1. Overview for 2022
All 27 European Union (EU) Member States except Ireland are bound by Article 8 (6) of the EU’s Return Directive (2008/115/EC) to set up effective forced return monitoring mechanisms.
The 26 EU countries bound by the Return Directive have all adopted a legal basis for national forced return monitoring systems. In addition, National Preventive Mechanisms established under the 2002 Optional Protocol to the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Torture have a mandate, under international law, to monitor all places where individuals are deprived of their liberty, which includes forced returns.
In practice, in 2022 FRA noted that in six EU Member States – Bulgaria, Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia and Poland – no national forced return operation was monitored. In Croatia, the Croatian Law Centre – a civil society organisation – monitored forced returns until April 2021, when an EU-funded project came to an end.
Table 1 lists the forced return monitoring bodies in the EU Member States, flagging key concerns selected by FRA and identified based on available information. More information is available in the annex.
Table 1 – Forced return monitoring bodies, 27 EU Member States
EU Member State |
Body responsible for monitoring ✔ = corresponds to the National Preventive Mechanism established under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture |
Key concerns for 2022 |
|
AT |
|
No public reporting |
|
BE |
General Inspectorate of the Federal Police and the Local Police |
|
|
BG |
✔ |
No monitoring in 2022 |
|
CY |
Office of the Commissioner for Administration and the Protection of Human Rights (Ombudsman) |
✔ |
Only pre-return phase monitored |
CZ |
✔ |
Only pre-return phase monitored |
|
DE |
Federal Office for Migration and Refugees Fora at various airports
|
✔ |
Fragmented system
Issues of independence: Federal Office monitors are not institutionally separate from the body responsible for returns |
DK |
✔ |
|
|
EE |
|
|
|
EL |
✔ |
|
|
ES |
✔ |
No monitoring in 2022 |
|
FI |
|
|
|
FR |
✔ |
Only pre-return phase monitored |
|
HR |
None |
|
No monitoring in 2022 |
HU |
|
No monitoring in 2022 |
|
IE |
No monitoring system in law |
|
|
IT |
National Guarantor for the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty |
✔ |
|
LT |
|
|
|
LU |
|
No public report |
|
LV |
✔ |
No monitoring in 2022 |
|
MT |
✔ |
No public report |
|
NL |
✔ |
|
|
PL |
Various NGOs, e.g. Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Rule of Law Institute Foundation, Halina Nieć Legal Aid Centre, MultiOcalenie Foundation |
|
No monitoring in 2022 |
PT |
|
|
|
RO |
|
No public report |
|
SE |
|
Issues of independence (same entity is responsible for returns) |
|
SI |
Caritas Slovenia (NGO) |
|
|
SK |
Slovenská humanitná rada (NGO) |
|
|
Note: NGO = Non-governmental organisation
Source: FRA (2023)