The policies, the profiteers and the people shaped
by EU's border externalisation programme
The EU has made migration control a central goal of
its foreign relations, rapidly expanding border externalisation measures that
require neighbouring countries to act as Europe's border guards. This report
examines 35 countries, prioritised by the EU, and finds authoritarian regimes
emboldened to repress civil society, vulnerable refugees forced to turn to more
dangerous and deadly routes, and European arms and security firms booming off
the surge in funding for border security systems and technologies.
The plight of the world’s 66 million forcibly
displaced persons seems to only trouble the European Union’s conscience when
the media spotlight turns on a tragedy at Europe’s borders. Only one European
nation – Germany - is even in the top ten countries worldwide that receive
refugees leaving the vast majority of forcibly displaced persons hosted by some
of the world’s poorest nations. The invisibility therefore is only broken when
border communities such as Calais, Lampedusa, Lesvos become featured in the
news as desperate people fleeing violence end up dead, detained or trapped.
These tragedies aren’t just unfortunate results of
war or conflict elsewhere, they are also the direct result of Europe’s policies
on migration since the Schengen agreement in 1985. This approach has focused on
fortifying borders, developing ever more sophisticated surveillance and
tracking of people, and increasing deportations while providing ever fewer
legal options for residency despite ever greater need. This has led many
forcibly displaced persons unable to enter Europe legally and forced into ever
more dangerous routes to escape violence and conflict.
What is less well-known is that the same
European-made tragedy plays out well beyond our borders in countries as far
away as Senegal and Azerbaijan. This is due to another pillar of Europe’s
approach to migration, known as border externalisation. Since 1992 and even
more aggressively since 2005, the EU has developed policies to externalise
Europe’s border so that forcibly displaced people never get to Europe’s borders
in the first place. This involves agreements with Europe’s neighbouring countries
to accept deported persons and to adopt the same policies of border control,
improved tracking of people and fortified borders as Europe. In other words,
these agreements have turned Europe’s neighbours into Europe’s new border
guards. And because they are so far from Europe’s shores and media, the impacts
are almost completely invisible to EU citizens.
This report seeks to shine a spotlight on the
policies that underpin this externalisation of Europe’s borders, the agreements
that have been signed, the corporations and entities that profit, and the
consequences for forcibly displaced people as well as the countries and
populations that host them. It is the third in a series titled Border Wars that
have examined Europe’s border policies and shown how the arms and security
industry has helped shape European border security policies and have then
reaped the rewards for ever more border security measures and contracts.
This report shows a significant growth in border
externalisation measures and agreements since 2005 and a massive acceleration
since the November 2015 Valletta Europe – Africa Summit. Using a plethora of
new instruments, in particular the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF),
the Migration Partnership Framework and the Refugee Facility for Turkey, the
European Union and individual member states are now providing millions of euros
for an array of projects to stop migration of certain people from taking place
on or across European territory……
Read: Expanding the fortress
Look at: https://youtu.be/SsssVTm2fi4
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