The EU Commission has published a communication according to which states are authorised to pushback refugees to Russia and Belarus if they ‘use migration as a weapon’. This opens the floodgates for even more human rights violations.
On Wednesday, the European Commission adopted a communication aimed at supporting member states in their defence against ‘hybrid attacks’ by Russia and Belarus. The aim is to strengthen security at the EU’s external borders and coordinate new measures. In particular, this involves the so-called ‘weaponisation’ of migration, in which refugees are used as political leverage – a strategy that was first pursued by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Greek border in 2020 and by Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus in 2021.
According to the Commission, Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are currently particularly affected by ‘hybrid attacks’. The EU is providing 170 million euros to support these countries. This is intended to improve border surveillance, introduce mobile detection systems and enable drone defence. At the same time, the states are asked to restrict the right to asylum under certain conditions in order to maintain a ‘functioning Schengen system’.
Page 5 of the document explains that the non-refoulement principle – the ban on deportation to dangerous countries – can be suspended under certain conditions. This is e.g. possible if refugees pose a threat to national security or have been convicted of serious criminal offences. The basis for this is Article 33(2) of the Geneva Refugee Convention. However, the communication emphasises that the principle of non-refoulement should remain binding for those seeking protection who do not fall under the exceptions. Measures must be proportionate, limited in time and absolutely necessary.
As part of the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), the EU member states had originally planned an ‘’Instrumentalisation Regulation‘’, but failed to agree on common wording. Similar content then appeared in the Crisis Regulation that was later adopted as part of the CEAS. According to this, an ‘instrumentalisation situation’ can arise if third countries or hostile actors promote migration in order to destabilise the EU. However, the Crisis Regulation does not authorise the suspension of the non-refoulement principle.
The Commission’s new communication goes much further than the regulation and could be interpreted by governments as a carte blanche for stricter measures. As it is up to the individual countries to decide whether refugees pose a ‘threat to security’, this opens the floodgates to politically motivated decisions. In doing so, the Commission is particularly strengthening the ruthless practices of Poland, which keeps the media and NGOs away from the Belarusian border while the military pushes back refugees, sometimes brutally.
In her candidature speech in July, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already announced a further upgrade of the EU’s external borders. ‘The border of a Member State is a European border. And we will do everything we can to strengthen it,’ she explained. To this end, the Frontex ‘permanent reserve’ is to be tripled to 30,000. However, Warsaw still does not allow this only uniformed and armed police force in the EU to operate on the border with Belarus. This means that not even Frontex is allowed to observe the Polish border troops in their human rights violations authorised from Brussels.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Poland’s border with Belarus is tightly secured, with money also coming from the EU. Now Warsaw is also receiving a carte blanche from Brussels for human rights violations (Gov.pl, 20220630 Zapora na granicy polsko-białoruskiej 004, CC BY 3.0 PL).
