Migration and Fundamental Rights Bulletin - 2/2026

Most EU Member States have completed – or are close to the completion of – the legal arrangements for the designation of independent national mechanisms to monitor compliance with fundamental rights during screening and border procedures. In many cases, this function has been or is most likely to be entrusted to existing statutory human rights bodies, such as Ombuds institutions, National Human Rights Institutions, equality bodies or combined multi-mandate bodies (e.g. in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia). In some Member States, such as Lithuania, the monitoring activities will be carried out in cooperation with civil society organisations.

In view of operationalising its 2024 guidance on how to set up independent national monitoring mechanisms, FRA has developed a practical manual setting out a common monitoring methodology to support the work of the future mechanisms. FRA has begun piloting the methodology in selected Member States in cooperation with the independent monitoring mechanisms under the Pact. The first pilot to test the common methodology, together with the national Ombuds institution, took place in Romania in April 2026 during a screening simulation exercise at the external border with Moldova. In April 2026, FRA, together with the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer, provided awareness raising workshops to monitoring staff in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. At an online meeting convened by FRA on 11 June 2026 in partnership with the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer, the Council of Europe and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions, FRA’s common monitoring methodology was shared. Most of the independent monitoring mechanisms are in the phase of establishing their modus operandi for monitoring. While a few have announced they will initiate monitoring right away, others have indicated they will only start monitoring in 2027 due to lack of resources and staff. Most independent monitoring mechanisms reported challenges regarding resources, access to information and locations, the need for standards and for a sound monitoring methodology and expressed the need for training and skills’ enhancement.

The work of the pre-Pact monitoring mechanism in Croatia, which has been in place since summer 2021, came to an end in June 2026. Amendments to the Croatian Act on Foreigners (Article 180b (4)) assign this task to the Office of Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities who will cooperate with external partners. The five-year experience of the Croatian pilot monitoring mechanism offers lessons learnt on what challenges emerge in ensuring independent and effective fundamental rights monitoring under the Pact. As the final recommendations adopted by the Advisory Board to the monitoring mechanism point out, the Croatian experience underlines the importance of ensuring sustainable funding, closely cooperating with national statutory human rights bodies and giving proper and visible follow up to monitoring findings.

In its May 2026 Report on the state of play on the implementation of the Pact, the European Commission urged those Member States that have not yet defined arrangements for providing for a monitoring mechanism to do so ‘as soon as possible’ (page 21). The Commission stressed: all Member States ‘should address any outstanding issues relating to […] adequate financing, staffing and training, and define clear lines of responsibility and accountability’ where the monitoring role is divided among multiple actors – with a clear lead entity to be designated accordingly.

New rules under the Return Regulation, adopted by the co-legislators in June 2026, further reinforce Member States’ obligations to have effective and independent forced return monitoring mechanisms in place. According to its Article 15, forced return monitoring may rely on the independent national monitoring mechanisms under the Pact. At the same time, gaps remain in the monitoring of forced returns, as FRA will describe in a forthcoming report.

According to the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer's observations on return operations, conducted in the second half of 2025, the Frontex pool of forced-return monitors comprised 67 monitors nominated by 23 Member States. In addition, six Frontex fundamental rights monitors were regularly engaged in forced-return monitoring. Within Frontex, national return operations financed by Frontex are the least monitored. According to the 2025 Annual Report of the Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights published in May 2026, the Frontex pool of forced return monitors should be detached from Frontex and expanded to monitor forced return operations across the EU, including those carried out by Member States and Frontex.

As of July 2026, 52 fundamental rights monitors continuously cover Frontex activities in the field of border management and returns, collecting findings, including best practices, and providing Frontex with recommendations for mitigating measures or, in cases where the Fundamental Rights Officer observes that rights violations persist, suggestions to suspend parts of the operations as per Article 46 of the European Border and Coast Guard Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 due to high risk of fundamental rights violations. Fundamental rights monitors also provide training and advice. The Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer who oversees the monitors’ work devotes significant resources to investigate incidents and liaises with national authorities, encouraging them to take needed action. For such investigations, the Fundamental Rights Officer needs to rely on effective investigations at national level – as noted by the Frontex Consultative Forum’s 2025 Annual Report, which recommends that Member States should better support him.

The EUAA Fundamental Rights Officer Annual Report for 2025 provides an overview of the Office’s work to ensure compliance with fundamental rights across the Agency’s activities and to promote respect for fundamental rights in its work.

Building on the EUAA pilot monitoring exercises carried out in Estonia and the Netherlands in 2025 to prepare for the implementation of the new mechanism for monitoring the technical and operational application of the EU asylum acquis across all EU Member States, a revised EUAA monitoring methodology was finalised in June 2026. The first monitoring exercises under the new mechanism will take place in the second half of 2026, with Bulgaria, Malta, and Slovakia as the first three Member States to be assessed, the Commission’s May 2026 Report on the state of play on the implementation of the Pact pointed out. The mechanism will also assess contingency planning on reception and asylum.

The EUAA Fundamental Rights Officer informed FRA that in the first half of 2026, he visited the Agency’s operation in Belgium and handled 17 complaints.