Frontières et systèmes d’information

Les présentes orientations sont destinées aux agents chargés de la gestion des frontières au sein des États membres de l’Union européenne (UE) qui travaillent au niveau opérationnel. Elles visent à les aider à mettre en oeuvre, dans leurs activités quotidiennes, les garanties relatives aux droits fondamentaux du code frontières Schengen [règlement (UE) 2016/399] et le droit de l’Union correspondant.

In 2019, the International Organization for Migration estimated that 1,866 people have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe to escape war or persecution or to pursue a better life. This is an average of five people per day. In recent years, a significant proportion of migrants in distress at sea have been rescued by civil society vessels deployed with a humanitarian mandate to reduce fatalities and bring rescued migrants to safety. Since 2018, however, authorities in some EU Member States started viewing civil society-deployed rescue vessels with hostility. As a reaction, national authorities initiated about 40 administrative and criminal proceedings against crew members or vessels, including seizing the latter. In some cases, rescue vessels were blocked in harbours due to flag issues or the inability to meet technical requirements.

Les États membres du Conseil de l’Europe (CdE) et de l’Union européenne (UE) jouissent du droit indéniable de contrôler souverainement l’entrée des étrangers sur leur territoire. Dans l’exercice du contrôle de leurs frontières, les États ont le devoir de protéger les droits fondamentaux de toutes les personnes qui se trouvent sous leur juridiction, indépendamment de leur nationalité et/ou de leur situation juridique. Cela englobe la fourniture d’un accès aux procédures d’asile, conformément au droit de l’UE.

Ce dépliant aide les agents et les autorités à informer de manière compréhensible et accessible les demandeurs d’asile et les migrants sur le traitement de leurs empreintes digitales dans Eurodac.

In 2018, some 2,299 people are estimated to have died or gone missing at sea while crossing the sea to reach Europe to escape war or persecution or to pursue a better life. This is on average more than six people per day. Before mid-2017, a significant share of migrants in distress at sea have been rescued by civil society vessels deployed with a humanitarian mandate to reduce fatalities and bring rescued migrants to safety. In 2018, however, authorities in some Member States viewed civil society-deployed rescue vessels with hostility. As a reaction, they seized rescue vessels, arrested crew members, and initiated legal procedures against them (more than a dozen altogether). In some cases, rescue vessels were blocked in harbours due to flag issues.

In November 2016, FRA formulated 21 individual opinions to address the fundamental rights shortcomings identified in the implementation of the hotspot approach in Greece and Italy. Despite genuine efforts to improve the situation since November 2016, many of the suggestions contained in the 21 opinions FRA formulated at the time remain valid.

This note draws attention to the recent trend of criminalising search and rescue operations (SAR) in the Mediterranean Sea carried out by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or other private entities. This includes seizing rescue vessels, as well as arrests for crew members, in some EU Member States. Most of such incidents concerned NGOs operating in the Central Mediterranean Sea.