A report by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found on Tuesday that there were systematic failings by states to appropriately investigate cases of “life-threatening human rights violations” occurring at the EU’s land and sea borders. They have proposed specific measures to enhance the effectiveness of investigations to prevent further loss of life and mistreatment.

The report outlines recent cases that were brought before the European Court of Human Rights, with the court ruling on five instances where Greece, Croatia and Hungary did not properly investigate incidents of ill-treatment and loss of life during border control. Examples of such inadequate efforts include failing to locate and hear victims and witnesses, obstructing lawyers, and lacking access to crucial evidence like border surveillance footage. Overall, there has been a low number of investigations, when compared to the number of alleged incidents reported to civil society organisations. Very often, those affected do not feel safe reporting such incidents to authorities, due to a fear of reprisals.

There has been increasing concern from member states over the migration crisis and the report comes just a few months after the adoption of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which sought to establish a structured approach to arrivals, streamline procedures and ensure equitable burden-sharing between member states. At the beginning of July, several international NGOs, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, called on the EU to safeguard right to asylum in Europe. They criticized the increasing trend of EU countries shifting refugee protection onto third countries outside of the EU.

In this latest report, the FRA has called for more robust border monitoring and stronger accountability mechanisms. They outline several key steps for effective investigations into rights violations. The first of these is documenting and publishing testimonies, with relevant information forwarded to prosecutors. There should be greater transparency, with national authorities publishing statistics on disciplinary and criminal investigations. Investigations should be independent and fair, with cases assigned to specialized prosecutorial departments to ensure impartiality in the investigative process. Public prosecutor bodies should establish detailed guidelines for investigating border abuses and gathering evidence, with a focus on identifying patterns, shortcomings, and best practices. Authorities should involve lawyers or victims’ protection organizations to ensure adequate representation and support for victims. Finally, investigators should better use surveillance footage, GPS data, and mobile phone data to gather evidence and reconstruct events.

The Director of the FRA, Sirpa Rautio, said:

There are too many allegations of human rights violations at the EU’s borders. Europe has a duty to treat everyone at the borders fairly, respectfully and in full compliance with human rights law. This calls for effective and rights-compliant border management practices, underpinned by robust and independent investigations into all rights abuse incidents.