SOS Méditerranée, which operates the charity rescue vessel Ocean Viking, has been invited to speak at the event.
SOS Méditerranée, which operates the charity rescue vessel Ocean Viking, has been invited to speak at the event (Source: Nikolaj Nielsen)

EU and the World

Frontex critics blocked from ‘Saving Lives at Sea’ meeting in Brussels, lawyers say

By Nikolaj Nielsen,
Brussels
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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.

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SOS Méditerranée, which operates the charity rescue vessel Ocean Viking, has been invited to speak at the event (Source: Nikolaj Nielsen)

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Author Bio

Nikolaj Nielsen Nikolaj Nielsen joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.