Coordination with Egypt on migration

Die Anfrage war erfolgreich.

Dear European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

- Communications between Frontex/EU bodies and the Egyptian government related to 'facilitators' operating between Egypt and Europe, apprehended by European and Egyptian authorities during 2014;
- Communications between Frontex and the Egyptian government related to any 'Liason Office(s) to Third Countries' currently under review or to be established on Egyptian soil in coordination with European Union bodies;
- Analysis and Intelligence regarding facilitators and smuggling/trafficking networks operating from Egypt;
- Analysis and Intelligence related to individuals from ISIS, or other Islamist militant groups, using refugee boats from Turkey to smuggle fighters across European borders.

I will be sending similar requests to other European authorities with regards to this information. I trust that you will coordinate with my request.

Yours faithfully,

Tom Rollins

Dear European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders,

I would just like to add that the time-frame for each section of my earlier request relates to 2014 as a whole.

Yours faithfully,

Tom Rollins

Dear European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders's handling of my FOI request 'Coordination with Egypt on migration'.

By law, the authority should normally have responded promptly and by February 20, 2015. Given that date has now passed, I would like to inquire about the status of my request and hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Faithfully,

Tom Rollins

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/coord...

Yours faithfully,

Tom Rollins

Question, Europäische Agentur für die operative Zusammenarbeit an den Außengrenzen

Dear Tom,

 

Thank you for your interest in Frontex. The Management Board of Frontex
gave the mandate to its Executive Director to negotiate a Working
Arrangement with the authorities of Egypt in 2007. However, due to the
political developments in the country there has been no progress on this
issue.

 

Communications between Frontex/EU bodies and the Egyptian government
related to 'facilitators' operating between Egypt and Europe, apprehended
by European and Egyptian authorities during 2014

Frontex has had no communications on the issue.

 

Communications between Frontex and the Egyptian government related to any
'Liaison Office(s) to Third Countries' currently under review or to be
established on Egyptian soil in coordination with European Union bodies;

Frontex has had no communications on the issue with the Egyptian
government.

 

Analysis and Intelligence regarding facilitators and smuggling/trafficking
networks operating from Egypt;

There are no specific documents on this issue elaborated by Frontex.

 

On a general note it is worth noting that to date Frontex has not
processed any personal data concerning facilitators (people smugglers).
Should such data be collected during our joint operations by the experts
deployed, the latter are instructed to pass it immediately to the team
leader of the border guard authorities where the operation takes place. It
should be noted that such personal data are not transmitted to Frontex.

 

Frontex does not have a direct cooperation with the Egyptian authorities
and has no access to information on the functioning and activities of
people-smuggling networks operating in Egypt.

 

The involvement of Egyptian nationals as members of the crew of boats
departing from Egypt and crossing the Mediterranean Sea on their way to
Italy has been often reported in the framework of Joint Operation Hermes,
and more recently Joint Operation Triton. Frontex regularly receives the
reports about the number of incidents in which Egyptian facilitators are
involved as skippers of the boats transporting migrants. These are
typically low ranking persons in the criminal organisations that
facilitate the smuggling of migrants, usually recruited among seamen, for
a specific trip. 

 

After the detection of the boats, the Egyptian nationals who act as
skippers are arrested by the Italian police and are subject to criminal
investigations. However, the progress and the results of the
investigations carried out by the Italian authorities are not shared with
Frontex. Therefore, Frontex has no law enforcement source that can provide
access to reliable and well-grounded information and intelligence on the
people that organise and manage the smuggling of migrants in/from Egypt.

 

More general information derived from the incidents concerning the crews
of boats coming from Egypt with irregular migrants onboard is available in
the updates and risk analysis reports on Frontex webpage
[1]www.frontex.europa.eu  

 

Analysis and Intelligence related to individuals from ISIS, or other
Islamist militant groups, using refugee boats from Turkey to smuggle
fighters across European borders.

Frontex has not carried out any analysis and has no intelligence related
to individuals from ISIS, or other Islamist militant groups, using refugee
boats from Turkey to smuggle fighters across European borders.

 

I hope this information is helpful,

 

Best regards,

 

Izabella

 

 

Izabella Cooper

Spokesperson

Information and Transparency

Tel: +48 22 205 9535

----------------------------------------------

FRONTEX
[2]www.frontex.europa.eu
Plac Europejski 6, 00-844 Warsaw, Poland · Tel: [3]+48 22 205 9500 · Fax:
+48 22 205 9501
DISCLAIMER: This e-mail message, including any attachments, cannot be
construed as automatically constituting any form of commitment by Frontex,
unless its contents clearly indicate otherwise. It is intended solely for
the use of the addressee(s). Any unauthorised disclosure, use or
dissemination, either in whole or in part, is prohibited. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately via
e-mail and delete the e-mail from your system.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.frontex.europa.eu/
2. http://www.frontex.europa.eu/
3. file:///tmp/tel:%2B48%2022%20205%209500