The report ‘Guidance on investigating alleged ill-treatment at borders’ reveals that many serious, recurrent, and widespread rights violations at borders are not properly investigated. According to the FRA, investigating incidents is difficult because (i) victims mistrust authorities, (ii) evidence is scarce and (iii) investigations lack independence, are not thorough, take too long and rarely involve victims. An increasing number of cases are reaching the European Court of Human Rights, which has called out Member States for ineffective investigations into ill-treatment and deaths at borders.

In order to better protect migrants and refugees, the FRA calls for robust monitoring at borders and stronger accountability mechanisms. It inter alia recommends that human rights bodies record testimonies of rights violations and that national authorities publish regular statistics on the number and types of disciplinary and criminal investigations, and their outcomes. It also recommends that cases be assigned to specialised prosecutorial departments to ensure unbiased investigations an that victims are represented and supported to take part in proceedings.

For further details, please read the press release from the FRA.