External Borders Research Articles

Spreading the Standards and Values of the European Union beyond the Borders of the European Integration Area

The globalizing world has forced various actors to look beyond their borders and establish relationships with other actors, in order to reflect the current demands of society. The European Union (EU) was able to reflect on this situation very effectively, since the impact of the European integration process does not end only at the external borders of its member states. The main objective of the article was to define the European Union as an important geopolitical actor that can effectively spread its values and norms across the entire political map of the world. The scope of the EU's external impact beyond the borders of the European integration area was identified through the theoretical approaches of inter-regionalism and External Governance. The author analysed how the EU can spread values and standards towards selected groups of actors, namely candidate countries, countries of EU neighbourhood and other regional integration organizations. The emphasis was not only on the process of how the EU can spread its norms and values, but also on how they are accepted by the affected actors. The large scale and institutionalized form of the EU's external impact documents the effort to actively act beyond its external borders. The spread of values and norms towards external actors contributes to the strengthening of the geopolitical position, where the EU represents an actor with a wide global reach. In addition, the article offered a prognosis of which actors will likely to be exposed to stronger external influence from the EU in the coming years.

Pupil Detection for Automatic Diagnosis of Eye Diseases Using Optimized Color Mapping

Introduction: Pupil and iris disorders form an important category of eye diseases. Accurate segmentation of the pupil is the first and most important step in the automatic diagnosis of diseases related to the pupil and iris. Most of the existing methods do not have enough accuracy and are sensitive to the effects of noise and specular spot reflection. In addition, the images used in these methods usually have limitations, such as the viewing angle . Method: In the proposed algorithm, a stable method is offered to remove the effects of specular spot reflection in the pupil, and necessary preprocessing is done to detect the exact location of the pupil. An optimized color mapping algorithm is proposed and the mapping is calculated with the help of the LM algorithm to accurately determine the pupil boundary. This method does not impose any restrictions on the eye image and shape, and the angle of the pupil in the image can be in any shape and direction . Results: The proposed method does not assume any specific model as the final pupil boundary (circle or oval) and is robust to noise and specular reflection factors as well. This method has been able to accurately detect the pupil boundary with the accuracy of 98.8% using UBIRIS dataset and 98% using the collected data by authors . Conclusion: The method presented in this paper can be used to increase the accuracy in determining the internal and external border of the iris to diagnose diseases related to the pupil and iris, as well as identity identification based on iris tissue.

E-Securing the EU Borders: AI in European Integrated Border Management

In the European Union, the external borders were not always conceived as European ones. However, after experiencing a range of threats, the European policymakers identified external borders' importance to European security. Not forgetting that borders are connected with national authority, the EU through Frontex has made progressive steps towards a coordinated or even common border management. The main tools to achieve that are the shared European IT systems. Their enhanced capabilities, mostly based on Artificial Intelligence, will further establish the European Smart Borders. There is a complex "network” of IT border systems already operating or prospect automated ones that are necessary to be resilient and align with core fundamental rights.

The Persistent, Pernicious Use of Pushbacks against Children and Adults in Search of Safety

Border pushbacks, including at the European Union’s external borders and by countries such as Australia, Mexico, Turkey, and the United States, are common—and in fact have become a new normal. These border policing or other operations aim to prevent people from reaching, entering, or remaining in a territory. Screening for protection needs is summary or non-existent. Pushbacks violate the international prohibitions of collective expulsion and refoulement, and pushbacks of children are inconsistent with the best interests principle and other children’s rights standards. Excessive force, other ill-treatment, family separation, and other rights violations may also accompany pushback operations. Despite formidable obstacles such as weak oversight mechanisms, undue judicial deference to the executive, and official ambivalence, domestic court rulings and other initiatives show some promise in securing compliance with international standards and affording a measure of accountability.

Organizational and legal mechanism for ensuring EU migration security

Introduction. Modern security threats are becoming more and more widespread in the world, intensifying within the borders of the European Union. Migration is increasingly viewed through the prism of security in a particular country or even in the entire region, such as, for instance, European Union. Problem. Ukraine’s European integration aspirations make it necessary to study the common immigration policy of the European Union through the prism of the organizational and legal mechanism for ensuring security in this area. The aim of the study is to define the common immigration policy of the European Union through the prism of the organizational and legal mechanism for ensuring security in this area, as well as formulating proposals for its improvement. Methods. The methods of legal analysis, historical, and systemic analysis are applied. Results. The creation of the Schengen area with a common external border and no internal borders necessitated the adoption of EU supranational legislation, in particular to guarantee the security of this area. Since the Tampere Program in 1999, all five-year development plans have emphasized the security dimensions of migration. The Frontex agency was created to fulfill the goals of the EU’s common immigration policy and to strengthen the protection of the EU’s external border. The intro­duction of data collection systems contributes to the identification of persons and early warning and prevention of threats. Conclusions. In order to strategically reduce the risks associated with migration, it is important to strengthen the protection of the external border of the EU, intensify the control of the influx of citizens of third countries, and ensure an adequate integration policy. In particular, it is necessary to improve tools for data collection and processing, develop and implement new technologies for detecting illegal migrants, ensuring security at external and internal borders; improve integration policy. Only a compre­hensive approach to improving the organizational and legal mechanism for ensuring migration security will help to cope with modern challenges and threats that may cause migration flows to the EU.

The crisis of the Common European Asylum System: rethinking solidarity in light of Human Rights

In 2015, the unprecedented arrival of refugees and irregular migrants in the European Union (EU) put a strain on the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), thus exposing a number of deficiencies in EU external border, asylum and migration policy. The need to reform the system became urgent and the EU was presented with both a challenge and an opportunity to further advance towards a much-needed consensual and long-term solution for the harmonisation of the asylum system, standing on the basis of solidarity and responsibility-sharing. This paper argues that the new comprehensive approach to migration and asylum praised by the European Commission (EC) is still missing in the recent Pact on Migration and Asylum of 2020, which represents more a missed opportunity than the real reform that the CEAS needs. The chosen legislative path, the dualistic understanding concerning the approach to migrants, and the new solidarity mechanism envisioned in the Pact show how the lack of consensus among Member States, the tendency towards the creation of a “Fortress Europe”, and an asymmetric idea of inter-state solidarity prevail, preventing the development of a common European framework for migration management that is both effective and in line with the EU’s values and objectives. This paper further argues that, if the EU fails to shift the paradigm of solidarity, the system is at risk of remaining fractured and incapable of withstanding the future challenges of migration. A new framework must be grounded on the principle of solidarity, as defined in the Article 80 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) which, in turn, needs to move from a state-centred approach to a concept of solidarity based on affected individuals, thus setting its foundations on a human rights basis. The EU needs, in fact, to strongly step up as a humanitarian actor and place protection and responsibility-sharing at the centre of its agenda: the protection of fundamental human rights in its territory and beyond is at stake.

Migration violence at the state border (MVSB)

Aim: The aim of the study is to show whether there has been a significant change in the phenotypical pattern of irregular inward migration at Hungary's Schengen external border since 2015.Methodology: Using the tools of scientific research methodology, the Author conducts domestic and international source research and media studies. By analysing and evaluating data requested from the data controller, the Author prepares a summary assessment, which can be used to interpret the migration elements under investigation, describe the processes, and hypothesis.Findings: Based on the results of the research underlying the study, it can be concluded that in the course of irregular migration activities in the Schengen external border of Hungary – in particular in Serbia – verbal aggression against physical elements and persons guarding the state border was followed by physical attacks.Value: Based on research methodological findings, the study presents the typological changes in irregular migration actions in the Serbian border area of Hungary in recent years and the emergence of verbal and physical violence by those seeking to enter illegally.

Wykorzystywanie systemów sztucznej inteligencji (SI) na zewnętrznych granicach Unii Europejskiej. Możliwości, zagrożenia i wyzwania

The European Union and its Member States are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to enhance border controls. This is one of the manifestations of a broader trend of moving towards the so-called smart borders of the Union. This article presents EU initiatives on the development and implementation AI-based digital technologies to improve the control and security of the Union’s external borders. The main directions of the use of AI were analyzed, i.e. in the field of automatic recognition of fingerprints and faces, emotion detection, algorithmic profiling and monitoring, analysis and forecasting of migration. The aim of the article is, on the one hand, to show that the careful implementation and use of AI-based technology for border control can bring many benefits. On the other hand, however, these benefits must be balanced with the significant threat posed by these technologies to the protection of the fundamental rights of the individual.

Push and back: The ripple effect of EU border externalisation from Croatia to Iran

Pushbacks have become a key feature of EU migration controls since 2015. As this article argues, practices of pushbacks stretch from EU spaces, such as Croatia, to its external borders and neighbouring countries, reaching as far as Iran. Although pushback tactics and their consequences are widely discussed in public, activist, policy debates, and by refugees themselves; academic literature has a limited engagement with pushbacks and their effects. To address this gap, we set up the concepts of “push” and “back” to question the ripple effect of informal and violent border controls that occurs transversely in multiple geopolitical contexts and timelines of migratory journeys. The article draws on ethnographic fieldwork in two border locations: the Croatian border with Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Turkey-Iran border. We argue that the EU’s governance of its external border encourages identical practices of “push” to different locations. We show that “pushes” generate multi-layered violence enmeshed in the local security (and at times militarized) contexts when people are “back”; or forcibly returned to their starting locations. The analysis of “push” and “back” contributes to the literature on the EU externalisation of migration governance and border violence, which we examine through informal and violent border practices inside and outside of the EU.

The Migration Crisis on the Polish–Belarusian Border

Abstract The crisis on the Polish–Belarusian border resulting in the unregulated migration of foreigners into the territory of Poland was inspired and supported by the Belarusian regime and was aimed at destabilizing the situation in the region. Poland was therefore forced to take action to protect the national border, which is also the external border of the European Union. However, some of the legal solutions that were adopted raise questions about their legality.

Vulnerable People or Vulnerable Borders?

The concept of vulnerability is blurred and often evoked in the context of refugee and forced migrant women. Paradoxically, it is also employed by the EU with regard to its external border security. Thus, the question arises of how the EU conceptualizes vulnerability in its external migration policies and who is perceived to be vulnerable – refugees and migrants, or external borders? Using a systematic lexical keyword search to identify relevant policy aims in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, the latest policy agenda on migration and asylum of the EU Commission published in September 2020, this paper highlights the mostly one-dimensional concept of vulnerability in external EU policies. In this article, it is argued that this entails significant gendered implications for asylum-seekers and migrants en route to Europe. It further reveals the detrimental effects for migrants and refugees caused by the EU’s focus and prioritization of its vulnerable borders. Ultimately, this paper by adopting a gendered lens calls into question whether the European Commission fully incorporates human rights commitments in its policy guidance on asylum and migration.

Testing and evaluation of the Automated Border Control System

AbstractAim: The aim of the study is to present the circumstances and results of the operational test and evaluation of the Automated Border Control System to be implemented in 2021 on the Hungarian-Ukrainian (Schengen external) border. The focus is on the operational efficiency of the system.Methodology: Through document and content analysis, we examined the theoretical and legal background of the system, its regulatory environment, and in order to achieve the results, we carried out a qualification measurement based on tool- and method-specific criteria.Findings: Measurements and evaluations have shown that, in terms of the ratio between the human resources used in border checks and the time taken to carry out the checks, the checks carried out by the automated border control system have proved to be more efficient.Value: The testing and evaluation of the kiosks and automated (fixed) gates that make up the components of the Automated Border Control System at Schengen external land border crossing points has not been carried out before in Hungary, and therefore this study and the study based on it are unique i n the border policing area.

3D pyramidal densely connected network with cross-frame uncertainty guidance for intravascular ultrasound sequence segmentation

Objective. Automatic extraction of external elastic membrane border (EEM) and lumen-intima border (LIB) in intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) sequences aids atherosclerosis diagnosis. Existing IVUS segmentation networks ignored longitudinal relations among sequential images and neglected that IVUS images of different vascular conditions vary largely in intricacy and informativeness. As a result, they suffered from performance degradation in complicated parts in IVUS sequences. Approach. In this paper, we develop a 3D Pyramidal Densely-connected Network (PDN) with Adaptive learning and post-Correction guided by a novel cross-frame uncertainty (CFU). The proposed method is named PDN-AC. Specifically, the PDN enables the longitudinal information exploitation and the effective perception of size-varied vessel regions in IVUS samples, by pyramidally connecting multi-scale 3D dilated convolutions. Additionally, the CFU enhances the robustness of the method to complicated pathology from the frame-level (f-CFU) and pixel-level (p-CFU) via exploiting cross-frame knowledge in IVUS sequences. The f-CFU weighs the complexity of IVUS frames and steers an adaptive sampling during the PDN training. The p-CFU visualizes uncertain pixels probably misclassified by the PDN and guides an active contour-based post-correction. Main results. Human and animal experiments were conducted on IVUS datasets acquired from atherosclerosis patients and pigs. Results showed that the f-CFU weighted adaptive sampling reduced the Hausdorff distance (HD) by 10.53%/7.69% in EEM/LIB detection. Improvements achieved by the p-CFU guided post-correction were 2.94%/5.56%. Significance. The PDN-AC attained mean Jaccard values of 0.90/0.87 and HD values of 0.33/0.34 mm in EEM/LIB detection, preferable to state-of-the-art IVUS segmentation methods.

BORDER CHECKS OF PERSONS DURING A PANDEMIC PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

The article is a study of border checks (hereinafter BCs) of persons during a pandemic – a study of problems and possible solutions. BC problems at different border crossing points (BCPs) are analysed in the study – their importance and possible solutions. In this article, the authors study the influence of a pandemic on efficient performance of the duties of the State Border Guard (hereinafter the SBG) and design recommendations to improve the work of the SBG. The research aim is to study BCs of persons during a pandemic, associated problems and possible solutions, make an evaluation, conclusions, and recommendations. Research objectives: - Analyse the legal regulations for BCs of persons during a pandemic; - Study the specifications of BCs of persons during the Covid-19 pandemic; - Study the problems associated with BCs of persons during the Covid-19 pandemic at different types of border crossing points, perform an analysis and suggest possible solutions. Primary methods used: Analysis and qualitative methods. Main results – find possible solutions to the problems associated with BCs of persons during a pandemic. The European Union (hereinafter the EU) is striving to improve the protection of its external borders by suggesting various modern solutions. The EU border management policies are met with the influx of refugees and migrants in unprecedented numbers, which has also uncovered deficiencies in the EU policy concerning external borders and migration. The EU is also facing the Covid-19 pandemic and the increase in security problems. The State Border Guard officers have to adapt to new and strained working conditions, have to be able to provide themselves with all the necessary personal protection equipment; if necessary, send officers to serve in other units and test their ability to cooperate with other institutions at a completely different level. They have to be able to successfully ensure the security of the state border in accordance with the requirements of the EU, as well as perform priority tasks in accordance with the situation in any conditions.

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 missing piece. The perceived marginalization of CSOs and HRGs in SOSTs’ decision-making processes: a review

This review represents the first contribution of a research diptych which stems from the activities implemented in the framework of the H2020 ARESIBO project (Augmented Reality Enriched Situation awareness for Border security). The general objective of ARESIBO is to improve the efficiency of border surveillance systems by providing the operational teams, as well as the tactical command and control level with accurate and comprehensive information related to border control considering different issues and perspectives. These perspectives also include the analysis of the level of engagement and the (possible) enhancement of citizens’ involvement in the development and decision making related to border surveillance. The principal human rights and migration International Organisations (IOs), as well as EU institutions dealing with security and external borders (i.e., Frontex), agree and state that human rights groups (HRGs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) should be more involved and integrated in border surveillance. That stated, the main goal of this paper is to analyse this perceived marginalisation of CSOs and HRGs, as it emerges from several HRGs’ and CSOs’ statements on that regard in order to explore the reasons of this perceived marginalisation, as well as the elements that on the contrary seem to make this marginalisation less sustantial. The results of this systematic review in the framework of ARESIBO led to the elaboration of an innovative participatory model that will be analysed in detail in the second article of this research diptych, entitled “Towards the engagement of citizens in SOSTs decision-making: participatory models setting a common ground for border surveillance and respect of fundamental rights. The case of ARESIBO H2020 project”.

Fencing the Desert: Contexts and Politics of the Gulf Border Walls

ABSTRACT The borders of the Gulf states reflect neither historical development nor equitable demographic and geographic distribution. Rather, they were mainly generated by colonial powers for political and economic purposes. This artificial delimitation created new national identities and left many territorial disputes between the Gulf states and their neighbors, which still affect their bilateral relations and the regional subsystem. Security threats and suspicious relations between the Gulf countries have prompted them to unilaterally secure their borders with physical and virtual walls. The first border wall in the Gulf was erected by Kuwait after its liberation from the Iraqi invasion in 1991. After that, the number of border walls in the region has doubled. Today, the Gulf is the most walled region in the world. It is, in fact, a complex border fencing that applies to both external and internal regional borders. In addition to security and political reasons, these walls reflect how these borders were created and how the gulf states themselves were established. Despite the large expenditures on these border fortifications, their effectiveness in achieving security remains controversial.

Governing Through Scalar Elasticity: An Analysis of the Accountability Gap in Migration Control in the Central Mediterranean

Accountability has become elusive in the context of migration control, especially at the external borders of the EU. In the Central Mediterranean, a regime of cooperative interdiction has developed since 2017 whereby migrants fleeing the North African shores by boat are intercepted and forcibly returned to Libya, without ever entering European jurisdiction. This article scrutinises practices of strategic litigation by Italian lawyers who have sought to destabilise this regime of externalised control, which emerged after the 2017 Libya–Italy Memorandum of Understanding. It outlines the difficulties of litigation seeking to challenge deterrence measures and shows the variety of actions lawyers have had to come up with to address Europe and Italy's role in this system. The analysis of this litigation sheds light on the dynamic shape that both sovereignty and migration control take on in transnational contexts of governance, and how legal scales become blurred across local, national, and international jurisdictions. I argue that accountability for migration control is rendered elusive by the fact that Europe's external maritime border is governed via scalar elasticity. In practice, this is a form of governance that takes place across a multiplicity of legal scales, whilst authoritatively referring to statist scalar visions

Studying International Migration as a Continuum between External and Internal Borders

Taking as a starting point a comparative juxtaposition of border situations observed in different field sites during my ethnographic research, this article offers a theoretical and epistemological reflection on how the border is conceptualized and constructed as an object in the study of international migration. It describes how, during my work focused on capturing the effects of the border and the border as an effect, the attention paid to the temporalities and spatialities of borders led me to develop the idea of a continuum and an interconnection between external borders (understood here as territorial borders) and internal borders (understood here as borders of institutional categories) over the course of migration experiences. This interpretive framework aims to respond to a dual challenge: addressing the border as a multifaceted process and experience, without “drowning” it in analysis and ending up with an object that is simultaneously a signifier and signified everywhere and therefore nowhere.

Watching the Guards: Ensuring Compliance with Fundamental Rights at the External Borders

Watching the Guards: Ensuring Compliance with Fundamental Rights at the External Borders