migration.

Characterization of the content and level of human rights protection in the activities of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

The article examines the content and level of human rights protection in the activities of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. It analyzes various aspects of the border agency’s operations, including organizational and legal foundations, methods and forms of control, and personnel training. The importance of clarifying the content of international human rights documents and standards for the effective work of border guard agencies and units is thoroughly discussed. The authors emphasize that knowledge and understanding of these provisions are crucial for law enforcement officers in their daily activities. Emphasis is placed on the fact that understanding the requirements of these documents helps ensure that the actions of the border agency comply with international standards and norms regarding human rights protection. Additionally, it is noted that such activities contribute to the formation of appropriate approaches and behavior among law enforcement officers when dealing with citizens, detaining individuals, and resolving conflict situations. Accordingly, understanding and utilizing international standards is an important element in the professional activities of border guards to ensure the protection of human rights and freedoms. Various approaches and strategies that can be applied to ensure and protect human rights and freedoms during the operational activities of the border service are analyzed. Possible ways to further enhance the effectiveness of this work are highlighted, including improving legislation, increasing personnel qualifications, and implementing new methods and technologies for working with people. Attention is drawn to the importance of developing and implementing a comprehensive approach to ensuring human rights and freedoms in the activities of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, which takes into account various aspects of its functioning and human needs. Such an approach allows optimizing the work of the service with maximum protection of citizens’ rights and freedoms. The conclusion is made about the necessity of restructuring the relationship between border guards and people on the basis of partnership, as well as improving the forms, methods, and means of ensuring human rights and freedoms. It is important that the service personnel adhere to international human rights standards in their activities and continually enhance their competence in this area. The need to improve the efficiency of the border service requires a thorough and systematic scientific analysis of its organizational and legal foundations in this field.

Revolving Doors: How Externalization Policies Block Refugees and Deflect Other Migrants across Migration Routes

AbstractMigrant destination states of the Global North generally seek to stem irregular migration while remaining committed to refugee rights. To do so, these states have increasingly sought to externalize migration control, implicating migrant origin and transit states in managing the movement of persons across borders. But do externalization policies actually have an impact on unauthorized migration flows? If yes, do those impacts vary across different migrant categories given that both asylum seekers and other migrants can cross borders without prior authorization? We argue that these policies do have an impact on unauthorized migration flows and that those impacts are distinct for refugees and other migrants. Using data on “irregular/illegal border crossings” collected by Frontex, the Border and Coast Guard Agency of the European Union (EU), we first find that the geographical trajectories of refugees and other migrants who cross EU borders without authorization are distinct. Using a novel method to estimate whether individuals are likely to obtain asylum in 31 European destination states, we find that “likely refugees” tend to be concentrated on a single, primary migratory route while “likely irregular migrants” may be dispersed across multiple routes. Through an event study analysis of the impact of the 2016 EU–Turkey Statement, a paradigmatic example of externalization, we show that the policy primarily blocked likely refugees while deflecting likely irregular migrants to alternative routes. Our findings ultimately highlight how externalization policies may fail to prevent unauthorized entries of irregular migrants while endangering refugee protection.

Frontex: Transcending the EU Borders

ABSTRACT Does the work of Frontex transform borderlands? The article aims to explore the role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) beyond the EU borders. Challenging the dominant portrayal of Frontex as a technical border control “tool” deployed at the EU borders, this article unpacks Frontex’s impact outside the EU geographic space. Applying the “cultures of border control” analytical framework and analyzing Frontex’s cooperation with third countries, it casts light on Frontex’s cultural impact in the Western Balkan region, using Albania and Serbia as case studies. The article argues that Frontex is expanding and diffusing the EU border control culture beyond the EU borders. This transcends Frontex’s institutional mandate set by its creators and the technical nature of cooperation agreed by its third partners. Actually, through its cultural impact, it both solidifies and expands its role and salience in border control, escaping the EU geographic limits.

The geoeconomics of protecting profits from migrants in maritime distress

AbstractCommercial vessels play a significant role in rescuing migrants on the Mediterranean. There are physical and financial risks to performing these commercial rescues that are poorly understood and often ignored. For ship captains, migrants in maritime distress embody the close linkages between geoeconomic and geopolitical risk. I argue that the negotiation of migrant rescues by commercial shipping captains captures the ways in which geoeconomic and geopolitical security‐seeking discourses become entangled and contradictorily embodied in everyday life and suffering. The rationale and logic that underwrite the securitisation of the supply chain is the discursive site where geopolitical and geoeconomic strategy define the risks in maritime rescue space. This study extends from a conceptual framework that identifies the spatial structuring of an ongoing dialectic between geopolitical and geoeconomic strategy as a defining feature of geoeconomic analyses. The research is based on interviews with 24 maritime professionals and a series of freedom of information requests to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) for information about rescues involving commercial ships. This paper contributes new information on the human geography of maritime rescues that involve commercial ships and migrants in the Central Mediterranean.

Frontex as a hub for surveillance and data sharing: Challenges for data protection and privacy rights

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, more commonly known as Frontex, was established in 2004 with “a view to improving the integrated management of the external borders of the Member States of the European Union.” It was tasked with the responsibility of providing technical support and expertise to Member States in the management of borders. Over the years its mandate has increased considerably through amendments to its legislative framework. This expansion has taken place against a background of serious allegations concerning Frontex's role in violating the fundamental rights of asylum seekers through its involvement in pushback operations – the practice of stopping asylum-seekers and migrants in need of protection at or before they reach the European Union's external border. While Frontex's complicity in pushbacks has been widely examined by academics, its transformation into a major surveillance and data processing hub and its compliance (or lack thereof) with the fundamental rights to privacy and protection of personal data have received limited academic attention.This paper traces the evolution of Frontex over the years and fundamental rights implications of the transformation of its role.

Methodical apparatus for risk assessment in decision-making to combat illegal migration at the state border of Ukraine

This study proposes a methodical apparatus for risk assessment when making decisions on combating illegal migration at the state border of Ukraine. This apparatus includes a risk assessment methodology, a set of risk assessment indicators and criteria for combating illegal migration, a model of illegal migration risk assessment and a model for choosing the processing method. The goal that was set during the methodology development involves the following main stages: forming a set of indicators and criteria for risk assessment, assessment of the threat impact level (assessment of the threat probability level and the level of the threat’s negative consequences), vulnerability assessment, determining the risk level and the processing method. An expert survey of analysts from the Ukrainian Border Guard Agency was carried out to develop this set of risk assessment indicators and criteria. The proposed set includes new indicators, mathematical assessment models, quantitative values of assessment criteria and considers the influence weight of the main factors on the threat and vulnerability levels. This provides an opportunity to bring the qualitative characteristics of the risk level indicator to the provisions of modern risk management theory to obtain the quantitative value of the risk level, to exclude a subjective factor in assessment and to determine the risk level more accurately. The improved methodical apparatus allows developing of an action strategy aimed at minimizing the negative consequences of risk when making management decisions to combat illegal migration to assess a risk management result using an economic effect indicator.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the limits to effective judicial protection in European Union law

AbstractThe principle of effective judicial protection is a cornerstone of EU law which is predicated on the existence of a complete system of judicial remedies. However, with the expansion of the operational powers of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the consequent fundamental rights concerns, this article challenges the assumption that the EU is based on such a complete system of remedies. By critically reviewing the judicial actions against Frontex before the Court of Justice, this article illustrates the limits to effective judicial protection for migrants attempting to enter the EU. It will be argued that the lack of an effective remedy suggests a violation of the right to good administration. Therefore, this article explores the potential of the bond between judicial protection and good administration to fix the loopholes within the emerging system of shared administration, in which EU agencies progressively interact with national competent authorities.

Decoding Frontex's fragmented accountability mosaic and introducing systemic accountability ‐ System Reset

AbstractIn response to widespread human rights violations involving the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), multiple accountability mechanisms were activated, leading to the resignation of the agency's executive director. Does this mean the current framework can ensure Frontex's overall accountability? Playing with IT metaphors, this article scrutinises Frontex's accountability framework as a whole. It explores a holistic understanding of accountability, which includes judicial and non‐judicial (administrative, democratic, social) accountability mechanisms that can together safeguard the Rule of Law. The article highlights the fragmented and ineffective current accountability framework. It challenges traditional accountability notions and suggests a ‘system reset’, introducing the concept of systemic accountability. Systemic accountability addresses systemic issues underlying consistent rights violations through focused structural solutions. As an accountability model, it can be applied further than Frontex operations to the complex realities of shared administration at external borders, where multiple actors and obscured accountabilities lead to systemic violations.

Expansion without mandates: Border and asylum agencies in European Union migration governance

AbstractThe European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) have experienced increases in available resources and have conducted joint operations with European Union (EU) Member States in recent years. They may be regarded as examples of agencification in border protection and asylum policy, but this paper argues that agencification has proceeded without an expansion in agency mandates. Using Frontex and EASO operations in two Southern European border countries, Cyprus and Greece, as comparative case studies, I show that the two agencies have employed their growing technical, performative, legal and moral resources to legitimize efficient processing of asylum applications in reception centers, and coordinated border protection and more/swifter returns. At the same time, the absence of mandates on final decision‐making has diluted policy accountability and weakened monitoring vis‐à‐vis Member States, with respect to fundamental rights violations and the implementation of EU law. This resource expansion without mandates has allowed EU agencies to resolve long‐standing tensions among Member States and the European Commission in a contested policy area. The analysis has broader implications for the role of agencies in multilevel migration governance.

Entangled Vulnerabilities: Gendered and Racialised Bodies and Borders in EU External Border Security

ABSTRACT The notion of vulnerability is gaining traction in EU border protection. On the one hand, the concept refers to vulnerable migrants and their affectedness by insecurity and violence. On the other, it indicates the susceptibility of borders to irregular crossings and cross-border crime. Both forms of vulnerability are assessed through dedicated procedures under the umbrella of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex. To make sense of these seemingly contradictory conceptual and practical uses of vulnerability, we draw on feminist postcolonial scholarship in security studies and political geography. We argue that a shared colonial matrix of gendered and racialised meanings and problematisations enables analogies between borders and bodies as (un-)deserving of protection. In a discourse-theoretical analysis of Frontex documents, we show how the ambiguous use of vulnerability legitimises the EU border regime and its security practices by constructing EU bordering as neutral and objective and EU borders as objects of care. We conclude that vulnerability becomes increasingly important for normalising the EU’s violent borders in the context of the EU’s broader claims to liberal values of freedom, protection, and human rights.

Modern information and communication technologies in the training of junior border guards in the countries of the European Union

The article characterizes modern information and communication technologies (hereinafter - ICT), which are used in the process of basic training of border guards of the countries of the European Union, with the aim of adapting advanced foreign experience to the system of professional training of junior border service inspectors in departmental educational institutions of the Ukrainian border guard agency. It was found that the use of ICT in the process of professional training of border guards allows to optimize the overall professional development of junior inspectors of the border guard service, motivates the personnel of the border guard department to study new material in a convenient way after classroom hours, ensures the implementation of the principles of mobile learning, expands the range of possible exercises and professionally oriented tasks, which contributes to a better involvement of listeners in the process of learning educational content. The development and implementation of educational ICT in the system of professional training of junior inspectors of the border guard service changes the structure of the cognitive activity of the future specialist, which affects the content of education, determines the renewal of forms, methods and principles of training focused on the use of their independence. The authors sate that considered modern ICT based on web platforms of law enforcement agencies of the European Union countries allow junior border guard service inspectors to take an active position in the process of mastering new knowledge, to independently determine the order, pace, and method of acquiring knowledge, and is currently a key element of the professional training of junior border guard service inspectors in the departmental educational institutions of the Ukrainian border guard agency.

КВАЛІФІКАЦІЙНІ ВИМОГИ ТА МЕТОДИЧНІ ПІДХОДИ ДО НАВЧАННЯ ОПЕРАТОРІВ БЕЗПІЛОТНИХ ЛІТАЛЬНИХ АПАРАТІВ ДЛЯ ПІДРОЗДІЛІВ ДЕРЖАВНОЇ ПРИКОРДОННОЇ СЛУЖБИ УКРАЇНИ

Based on the generalization of the experience of participation of military units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in performing tasks related to the defense of the state, the article formulates requirements and proposes methodological approaches to training of operators of mini-class unmanned aerial vehicles (FPV-drones), which will make it possible to organize targeted training of FPV-drone operators not only in the training centers of the border guard agencies, but also directly in the units and on the basis of relevant volunteer organizations.

RELEVANCE OF COUNTERING THE NEGATIVE INFORMATION AND PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT ON THE PERSONNEL OF A STATE BORDER GUARD AGENCY IN WARTIME

Based on the analysis of the events taking place in Ukraine, during which the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine performs the task of repulsing and deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the authors suggest that the personnel is subjected to information and psychological influences that form a certain information and psychological situation in the field of the state border security. The article substantiates the relevance of countering the negative information and psychological impact on the personnel of a state border guard agency in wartime. Information and psychological influences and military theoretical approaches to characterising their essence have been studied. The unreasonable nature of the information and psychological aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has been emphasised. The necessity of improving the system of ensuring the national security of Ukraine, taking into account the specificity of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, has been revealed. The problematic issues of information and psychological protection of national interests at the state border have been analysed.

ЗАПРОВАДЖЕННЯ СТАНДАРТІВ НАТО ДО ПРОФЕСІЙНОЇ ІНШОМОВНОЇ ПІДГОТОВКИ МАЙБУТНІХ ОФІЦЕРІВ -ПРИКОРДОННИКІВ

Background. Foreign language professional training of future border officers is given considerable attention today, because knowledge of the English language should not only ensure communication between representatives of the law enforcement agencies of different countries, but also ensure their effective and clear interaction, and as a result, ensure the appropriate level of national security. The purpose of the article is to determine the aim, tasks and characteristics of the structure of foreign language professional training of border guard cadets taking into account the integrated professional course of the tactical level of the SBGSU L-1B developed in accordance with NATO standards. Methods. To achieve the aforementioned purpose, the following scientific methods were used: analysis, comparison, substantiation, generalization, systematization of theoretical and practical material. Results. The tactical level of the SBGSU L-1B in accordance with the Model of the "Education throughout the military career" principle implementation provides for the study of the academic discipline "Foreign language for professional direction", which is integrated into the educational-professional program "State Border Security". The study of this academic discipline during the higher education students' training with the integrated tactical level of the SBGSU L-1B is based on the cadets' studying military topics, which involves the mastery of military terminology, connected with the everyday activities of military personnel, their duties, tasks, professional environment, etc. This course involves studying the following topics: Personal data, Basic combat training of the US Army, Profession of a serviceman, Military structure, Sports training, Military base, Military equipment, NATO School. Conclusions. Since the approval of the Concept of Transformation of the Military Education System in accordance with NATO standards, mastering the English language is one of the educational foundations for the professional development of the future officers. Mastering the English language for professional purposes provides the basis for the effective professional level improvement by studying foreign academic sources on modern trends in the field of the state's security and defence, as well as establishes productive cooperation with colleagues from border guard agencies of European and North American countries. Prospects for further research are the development and implementation of the academic discipline "Foreign language for professional purposes (English)" as an educational element of the command course of the tactical level of the SBGSU L-1C, as the next stage of a border guard officer's professional development.

International cooperation of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in countering the challenges of transnational crime and conducting international search for criminals

The article is devoted to the issues of international cooperation of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) to intensify actions aimed strengthening security at own borders, counteracting the challenges of transnational crime and conducting international search for criminals with the help of existing international organizations.
 It is emphasized that Ukraine’s participation in international organizations is an integral part of the state’s foreign policy, which makes it possible to cope with all the negative phenomena and problems that Ukraine is facing in this difficult time.
 The author examines the historical aspects of the establishment and further development of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).
 The author analyzes the role of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in the process of international search for criminals, which is conducted jointly with law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, since the organization provides assistance in searching for criminals using its powerful technical and resource potential.
 Attention is paid to the aims and objectives of the international organization, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) tointensify actions related to strengthening security at own borders and counteracting the challenges of transnational crime.
 The author analyzes the EUROSUR communication channel used by Frontex as a system for exchanging information on the situation on European borders and in the border area.
 The author also discusses the issues of cooperation between law enforcement agencies of Ukraine and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), which includes assistance in sharing experience and previously acquired skills to overcome negative trends occurring at the borders of Ukraine, to strengthen its own security, to counteract the challenges of cross-border crime and to support national authorities in identifying persons on the international wanted list, which is extremely necessary in such a difficult time.

Making pushbacks public: Secrecy, material witnesses and devices of dis/appearance

In early 2021, the European Parliament established the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group (FSWG) to monitor all aspects of the functioning of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The FSWG organized a series of public hearings and carried out a ‘fact-finding’ investigation to gather information and evidence about pushbacks of refugees in the Aegean Sea. By unpacking some of the controversies that emerged during the hearings of the FSWG, I explore how secrecy was practised and strategically employed to obscure the responsibility of Frontex for the reported pushbacks, and how it was contested through the presentation of related evidence. I explain how secrecy and related controversies and struggles over making pushbacks public involve a variety of actors that enrol and interact with a heterogeneous set of objects, including digital, visual and archival traces of violence at sea, as well as databases used to record information about maritime incidents. I argue that secrecy regarding pushbacks is not just about keeping information about people and objects involved in security operations hidden. Secrecy is also produced through the selective recording, (mis)categorization and circulation of information in the name of transparency.

EUROPEAN BORDER AND COAST GUARD STANDING CORPS CATEGORY 1 BASIC TRAINING TOPICALITIES IN ENSURING THE EU BORDER SECURITY

Establishment of the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps Category 1 has been recently the most visible change in the European approach in the management of the EU external borders. The political decision of the EU to have its own law enforcement officers for border protection and migration management and return-related tasks, has manifested a paradigm shift, also in training and education. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) has a leading role in capacity building, for example in terms of providing training for the members of the Category 1. The Agency Regulation provides a legal basis for the statutory staff of the Standing Corps, in particular highlighting the importance of training based on common values and culture, and respect of fundamental rights. The European dimension of the Standing Corps training is underpinned by the legal and ethical responsibilities of the Agency to ensure that the members of the Standing Corps are well trained and fully prepared to perform tasks with executive powers. The main aim of the paper is to explore the establishment of standing corps from the perspective of basic training. The context presented supports the thesis that the initial training serves as the foundation of public agreement and investment for common safety and security. The paper builds upon hands-on experience of the author and draws the general conclusion to prove the thesis based on the legal instruments presented and implementation of basic training editions.

The Evolution and Relevance of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Shaping the Asylum and Migration Securitization Process in the European Union

The aim of the article is to analyze the importance of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in the ongoing process of securitization of asylum and migration in the European Union countries. Therefore, the paper will attempt to answer the following research questions: how has the evolution of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s activities contributed to the ongoing securitisation of asylum and migration in the European Union and can all of Frontex’s core tasks be considered securitisation practices? The article also attempts to attribute Frontex’s main tasks to two types of securitisation practices proposed by Thierry Balzacq: (1) traditional activities that have been implemented to address what are largely perceived as security issues; (2) extraordinary activities, not only in the sense of ‘exceptional’ or ‘illegal’ but more broadly in the sense of ‘unusual’ that is, never before used or rarely used in relation to migration and asylum.

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Protection of the state border of Ukraine is a part and parcel of the state system of ensuring national security. The border detachment as a territorial body in the State Border Service of Ukraine, in accordance with its competence, performs the tasks of ensuring the security of the state border, preventing crimes and administrative offenses related to illegal activities at the state border. The objective need for the effective implementation of the state policy in the sphere of the security of the state border of Ukraine puts forth demands for the further development of scientific approaches to the work of the management bodies of the border detachment in preparation for operational and service activities both in terms of everyday activities and in terms of worsening of the situation at the state border. Considering the current problem that exists today in the course of preparing a border guard detachment for operational and service activity in the next period, the article summarizes the categories of management, management activity. The author defines the notion of preparation for operational and service activities and reveals its structure and content. Preparation of a body (unit) for action is a set of measures aimed at bringing the body (unit) into a state which ensures the fulfilment of the task, direct training of forces and means for protection of the State border, terrain and control over the readiness of the body (unit). It includes planning of actions; organisation of actions; direct preparation of the body (unit) for actions; control of the body's (unit's) readiness for actions. The analysis made it possible to identify several important provisions that define the essence of management, namely: purposeful activity; presence of a subject and an object of management; implementation of managerial influence. The managerial activity of the head (commander) of the state border guard agency (unit) includes several stages: the work of the management bodies to maintain the agency's (unit's) readiness for action (carried out on a regular basis); preparation of the agency (unit) for action and management of the agency (unit) while performing the task (operational management). Taken in its integrity, management activities should ensure progressive development, the transition from lower to higher forms of activity.