Frontex accountability for human rights violations in the wake of ineffective remedies

• Department of Law

This session of the EUI Human and Fundamental Rights Working Group explores the accountability of Frontex for human rights violations.

In recent years, EU agencies have witnessed an enormous development of their mandates, tasks, and activities by moving from a traditional role of coordination to a new one of initiative and decision-making. And today, some of them are important players in the field of fundamental rights as evidenced by the attention to their protection that also plays an important role in the regulations governing their activities. In this context, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency’s (Frontex) is at the centre of a heated debate about when ‘illegal situations’ occur during its operation that may put human rights at risk. The 2019/1896 Regulation establishes an accountability and human rights system within the Agency and provides for bodies responsible for receiving and handling complaints. In view of this consideration, it is necessary to analyse the extent to which Frontex fulfils its human rights obligations under its extended mandate, how it deals with alleged violations and which remedies are de facto available in the context of its action in light of the last Regulation.

Silvia Rizzuto is a PhD candidate in European Law at the University of Luxembourg where she works as a researcher for the Doctoral Training Unit on Enforcement in Multi-Level Regulatory Systems (DTU REMS II), as well as at the University of Bologna School of Law (cotutelle de thèse). Her PhD research focuses on legal remedies and the effectiveness of law enforcement tools related to migration control at the EU’s external borders. She graduated in Law from the University of Trento, holds an LL.M in EU Law from University Paris II Panthéon Assas and she is a qualified lawyer registered to the Italian National Bar Council.