A closed-door event – “Saving Lives at Sea” – jointly-organised by Frontex and UN high commission on human rights, is taking place Thursday in Brussels.
Nikolaj Nielsen
Lawyers suing Frontex say they have been denied access to speak at a closed-door event in Brussels jointly organised by the Warsaw-based EU border police agency and the UN human rights office.
The event, titled “Saving Lives at Sea,” will take place in Brussels on Thursday (25 June).
“It was Frontex who blocked our participation. The high commissioner was uncomfortable of the whole situation, so that’s where things stand,” said Iftach Cohen, a lawyer at Front-lex, a Dutch-based civil society organisation.
Front-lex took Frontex to the EU court in Luxembourg over allegations that the agency helped the Libyan coast guard intercept and return people in the Mediterranean Sea.
In a separate but closely-linked case, the court in December also handed the lawyers a rare win by saying Frontex cannot claim ignorance or refuse to disclose its exclusive data, fundamentally shifting the power balance in litigation.
The reasoning could entail a significant shift when it comes to holding the EU border agency to account.
