Highlights

  • Opinion / Position Paper
    23
    July
    2025
    This position paper examines how the EU can counter the instrumentalisation of migrants while also upholding fundamental rights. Instrumentalisation refers to countries outside the EU using migration to exert political pressure. This position paper defines the phenomenon, provides examples, and outlines legal obligations under EU law. It provides legal analysis and warns that some responses risk undermining fundamental rights at the EU’s external borders, including the right to asylum. To counter instrumentalisation and uphold fundamental rights, the position paper proposes practical measures for Member States to take, such as sanctions, border controls, and cooperation with private operators.
  • Periodic updates / Series
    20
    June
    2025
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights regularly collects data on the operations of NGO vessels involved in search and rescue in the Mediterranean. This includes any legal proceedings against them, as well as any difficulties in disembarking migrants in safe ports. This paper provides an overview of criminal investigations and other legal proceedings initiated by European Union (EU) Member States against civil society organisations deploying search and rescue vessels and aircraft in the Mediterranean and/or against individual crew members. The latest update covers the period from 2018 up until 1 June 2025.
  • Page
    This page describes the activities of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) on migration and asylum. It also explains how these activities can help the European Union (EU) and its Member States to implement the Pact on Migration and Asylum in a fundamental rights-compliant manner.
  • Opinion / Position Paper
    6
    February
    2025
    This FRA Position Paper outlines the Agency’s position on the creation of 'return hubs' in non-EU countries for migrants who have been ordered to leave the EU. Considering the serious fundamental rights risks connected with running return hubs, this legal analysis presents the conditions that would have to be met for return hubs to respect fundamental rights and comply with EU law. These include setting up agreements with the host countries and creating independent human rights monitoring mechanisms. The position paper does not examine centres in third countries that process asylum applications.
    Produse
    This video statement by FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty was recorded on 14 October 2020 at the temporary facility at Mavrovouni. This temporary camp was built to re-house people after the fire at the Moria migration facility on the island of Lesbos, in Greece.
    29
    July
    2020
    As we enter the second half of 2020, the constraints on our daily lives brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic have become a firm reality. New local lockdowns and the reintroduction of restrictive measures prompted by fresh outbreaks of the virus are a stark reminder that COVID-19 continues to shape our lives – and our enjoyment of fundamental rights – in profound ways. There is compelling evidence of how the pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges in our societies. This FRA Bulletin outlines some of the measures EU Member States adopted to safely reopen their societies and economies while continuing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. It highlights the impact these measures may have on civil, political and socioeconomic rights.
    27
    July
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on asylum and migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by migration. It addresses fundamental rights concerns between 1 April and 30 June 2020.
    24
    July
    2020
    Acest ghid se adresează membrilor personalului responsabil de gestionarea frontierelor statelor membre ale UE care își desfășoară activitatea la nivel operațional. Ghidul își propune să îi ajute să pună în aplicare, în activitatea lor zilnică, garanțiile privind drepturile fundamentale prevăzute de Codul Frontierelor Schengen [Regulamentul (UE) 2016/399] și de legislația conexă a UE.
    The EU Return Directive introduced an important fundamental rights safeguard for third-country nationals ordered to leave the EU because they do not or no longer fulfil the conditions for entry and/or stay. According to the Directive, Member States must provide for an effective forced-return monitoring system.
    3
    July
    2020
    The EU Return Directive (2008/115/EC) in Article 8 (6) introduced an important fundamental rights safeguard for third-country nationals ordered to leave the EU because they do not or no longer fulfil the conditions for entry and/or stay. According to the directive, Member States must provide for an effective forced-return monitoring system.
    19
    June
    2020
    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.
    11
    June
    2020
    Now available in all 24 official EU languages
    12 August 2020
    Anul 2019 a adus atât progrese, cât și pași înapoi în
    ceea ce privește protecția drepturilor fundamentale.
    Raportul privind drepturile fundamentale 2020 al FRA
    analizează evoluțiile majore din domeniu, identificând
    atât realizările, cât și problemele îngrijorătoare rămase
    nesoluționate. Această publicație prezintă opiniile FRA
    în legătură cu principalele evoluții înregistrate în
    domeniile tematice vizate, precum și o sinteză
    a dovezilor care vin în sprijinul acestor opinii. Astfel,
    raportul oferă o prezentare compactă, dar informativă
    a principalelor provocări legate de drepturile
    fundamentale cu care se confruntă UE și statele sale
    membre.
    11
    June
    2020
    FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2020 reviews major developments in the field in 2019, identifying both achievements and areas of concern. It also presents FRA’s opinions on these developments, including a synopsis of the evidence supporting these opinions. This year’s focus chapter explores how to unlock the full potential of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
    28
    May
    2020
    The Coronavirus pandemic continues to interrupt everyday life in the EU in unprecedented ways. But the way it affects our societies is shifting. As governments gradually lift some of the measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, new fundamental rights concerns arise: how to ensure that the rights to life and health are upheld as daily life transitions to a ‘new normal’. This Bulletin looks at declarations of states of emergency, or equivalent, and how they came under scrutiny. It considers the impact on fundamental rights in important areas of daily life, and includes a thematic focus on the processing of users’ data to help contain COVID-19, particularly by contact-tracing apps. It covers the period 21 March – 30 April 2020.
    27
    May
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by large migration movements. It addresses key fundamental rights concerns between 1 January and 31 March 2020.
    11
    May
    2020
    In recent years, thousands of girls and boys have reached Europe without their parents, and sought international protection. Many of them experienced violence, abuse and neglect in their home countries, and while in transit. They have the right to be protected in line with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the European Convention on Human Rights, and European Union law. This report explores the challenges and good practices gathered in the implementation of such relocation programmes. Based on information FRA collected in 10 EU Member States, it aims to help national authorities to support the relocation of unaccompanied children by taking measures that are fully rights compliant and practically feasible.
    Based on the lessons learned from relocation
    experiences and on existing international and EU legal
    standards, FRA has developed a number of practical
    suggestions for the adjustment of relocation efforts to
    the protection needs of unaccompanied children. This
    guidance aims to be a practical tool for Member States
    that wish to engage in the relocation of unaccompanied
    children and in any future responsibility-sharing
    mechanisms, and to gain knowledge on how this can
    be done while respecting the child’s best interests.
    30
    March
    2020
    Children in migration are more vulnerable than adults, particularly when they are unaccompanied. Their vulnerability makes them more exposed to violence, exploitation and trafficking in human beings, as well as physical, psychological and sexual abuse. This report looks into challenges to the fundamental rights of children in migration throughout 2019. It pulls together the main issues identified in FRA’s Quarterly Bulletins on migration in selected EU Member States.
    27
    March
    2020
    French version now available
    24 April 2020
    Council of Europe (CoE) and European Union (EU) Member States have an undeniable sovereign right to control the entry of non-nationals into their territory. While exercising border control, states have a duty to protect the fundamental rights of all people under their jurisdiction, regardless of their nationality and/or legal status. Under EU law, this includes providing access to asylum procedures.
    Greece needs solid, sustained support and solidarity as it faces great migration challenges, says FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty after 2 days of meetings in Athens with authorities.
    17
    March
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) urges Member States to agree on a simple and practical workflow as soon as possible, to avoid lack of clarity and delays in the relocation process. This paper provides practical suggestions on relocation of unaccompanied children from Greece, building on lessons learned from previous mandatory and voluntary relocation schemes. The paper provides FRA input on the initiative of the European Commission and a group of Member States to relocate unaccompanied children.
    February
    2020
    In today’s media landscape the way in which journalists and editors receive, process and publish news is constantly changing. Journalists face immense time pressure, as news frequently breaks online To facilitate training on the coverage of migration news, this Trainer’s Manual is a tool to be used together with the e-Media Toolkit.
    18
    February
    2020
    The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights has been regularly collecting data on migration since September 2015. This report focuses on the fundamental rights situation of people arriving in Member States and EU candidate countries particularly affected by large migration movements. It addresses key fundamental rights concerns between 1 October and 31 December 2019.
    16
    January
    2020
    Acest pliant ajută ofițerii și autoritățile să informeze solicitanții de azil și migranții într-un mod ușor de înțeles și accesibil cu privire la prelucrarea amprentelor lor în Eurodac.