@stavinoha.bsky.social
Associate Prof in Media and Global Development @ University of East Anglia Researching borders & camps | resistance & solidarity | transparency, #FOI & public spheres
Frontex has once again failed to comply in full with the @ombudsman.europa.eu - this time after it was found guilty of maladministration over its refusal to disclose two major opinions issued by its Fundamental Rights Officer.
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/case/en/6...
In a damning internal report, @frontex.bsky.social concludes that its partners-in-crime - the Bulgaria border police - are responsible for abandoning three children, who were left to freeze to death last winter.
www.dw.com/bg/lzite-na-...
#Bulgarien ließ minderjährige Migranten erfrieren. Ein nun veröffentlichter #Frontex-Bericht sieht die Schuld bei den Grenztruppen des Landes – die leugnen das Offensichtliche:
www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1195...
No doubt, Frontex will brush these findings aside; there will be no serious follow-up actions. One need only consider the tepid recommendations issued by the FRO: no call for the officers responsible to be sanctioned or banned from taking part in Frontex's Joint Operation.
22.11.2025 12:18 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Ultimately, the deaths of Ahmed Samra, Ahmed Elavdan and Seyfala Elbeltagi do not matter, as much as the lives of these kids never did. That is why they were left to die. Their death is an inconvenience, perversely appropriated by Frontex to justify its presence.
21.11.2025 15:58 — 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
In a damning internal report, @frontex.bsky.social concludes that its partners-in-crime - the Bulgaria border police - are responsible for abandoning three children, who were left to freeze to death last winter.
www.dw.com/bg/lzite-na-...
There’s a lot of gaslighting involved in pursuing access to these sorts of documents. Frontex's legal team has turned legalistic bullshitting into an art form. So it’s reassuring that the European Ombudsman sees straight through it — and calls it out for what it is.
21.11.2025 11:58 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Frontex is also refusing to release details of what its internal fundamental rights watchdog recommended to tackle the systematic underreporting of rights violations against migrants witnessed by its own officers:
balkaninsight.com/2024/09/06/e...
The result? 18 months later, EU citizens are still denied their right to know what measures were recommended to address the torture, the beatings, the disappearances occurring in Frontex operations in Bulgaria.
www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decod...
So is this another victory in the battle against Frontex’s obstinacy? Yes. But, as always with FX, the devil is in the details. Not only did Frontex insist on maintaining its redactions of the FRO’s “recommendations” on legally nebulous grounds — it refused to acknowledge it had done anything wrong.
21.11.2025 11:58 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Access to documents is not a bureaucratic nicety or a favour granted by Frontex. It’s a "special fundamental right", as the ECJ has recognised. When authorities violate it, they weaken every citizen’s ability to take part in democratic life.
21.11.2025 11:58 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
It's clear that these documents should never have been kept secret. I should never have had to go to the Ombudsman for redress. They should have been released when I first requested them in May 2024. Crucially, the Ombudsman found that Frontex's use of the 'public security' exception was baseless.
21.11.2025 11:58 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Frontex has once again failed to comply in full with the @ombudsman.europa.eu - this time after it was found guilty of maladministration over its refusal to disclose two major opinions issued by its Fundamental Rights Officer.
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/case/en/6...
Btw 2020 and 2021 Europol landed enormous volumes of data as a part of three mega-hack operations that dismantled encrypted communication systems. This would become the starting point of the agency's AI ambitions. New investigation out with @giacomoza.bsky.social and @stavinoha.bsky.social
13.11.2025 08:14 — 👍 8 🔁 6 💬 1 📌 0
Shall we care about Europol? The answer is... Read our latest investigation to catch a glimpse about what the agency is doing to accelerate the AI transformation of policing across the EU, with minimal safeguards. www.computerweekly.com/news/3666344...
13.11.2025 14:05 — 👍 8 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 0
On 24th October, we are launching a new #Index on International Media Freedom Support (IMFS) - which evaluates and ranks countries based on their support for #mediafreedom globally.
It highlights well performing states in #diplomacy #funding + #safety + some concerning trends
lnkd.in/e_gC_Q-m
#Frontex published 138 page document for "European Border Surveillance Reference Architecture". It investigates police and military technologies for their use in border surveillance.
Dystopic!
prd.frontex.europa.eu/wp-content/t...
I'm not sure what's more abhorrent. The glee on the faces of these genocidal monsters. Or the sycophants from Europe and beyond who wash their crimes clean with sickly praise and adulation.
14.10.2025 09:50 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0bsky.app/profile/stav...
30.09.2025 12:01 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Reminder: Europol refuses to delete personal data of thousands of people-including humanitarian activists-unlawfully transferred by Frontex for almost a decade.
30.09.2025 12:01 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Despite the stories of mass arrests, most “smugglers” jailed in Greece are asylum-seekers who were coerced into driving boats.
Fast-track trials and flawed evidence raise serious concerns about justice. #EMIF @voxeurop.bsky.social
wearesolomon.com/mag/format/f...
NEW: French police have caused the deaths of dozens of people by intercepting small boats at sea
These violent tactics are deployed now off the French overseas island of Mayotte
Under pressure from the UK, France now plans to start intercepting boats in the Channel
This is where that could lead ⬇️
Frontex doesn't like to hear its 'voluntary' interviews of people arriving at Europe's shores being described as covert 'interrogations'. Why? Because it has no legal mandate to interrogate and criminalise migrants.
Yet, that is precisely what's happening in Spain.
elpais.com/espana/2025-...
Παρά την ποινική δίωξη εις βάρος τους, το σύνολο των λιμενικών που εμπλέκονται στο ναυάγιο της Πύλου παραμένουν σε ενεργό υπηρεσία.
Ο κυβερνήτης του ΠΠΛΣ-920 έχει προαχθεί.
@giorgoschristides.bsky.social @supergalactica.bsky.social @wearesolomon.bsky.social
wearesolomon.com/el/mag/forma...
Frontex’s budget stands at €1 billion.
Yet it demands €7,680 in legal fees from a refugee who endured seven pushbacks and dared to fight back.
The EU’s legal system is designed to deter, not protect.
👉 www.publico.es/sociedad/mig...
Full access to the story here: archive.li/2025.09.08-0...
09.09.2025 08:55 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0A review of multiple court rulings shows how debriefings fuel the criminalization of boat drivers, with Frontex officers identifying suspects and potential witnesses. In some cases, Spanish officers assigned to Frontex, who interviewed the migrants, even appeared as witnesses in court proceedings.
09.09.2025 08:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0With @lolahierro.bsky.social & @balkanizator.bsky.social we reveal that, despite recent changes in protocols, Frontex 'debriefings' continue to be (ab)used to obtain information about smuggling suspects - often ordinary migrants criminalized for driving boats - without lawyers and legal safeguards.
09.09.2025 08:54 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Frontex doesn't like to hear its 'voluntary' interviews of people arriving at Europe's shores being described as covert 'interrogations'. Why? Because it has no legal mandate to interrogate and criminalise migrants.
Yet, that is precisely what's happening in Spain.
elpais.com/espana/2025-...
Frontex and Spanish police claim they do not covertly interrogate newly arrived migrants.
But evidence we obtained suggests otherwise, casting serious doubts about compliance with EU data protection rules and the alleged voluntary nature of 'debriefing' interviews.
elpais.com/espana/2025-...
