Monday , March 27 2023
Home / News / Society / Very Mix / Frontex accuses NGOs of collusion with migrant smugglers

Frontex accuses NGOs of collusion with migrant smugglers

The EU border agency Frontex has been accusing non-governmental organizations and charities involved in sea rescue of collusion with migrant smugglers. According to confidential reports seen by the Financial Times, the Frontex charges open up a long-simmering dispute between EU officials and   NGOs operating in the Mediterranean Sea over how to solve the migration crisis.

Frontex put its concerns in a confidential report last month, raising the idea that migrants had been given “clear indications before departure on the precise direction to be followed in order to reach the NGOs’ boats”.

The agency made the accusation explicitly in another report last week, which stated: “First reported case where the criminal networks were smuggling migrants directly on an NGO vessel”.

Elsewhere in the reports, Frontex says people rescued by NGO vessels were often “not willing to co-operate with debriefing experts at all” with some claiming “that they were warned [by NGOs] not to co-operate with Italian law enforcement or Frontex”.

The number of rescues triggered by a distress signal fell from roughly two-thirds of all incidents this summer to barely one in 10 in October, according to Frontex figures. This drop-off coincided with a jump in the number of rescues carried out by NGOs in the central Mediterranean. They responded to more than 40 per cent of rescues in October, compared with just 5 per cent at the start of the year. (full story Financial Times)

Charities like Médecins Sans Frontières and German Sea Watch operating in the region reacted angrily to the accusations.

They say a drop in distress calls from boats carrying migrants has been due to increased rescue efforts, meaning that people were picked up before their situation worsened.

The European Commission is examining whether stricter control of non-governmental rescue missions is needed, although officials stressed that legislation was unlikely.

NGOs have played a crucial role in saving thousands of lives in the central Mediterranean Sea.

Is now the Frontex trying to criminalize the efforts of the NGOs?

This year alone, 4,700 people have died on their way to Europe. Last year the death toll was 3,800.

Check Also

Military parade 25. March: How Metro, Tram, Buses operate in central Athens

There will be changes in the Athens Metro and Tram services on Saturday due to …

34 comments

  1. Given that all the activities of the EU and Frontex concerning refugee flows are illegal, it is a fucking cheek that they dare to accuse NGOs of following international law and refusing to cooperate with illegal activities coming largely from fascist governments in eastern EU countries.
    ~
    Of course, this is typical of the EU: painting black as white, and white as black — exactly as they have done with the eurozone crisis and the banking crisis. Blaming the weak for not having power, and asserting the moral rights of the powerful is openly fascist. Europe now operates largely outside the rule of law.

    • Expert has spoken. Couldnt help yourself could you. Illegal, racist and fascist are words you have on frequent rotation. Tell us how you travel the world and lecture people like you do here on economic migrants I’d be surprised if moderator allows this comments. He’s been blocking free speech lately

  2. heated yes..swearing and foul language no. no need to when you have a argument based on facts not your own opinion. only people who swear and use words like moron, racist,nazi etc stoop to that level as cant deal with reality and cant respond to facts and figures.

    • The fact is that you express racist and fascist opinions. I express opinions which are based on the rule of law and occasionally my personal opinion on how human beings should behave — i.e. not like pieces of shit. But you are quite free (at least on this site) to post your shitty opinions.

      • guys, from now on no comment containing the words you throw at each other will be approved

        • KTG: if you allow racist comments to be posted here, you also have to allow decent human beings to point out that certain people are posting racist comments. I am sure that all your followers here (minus the few racists) will agree.

          • sure. you can argue without the usual attacks, can’t you

          • Look at the evidence, and stop listening to the fascists here. Journalists have a bad habit of giving space and credence to fascists.
            ~
            What I stated in my first post on this thread, is:
            (1) an attack on the EU and Frontex for their illegal conduct
            (2) an attack on the fascist conduct of eastern EU countries
            (3) the assertion “Blaming the weak for not having power, and asserting the moral rights of the powerful is openly fascist”.
            ~
            None of these things is a personal attack on anyone here. Yet you allowed this person “Stelios” to post the response:
            “Expert has spoken. Couldnt help yourself could you. Illegal, racist and fascist are words you have on frequent rotation.”
            ~
            This poster then manipulated you, by expressing the view that you would censor his post.
            ~
            In my view, you should either block all personal attacks or leave them all to appear. You are moderating inconsistently and then blaming others.

          • I have to disagree. We clashed in the past where I used arguments and statistical information from UNHCR against your arguements. I also used your own arguments against you to prove you wrong. You called me nazi and a fascist among other things in return.
            And regarding these NGO’s: there are indicators that these NGOs were colluding with people traffickers. That makes them accessory to people trafficking.

          • You made incorrect arguments and persisted with a delusion that y9u were right. And you make the same error here, claiming that smugglers are actually “traffickers” and that the NGOs are collaborating with criminals. I consider this to be an extreme right wing view, although whether one is entitled to call it Fascist or Nazi is debatable.

            For the record, it is quite clear that there almost all migrant arrivals in Greece are via smugglers. So kindly stop your right wing propaganda and lies. It is also very clear that without the help of NGOs on the islands and in Greece generally, thousands of people (if not tens of thousands) would have died. Your cynical and lazy attitude to this terrible situation is again very right wing indeed.

          • I am not going to rake up that whole debate again. Perhaps KTG can insert the link to that thread were I destroyed you with stats and your own “arguments”. Again you utter the words nazi, fascist, extreme right wing, etc. That fits into the narrative that communist and Marxists use when they can’t win the debate with reason and arguments. Underneath the venere for moral superiority that these leftist Gutmensch employ, militancy is never far away. Anti-fascism is the new fascism.
            I wanted to counter your reply to me with showing you stats how the criminality in Germany is out of control with thousands of small and big crimes committed by migrants but I keep it to:
            9 dead and 50 wounded in truck attack in Berlin.
            Europe is turned into Bosnia and the Left is responsible for that.
            Communism is a curse.

          • Since my profession is to compile and analyse datat, you can be sure that your amateurish efforts did not confound me. You are posting right wing crap, and that is all I have to say.

          • Giaourti Giaourtaki

            It’s still not verified it was terrorism in Berlin, the arrested refugee from Pakistan was released proven innocent.
            Still possible is just a criminal background of hijacking or a freak accident. Any way the truck “only” hit a corner of the market, means for killing many like in Nizza he took the “wrong” road with a curve and in the attack he wasn’t really fast either, although he was very fast from the point where he’d stolen the truck getting to the market, nobody is sure now if someone without any Berlin street-knowledge can manage this but the latter is not really official as the GPS-data were published by media, not by police – but from these data the driver also may be was three times training/trying to drive the truck in the afternoon.
            You probably don’t know that the term “Gutmensch” was invented by German anarchist comedian called Wiglaf Droste? It’s always funny how right wingers occupy left culture, fashion and invention and even don’t stop from playing black music, but already the Nazis in Cheeseburg of the 1940ies did that too with Swing music.

          • Ok let’s deal with facts.

            Today economic migrants destroyed mitilini shops
            Yesterday Greek church was defaced and writen on walls in Arabic Allah is great
            My car was broken into by economic migrants last summer
            How many times have the economic migrant camps been set on fire by ones who are being looked after there?
            75% of economic migrants in denmark lying about their ages for increased benefits
            Sexual assaults in Germany since 2015?
            Sexual assaults NYE Germany. Newly 2300 assaults and 23 reported rapes
            How many underage children being raped since 2015 by economic migrants? One even claimed it was a sexual emergency?
            Terror attacks since 2015 in Europe?
            No go areas in Greece and France and Belgium Germany due to economic migrants
            You have to face facts whether you agree or not and if you have any credibility dint turn around and deny the events or figures. Certain races are incompatible with Europe. Not racism it’s fact. If anything it’s racism towards Greeks and Europeans. If your religion allows marrying children of 9,10,11 years old and shows no respect for woman and promotes disrespect if not covered up well why should we suffer. Because they suffer we must as well?
            Most of the time you see men( or should I say cowards as they are fleeing not fighting for your country) getting out of the boats on Greek islands and looking for phone chargers. Remembering iPhone but forgetting passport or ID. That’s not a refugee fleeing war in there brand name clothing. It’s opportunism.

            There are correct channels to emigrate to another country. However trawling through multiple countries to find the ones that pay the most unemployment benefits that’s not a refugee that’s a economic migrant and a queue jumper. The most vulnerable are stuck in camps, the ones with no money to pay smugglers. I acknowledge some are genuine refugees however that figure is disproportionate to total. I dint think anybody has problem looking after the vulnerable, however countries like Greece can’t be expected to bear the brunt of crisis with over a million entering Greece and Greek public money looking after some of them, while Greeks starve, and commit Suicide due to having no money. Greeks come first in Greece. Simple

          • I am not going to respond to this because KTG should not have allowed this racist garbage to be posted here.

          • Giaourti Giaourtaki

            These “facts” are typical bullshit wikipedia where the translation differs totally from the original source, it’s ignoring that these 2.300 attacks were not all sexual attacks, but pickpocketing or a mixed of both although it’s still a high number but then again it’s ignoring that most of the thieves and attackers are responsible for much more than just one incident and it also ignores the high numbers of crime that happens every hyped new years eve as the streets are full of idiots at happy hour playing war and attacking each other and others (from the folks in German big cities I know no-one was going outside the last ten years or so, due to this Chaos with sometimes real weapons, dangerous Polish illegal firecrackers and spontaneous going anywhere went impossible as all bars are booked weeks before in event-crazy Germoney and the latter brings even more idiots into the streets) and although were are some points by a Cologne scientists (having access to all the files) claiming that most of the cases happened because police was not enforcing law – some 8 cop-cars were watching the fireworks from a bridge f.i. – and dicks copied examples of other dicks how can anyone be sure that this shit will not happen again by any macho-mob and then every body will say “our poor boys just copied the news”.
            Also any lawyer of an European would try to prove that this form of rape is the same like Trump loves to do, not sure how many countries’ law would charge this as rape like Germans do and I’m not saying anything against the victims if they call it rape it is rape but if you or your wikipedia write “rape” it’s something totally different.
            It’s the same sorts of statistics like with arson-attacks on refugee-camps in Germoney where they say 75% wasn’t done by the extreme right because the only people they’ve caught were not organized or not on their radar before but then they’ve only caught some responsible for 5% of the attacks.
            Same shit here as most attackers weren’t really identified, most witnesses were speaking about “arabic-north-african” looking but North-Africans are not Arabs, 70-90% are Berbers, may be this year enough get caught and gets proven a thesis from France that these folks live there, as this sort of sexual attacks is known in some areas of France too but then together with the few bastards they’ve caught the picture looks more like born in France or born in former French colony.
            If you want to blame it all on refugees you should ask them why very often Algerians and Moroccans get attacked by refugees and then report about similar to New Years Eve incidents in Greece, on their way North or done by your “1,5 to 2 million illegals” the last years as some kind of training or their mentality.
            It’s also with this “lying press” bullshit, the people who are screaming the loudest “liars” are the same stupid people that believe all the lies by these liars when it’s about hunting against Greeks and in the case of Cologne it’s that “regional” media was reporting, but “regional” in an area of 20 million is like the “regional” airports with the most tourists.
            btw German media would love to hunt against a Greece that can bear 2 million illegals, scream lazy Greeks and will ask for even more austerity

          • Thanks, Giaourti. I don’t have the time or energy to waste on dealing with this fascist propaganda — which appears all over the web.

  3. Giaourti Giaourtaki

    BTW: With every NGO banned from the Aegean the time window for Erdogun grows and his chances to attack without witnesses, so far provocations witnessed by Frontex never made headlines – this is in Frontex own interest as they don’t like people digging deeper to find out about Frontex trying to sink dinghies.

  4. For the fascists here, try reading accurate news sources about what is really going on in the refugee camps. Human beings are living in terrible conditions, and the EU and Greek state are not so bothered about it. NGOs are a major asset to humanity — and the fascists here accuse them of criminal conduct!
    Here is the news about the state-run camp at Souda, on Chios:

  5. Four terrorist attacks in 24 hours. Wonder who orchestrated them all and who they all involved ???

  6. Any particular reason KTG is deleting valid comments

  7. ive never known a moderator to delete comments they simply didnt like or agree with. i agree if there’s profanity, offensive and threatening language thats fine, its just a different point of view and not a attempt to provoke. I state facts and people deny them and ignore and scream racist. Why are my facts different than others perceived facts. It definitely has everything to do with religion. Not all muslims are terrorists (i should know my closest freind is muslim) and most are good people, however almost all terrorists are muslim. All attacks today, two in turkey, one in germany and the other in switzerland relate to islam. Coincidence?

  8. I like how you edited original post and added more about breivik lol. Am I in a alternative universe where liberals ignore my statements and facts.

    • editing is essential as some people here swallow MY time as they mind they are allowed to seize this website and post 300-word-plus comments which are not comments but exposure of their own views – thus stealing and wasting my own time.
      Guys, if you feel you have some important to say, create a website and post as long and as often you want. But not here.

      As of today: comments will be allowed if they have no more than 200 characters. How about that?
      Or even better: comment will be allowed against a fee of 10euro per month.