This video is made possible by CuriosityStream
and Nebula. At least since the height of the so called
European migrant crisis in 2015, that was characterized by large numbers of people arriving
in the European Union, there has been an ongoing process of finding answers to the challenges
of increased migration. The number of new asylum seekers arriving
in the EU, which peaked in 2015 has now decreased, though displaced people continue to arrive. And there is still plenty of discussion between
EU member states regarding how to approach immigration into the Union. In order to meet these challenges, the EU
is currently setting up an agency with the task of guaranteeing European border protection. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency
- Frontex. It is currently growing rapidly and its responsibilities
are expanding. But this new agency is controversial and the
difficulties in setting up such an organization shows that there are still major disagreements
on the issue of migration. Within the European Union there is the so-called
Schengen area. Within this area, no systematic border controls
take place. The borders between the EU countries are therefore
open, although temporary controls are allowed, for example due to exceptional circumstances,
such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The EU countries of Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania
and Cyprus are not yet part of the Schengen area, but are all pursuing a path towards
joining as well. Because of the fact that checks and controls
have generally been abolished at internal European national borders due to Schengen,
the protection of external borders is increasingly seen as a common European task. However, each EU country coordinated its border
security on its own, which can lead to problems. For this reason, in 2005, Frontex was launched. The agency is based in Warsaw and is intended
to connect the various departments and police authorities of individual EU member states
and coordinate joint operations. Migrants arrive in the EU via a number of
different routes. For example, the land route from Turkey to
either Bulgaria or Greece. From here they often continue their journey
along the Balkan route to the border region of Croatia and the Schengen countries of Hungary
and Slovenia. But a large number of routes taken by migrants
to enter the EU lead across the sea, for example from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos. Or the longer route for people traveling from
Libya and Tunisia to the Italian island of Lampedusa or to Malta. Another route is the Western Mediterranean
route, from Morocco to the southern coast of Spain. As well as land routes to the Spanish exclaves
of Ceuta or Melilla. Along these main routes Frontex is most present,
as can be seen by their key areas of operation. Here, the agency is monitoring and analyzing
the situation at the EU border and supports search and rescue operations. The agency is intended to support the local
police, for example by providing additional agents that can help with the registration
of people or the return of rejected asylum seekers. Another focus is the combat of border crime
such as drug trafficking. In order to protect the EU borders, Frontex
also acts in non-EU countries. In the past, however, Frontex did not have
its own agents. So they were dependent on equipment and staff
from the EU member states, who lent their resources to the European Agency. The agency also lacked a mandate to carry
out its own operations. This led to calls for the organization to
be rebuilt and strengthened. For several years now, the scope of tasks,
staff and the budget of the agency have been increased enormously every year. In 2014 the agency's budget was 98 million
euros. As of this year 2021, that number had risen
to 544 million euros. And most recently, Frontex was granted a 5.6
billion-euro budget for a 7 year timespan until 2027, which would amount to 800 million
euros per year. On January 11, 2021, the agency tweeted:
“For the first time, the European Union has its own uniformed service – the European
Border and Coast Guard standing corps.” Instead of just lending officials from EU
member states, the agency is now hiring its own staff. And this standing reserve is to be expanded
to 10,000 civil servants by 2027. "This is our property. For the first time the agency will have its
own patrol car. This is just the beginning." "Do you know what comes next?" "We will have vans that will be used as mobile
offices for the registration of irregular migrants". "And do you know what comes next?" "We will have vessels, planes, drones, and
many other types of technical equipment that will be deployed at the external borders." Frontex is heavily investing in equipment
and technologies and has recently been criticized for not disclosing meetings with lobby representatives,
for example from the arms industry. The agency relies heavily on monitoring cross
border regions from the air. Since 2017, surveillance aircraft have been
used extensively, which are equipped with cameras. The imagery is fed into a central digital
system developed by Frontex, Eurosur. In the future, the agency wants to further
increase the use of air surveillance using unmanned drones. Two contracts for the operation of such drones
were finalized last year. One of them, a joint contract with the European
multinational Airbus group and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries for the operation
of the Heron drone. And another contract with Elbit Systems, a
private Israeli arms manufacturer for the Hermes drones. The two contracts each have a volume of 50
million euros. The unarmed drones should serve to spot migrants
and to monitor the border situation. However, some of the agency's operations are
extremely controversial and critics often accuse the agency of violating European principles
as well as international law. In 2020 the New York Times published a report
that outlined how Frontex was involved in covering up a so-called push-back of migrants
to Turkey by Greek authorities. A push-back is the practice of pushing migrants
back from the border of their destination country. In the European Union, this highly controversial
practice is mostly seen as a violation of the principle of non-refoulement. This principle is anchored in Article 33 of
the Geneva Refugee Convention and it forbids countries to send asylum seekers back to a
nation in which they are likely to face persecution. Nevertheless, reports are increasing that
such pushbacks have taken place. In a specific case documented in the article,
Greek coast guards at the island of Chios pushed back a rubber boat full of migrants
to Turkey There have also been numerous reports of dangerous
maneuvers in which European coast guards speed past rubber boats with migrants at high speed
in order to create waves and force people back And this video published by Turkish Authorities
shows Greek Coast Guards shooting into the water close to the boat. Critics see the increased use of airplanes
and drones as opposed to ships as a tactic by Frontex to continue pushbacks under the
guise of surveillance. Under the UN convention on the law of the
sea, all ships are obligated to offer assistance to a vessel in distress. However, drones are not affected by this rule
and therefore the use of air surveillance allows Frontex to monitor the Mediterranean
without getting involved in rescue missions. In addition, Frontex shares the information
it has gathered with the Turkish and Libyan coast guards. For example, Libya is the first non-EU country
which received the coordinates of refugee boats from Frontex. Because Frontex is forbidden to do push backs,
the agency is increasingly concentrating on surveillance and coordinating with the Libyan
coast guard. Instead of push backs, these are so-called
pull-backs. So let's take a closer look at the role of
the Libyan Coast Guard and this cooperation. What is certain is that the European Union
is supporting the Libyan Coast Guard in building capacities and training staff. In addition to financial aid from the EU amounting
to 91 million euros for setting up border protection, Italy also donated equipment directly,
including Coast Guard vessels. The cooperation with the Libyan Coast Guard
is highly controversial. While advocates argue that this support can
save additional people from distress at sea, critics see the close cooperation as an outsourcing
of EU border controls and a transfer of responsibility towards Libyan authorities that operate outside
the European Convention on Human Rights. And due to the unstable political situation
in the country, the Libyan Coast Guard is an organization controlled by very different
parties in depending on the region. With some parties accused of actually cooperating
with smugglers. In addition, returning to Libya is dangerous
for many migrants and there is a risk of imprisonment and sometimes torture. With Frontex, the European Union is strengthening
an agency that now plays a much greater role as their budget, staffing and field of operations
has expanded enormously. From an agency initially created to improve
coordination between EU countries, it has now become its own force with wide technical
capabilities. Instead of mediating between police authorities,
Frontex has effectively become its own European law enforcement that simultaneously collects
a high degree of intelligence through surveillance. While the agency was created so that all EU
countries would jointly bear the challenges of border protection, the controversial discussions
about Frontex also show that within the European Union there is still no uniform idea of how
to approach these challenges. An issue which doesn’t only affect Europe. Within the last 10 years, the number of people
that are forcibly displaced around the world has risen rapidly; yet, portraying how this
issue has increased is difficult, as such large numbers can often appear abstract. Therefore, over the last couple of months
I have created a dedicated video about this issue that puts some of the figures around
global displacement into a new perspective using 3D animation. And I am really excited to finally share this
project that I have been working on for so long. You can now watch my short film THE UNKNOWN
CITY exclusively on Nebula. Nebula is a video streaming service built
by independent creators, including myself. And it is bundled with this videos sponsor,
CuriosityStream. Nebula is a place where I as a creator can
explore new ideas that might not work on YouTube as I don’t have to tailor videos towards
the YouTube algorithm, which punishes any drop in audience retention. Many of us creators at Nebula have started
to upload extended cuts and bonus sections to our videos on the site. And it is the perfect place to create special
projects, such as my first Nebula Original. Making THE UNKNOWN CITY wouldn’t have been
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of highly produced documentaries and non-fiction titles. For example, The Story of Europe, a documentary
series that explores the different chapters of European history from the evolution of
European culture all the way towards a present look at the challenges that the continent
faces. The best and cheapest way to get access to
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the description. Thank you for watching and thank you so much
for supporting the work I do.
