Why we are against Frontex

Frontex violently separates people from one another.

Through surveillance, controls and police violence at the external borders of the Schengen area, Frontex classifies people into categories such as “nationality”, “gender”, “age”, “refugee status” and treats them unequally. Frontex privileges Europeans and discriminates against all other people. This racist unequal treatment between people from Europe and the Global South goes back to colonial times. At that time, Europe built an injust world with a lot of violence.

Frontex is no coincidence.

The lack of human rights protection for People on the Move at sea is not a “tragic anomaly” but rather a consequence of concrete political decisions. They are deliberate practices of Europe’s member states and institutions, as well as other actors. Together, they create an environment in which the dignity and human rights of People on the Move are at risk.

Frontex strengthens the imperial world order.

Until today, Europe oppresses people and states from the Global South. Many in Europe feel superior to people from the Global South and therefore it is no problem to treat the rest of the world differently and exploit them. Through the border violence of Frontex, the asymmetric world trade relations and the imperial world order between people and states of the Schengen area and those of the Global South are constantly renewed and continued.

Frontex strengthens the discriminatory exclusion from the European labor market.

While European workers can look for work anywhere within the Schengen area and are given the right to stay with a work contract, workers from the Global South are excluded from the European labor market. And even if they find a job as Sans-Papiers and work hard for years, this does not mean a right to stay. Frontex enforces this discriminatory exclusion at the Schengen external border by force: when entering at the border and more and more often when leaving due to deportation.

Frontex turns border areas into militarized zones.

Where Frontex appears, border fences or walls are often built as well. Drones and cameras monitor everything. Armed border police patrol and carry out violent operations such as pushbacks. Life in these areas is increasingly characterized by surveillance and border violence. In the Balkans, the Aegean, North Africa and the Canary Islands, local communities and environments have been destroyed.

Frontex is blocking freedom of movement for all.

The violence of Frontex at the Schengen external borders turns Europe into a fortress. Most people from Europe get a visa for almost all countries worldwide and can move very freely. It is different for people from the Global South. Their freedom of movement is restricted. The more they move towards Europe, the more travel out of curiosity, migration for work and even flight are illegalized, extremely dangerous and unaffordably expensive.

Frontex makes free, equal and solidary relations worldwide more difficult.

At the same time, global challenges such as climate, pandemic, war, poverty or hunger require sustainable answers that build on global solidarity, equality and freedom, instead of competition, exploitation and quarrels between people and states. Border violence, surveillance and deportations of Frontex also systematically tear apart, complicate and prevent love relationships, friendships or (chosen) families between people from the Global South and North. Instead, people from the two parts of the world meet and refer to each other as strangers.

Frontex presents migration as a threat.

Frontex officers carry weapons and conduct police, almost military operations. They write long risk analyses and constantly talk about security. This gives many people the feeling that Europe is under pressure and must protect itself from a danger “from outside”. This prejudice leads to the fact that many people and states in the Schengen area classify nationalistic solidarity “against the inside” as more important than worldwide solidarity without borders.

Why we are against Frontex – Statement of the Migrant Solidarity Network

To combat racial profiling and racial violence by police, the Black Lives Matter movement is calling for less money, fewer personnel, less equipment, and fewer special rights for police. The same goes for Frontex. Its budget has increased by 7000% since its creation. There are more and more police officers working for Frontex with more and more powers. It also has more and more elaborated equipment. All this is available for racially privileged police officers to act efficiently, systematically and violently against racially discriminated people at the border of the Schengen area.

Frontex leads to militarization and unsafe migration routes.

According to its own statements, Frontex provides security. But security for whom? What do the armed operations of the soon to be 10,000 Frontex officers at Europe’s external borders mean? The drone operations? The digital data collection and surveillance systems? For People on the Move, heading towards Europe, this means: More death, more suffering and more deprivation of rights. Security dies with security.

Frontex harms climate protection.

Floods, droughts, and storms, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change, mainly affect the Global South. In order to cope with such climate crises, it would be necessary for everyone in the world to work together without borders. Frontex makes this more difficult. It drives a wedge between the states and people with an excessively large ecological footprint and those in the Global South who are affected by the ecological consequences of the imperial lifestyle in the Global North.

Frontex drives up CO2 emissions.

Climate protection is not only an individual, but above all a common task. Frontex is part of the global military-industrial complex. This has a huge ecological footprint and contributes to CO2 emissions through excessive oil consumption. During World War II, the U.S. Army consumed one gallon of gasoline (3.7 liters) per person per day. In the Vietnam War, it was nine gallons; in Operation Desert Stream, ten gallons; and in the Second Gulf War, fifteen gallons. Today’s military technologies are reaching unimagined levels of energy consumption.