Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri acknowledged the publication of the annual report by the Frontex Consultative Forum for 2018.
“Frontex is more than ever determined to ensure that fundamental rights underpin all its operations and activities. As the agency expanded in recent years, it has strengthened its Fundamental Rights Office to continue monitoring that the rights enshrined in the EU Charter are respected by Frontex staff and deployed officers,” said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.
Last year, the budget for the Fundamental Rights Office was six times the amount from 2017. Even excluding the funds to set up and run an effective Complaint Mechanism to ensure the monitoring of fundamental right in the areas of Frontex operations, the budget for the Fundamental Rights Office in 2018 was double the amount from the previous year.
Similarly, the staffing of the Fundamental Rights Office has reflected the dynamic growth of Frontex. Since 2017, the number of staff working in the Fundamental Rights Office has doubled.
It is important to note that the Consultative Forum praised Frontex for starting to collect detailed sex- and age-disaggregated data. This, as the Consultative Forum pointed out, makes it easier to identify vulnerabilities and improve the planning and implementation of the Agency’s operations.
The Consultative Forum on fundamental rights was created in 2012 to assist the Executive Director and the Management Board of Frontex in fundamental rights matters offering strategic advice on how the agency can improve the respect for Fundamental Rights in all its activities. The Consultative Forum consists of two agencies of the European Union, four UN agencies and intergovernmental organisations and nine civil society organisations.