Peace activists today held a demonstration outside the Brussels offices of the European Union’s border and coast guard agency Frontex.
The demonstrators were led by Vredesactie (Peace action), which is part of the Europe-wide #AbolishFrontex action. They complain the agency is resposible of countless deaths of migrants trying to come to Europe, or sent back to their homelands to face retribution there.
The facade of the Brussels office was covered in fake blood.
Frontex, based in Warsaw, was created in 2004 to battle against illegal immigration and cross-border crime. Since then it has grown massively in size. By 2027 it expects to employ 10,000 people, with a budget that has doubled to €900 million.
However earlier this week the EU Court of Auditors issued a report in which it expressed serious doubt as to whether the agency was able to carry out its task of safeguarding the Union’s frontiers.
“Fortress Europe's policies have killed more than 40,555 people since 1993,” Vredesactie wrote in an open letter today, addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament, The European Council and the management of Frontx itself.
“These people have been left to die in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the desert, they have been shelled at the borders, they have died by suicide in detention centres, they have been tortured and killed after being expelled -- the EU has blood on its hands.”
The joint action held today aims at nothing short of the complete dissolution of Frontex.
“The agency should be abolished,” Vredesactie said.
“There are no excuses, investigations or half-hearted reform procedures that could ever justify Frontex's existence. We demand that the structures and policies that cause violence and death be dismantled. Instead, we need to build a system that guarantees justice and security for all.”
