Warsaw, 10 May 2018 - Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri acknowledged the publication of the annual report by the Frontex Consultative Forum for 2017.
“The issue of fundamental rights is important for Frontex and it is intertwined in virtually every activity of the agency: from day to day work within our Warsaw HQ, to operations coordinated by Frontex all the way to the creation of training curricula for border and coast guards across Europe,” – said Leggeri. “As the agency is undergoing significant structural changes stemming from the new regulation, we are also looking at how to include various recommendations included in the report in our activities,” – he added.
The report includes a number of recommendations which the agency considers important. Activities, for instance, are underway to consider how to further strengthen the issue of gender mainstreaming in the activities of the agency – both within the organisation and in the operational context.
“I am pleased to have Save the Children as the new member of our Consultative Forum. With the increasing number of unaccompanied children at external borders, Frontex is looking to address the issue of child protection even more intensively,” – he added.
“The significant changes in the Frontex regulation will also result in the new Fundamental Rights strategy which I am looking forward to developing together with the Consultative Forum ”– said Leggeri.
Since the creation of the position of Fundamental Rights Officer, Frontex has significantly expanded the office - from one to six staff members - to assist it in fulfilling the major new tasks included in the regulation. In addition to that, three additional vacancies for the office of the Fundamental Rights Officer have been published in April this year. With the complaints mechanism successfully introduced last year, Frontex has intensified activities aiming at raising public awareness related to this issue.
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 Forum consists of two agencies of the European Union, four UN agencies and intergovernmental organisations and nine civil society organisations.