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REPORT (2023/2086(INI))

On a European Parliament recommendation to the Commission concerning on the ongoing negotiations on a status agreement on operational activities carried out by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Senegal

A-9-2024-0032

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs · Rapporteur: Cornelia Ernst

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Parliament's recommendation to the Commission sets out its position on the negotiations on a status agreement allowing Frontex to carry out operational activities in Senegal. It notes that official negotiations have not started and that Senegal is reluctant to sign, preferring a working arrangement first. It warns that a status agreement giving Frontex executive powers would risk complicity in fundamental rights violations and harm free movement in West Africa. It asks the Commission and Frontex to take measures on impact assessments, complaints, immunity, legal pathways, transparency and monitoring, and to suspend deployment if serious violations occur.

Committee position. The rapporteur does not support concluding a status agreement with Senegal and recommends the Commission not open negotiations. She proposes recommendations to the Commission and Frontex on impact assessments, immunity, complaint mechanisms, legal pathways, transparency and monitoring, to be applied immediately and if negotiations are ever opened.

Key points

  1. Notes that official negotiations on a status agreement for Frontex teams in Senegal have not started, and that Senegal is reluctant to sign and has begun negotiating a working arrangement instead.
  2. Condemns repeated pushbacks of migrants and refugees from the Mauritanian and Malian borders to Senegal, and says Frontex should not take part in any form of pushback.
  3. Considers that a status agreement allowing Frontex executive powers in Senegal would carry a high risk of complicity in direct and indirect fundamental rights violations or international protection breaches.
  4. Is concerned about the impact of a status agreement on free movement in West Africa under the Economic Community of West African States Treaty, and on the right to leave and the right to asylum.
  5. Calls on Frontex to give Senegalese nationals, civil society and media access to information, and to allow access to documents for people and entities outside the EU under Regulation (EC) 1049/2001.
  6. Calls on the Commission to carry out and publish an ex ante fundamental rights impact assessment before negotiating status agreements with third countries.
  7. Says Frontex personnel can only be deployed to Senegal where adequate human rights protection is guaranteed for migrants and asylum seekers throughout application or return.
  8. Urges the Commission to ensure accountability under EU or member state law for Frontex staff granted immunity, adopt guidelines on waiving immunity, and set up accessible complaint mechanisms for non-EU individuals.
  9. Urges the Commission to ensure safe and legal pathways to the EU for Senegalese nationals and migrants, including by facilitating Schengen visas, and to make development aid and border cooperation transparent and scrutinised.
  10. Urges the Commission to include in the status agreement safeguards letting officers disregard orders contradicting Frontex fundamental rights obligations, and to refrain from provisional application before Parliament's consent.
  11. Urges Frontex to consult its Fundamental Rights Officer, establish a robust complaint mechanism for non-EU nationals, conduct periodic fundamental rights evaluations, and ensure public access to documents.
  12. Recalls that serious or persistent human rights violations should trigger re-evaluation or suspension of the Frontex deployment in Senegal, and calls for prompt and impartial investigation of alleged abuses.

Who is affected

  • Frontex: would be bound by the recommended safeguards, complaint mechanisms and reporting duties if deployed to Senegal.
  • The Commission: asked to perform impact assessments, protect legal pathways and keep Parliament informed during negotiations.
  • Senegal: its authorities would need to respect fundamental rights, set up complaints mechanisms and receive fundamental rights training.
  • Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Senegal: would be affected by border operations and need access to protection and complaint channels.
  • Senegalese civil society and media: should gain access to information on EU border support and Frontex activities.

Figures and deadlines

  • 200 000 nationals from other countries were living in Senegal in 2018, according to the International Organization for Migration.
  • At least 3 519 persons have died or gone missing at sea on the Atlantic route since 2014, per the International Organization for Migration.
  • 14 533 refugees and 2 058 asylum seekers were reported in Senegal as of February 2022 by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
  • 6 017 Senegalese refugees and asylum seekers were reported in the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Togo and Sierra Leone as of February 2022.
  • Senegal's national strategy against irregular migration was adopted on 27 July 2023 and will be implemented until 2032.
  • Senegal has established at least nine border posts and four regional branches of the National Division for the Fight against Migrant Smuggling since 2018.

Legal basis: Articles 77(2)(b) and (d), 79(2)(c) and 218(3) and (4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.