The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights watchdog, has accused the EU border agency Frontex of "turning a blind eye towards well-documented systemic human rights violations at Hungary’s Schengen borders." Even after the European Court of Justice had ruled that the extra-judicial pushbacks taking place breached EU law.
Fewer people attempted to enter the EU without authorization in 2020, largely due to coronavirus restrictions, the bloc's border agency said. Syrians were again the largest group of people trying to enter the bloc.
Various European parliamentarians have once again called for the director of Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, to resign over allegations that the European border agency was involved in pushbacks of migrants in Aegean waters between Greece and Turkey.
A German politician wants federal police withdrawn from Aegean maritime patrols if EU border agency Frontex fails to halt migrant "pushbacks." Six forced returns since April have been attributed to the Greek coast guard.
The European Union's border and coast guard agency Frontex has launched an internal investigation after claims it was involved in pushbacks of migrants at Greece’s external borders. It said it does not tolerate rights violations in its activities.
An investigation by a number of European media organizations has found that Frontex, Europe's border security agency, has been involved in several illegal "pushbacks" of asylum seekers crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
On Saturday, October 17, the Montenegrin coastguard told local radio that they had intercepted 52 migrants “with Turkish citizenship” on their way to Italy.
168 migrants tried to cross the western Mediterranean from Morocco to Spain last week with makeshift crafts. Morocco's coast guard said it stopped the attempted crossings and returned the migrants to Morocco.
European border agency Frontex has reported a 14% drop in the number of "illegal border crossings" at Europe's external borders in the first eight months of 2020 to 60,800 compared to the same period last year. In August, numbers were down 30% on July, the agency said on September 10.
Irregular migrant arrivals to Europe are picking up again, after record lows in April due to COVID-19 restrictions. The number of people reaching Italy and Malta by boat more than doubled from June to July.
German soldiers have filed reports saying that they had repeatedly observed migrant boats in the Mediterranean being pushed back into Turkish waters. The German dpa news agency said it had information chronicling at least three such instances in June 2020 alone.
A year after she was arrested for bringing 53 rescued migrants ashore in Italy without permission, sea captain Carola Rackete says nothing has fundamentally changed for migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The German activist also endorsed a campaign against the EU border agency Frontex.