19
December
2025

Forced Return Monitoring Systems – 2025 update

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) publishes annual updates on the forced return monitoring systems set up by EU Member States under Article 8(6) of the EU Return Directive (2008/115/EC). This project has been ongoing since 2014.
The latest report covers the period until the end of 2024.

In 2008, Article 8 (6) of the EU’s return directive (2008/115/EC) introduced a duty for Member States to provide for an effective forced return monitoring system. This is the first EU law provision on fundamental rights monitoring in the field of migration.

In addition to the monitoring under the Return directive, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) carries out country visits to monitor places of deprivation of liberty. This includes immigration detention and occasionally forced return flights. It then issues country reports containing its observations and recommendations. In 2024, the CPT released a report on the monitoring of a Frontex-coordinated return operation from Germany to Pakistan.    

The Pact on Migration and Asylum introduced a new obligation for Member States in 2024. They must have independent national mechanisms to monitor fundamental rights compliance during the screening of new arrivals and border asylum procedures by mid-2026. Member States’ experiences with forced return monitoring will be helpful in designing effective monitoring mechanisms under the pact. As required by EU law, FRA issued a practical guidance report in 2024, titled Monitoring fundamental rights during screening and the asylum border procedure – A guide on national independent mechanisms. Its aim is to assist Member States in designating and establishing their mechanism.

Since 2014, FRA has been publishing an annual update on forced return monitoring systems in EU Member States. It is based on information collected from national monitoring entities. These updates provide an overview of the functioning of such mechanisms. National authorities in charge of returns and of bodies monitoring forced returns are the primary audience of the report.

The main findings are:

  • in 2024, five Member States (Croatia, France, Italy, Poland and Spain) did not monitor any forced return at all;
  • one in four Frontex-supported return operations are not monitored.

This update does not include the findings and the related recommendations by forced return monitoring bodies. Reports by monitoring bodies, which can be consulted through hyperlinks in the annex, indicate that return escorts pay attention to fundamental rights in their daily work. Issues remain, however, with the disproportionate use of restraint measures. This was the case in Cyprus, Czechia and Greece, for example. German monitors also reported instances in which children witnessed use of force being applied to adults. Additionally, Swedish monitors reported cases of insufficient interpreters and female escorts.  

An overview of the work of the Frontex pool is available in chapter 2 of the 2024 Annual Report of the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer. Some of the findings are Frontex-specific. However, those that concern monitoring in general, broadly match the findings revealed through national monitoring. The Frontex report highlights excessive use of restraint measures, the need for better information provision and the importance of monitoring all phases of returns, not only the pre-return phase.

The Annex provides a tabular overview of forced return monitoring in 2024.