In this blog post Josephine Valeske argues that the restrictive policies of ‘Fortress Europe’ since 1993 have led to over 44,000 deaths of refugees, either by drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, by being shot at border crossings or who were killed after being deported to unsafe places.
She argues that these deaths were avoidable; they are the result of choices made by bureaucrats, by politicians – and by members of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.
She challenges the idea that fortifying borders and blocking migration leads to increased security and argues that a better policy would be to tackle the root causes of the displacement of people and establish safe migration routes to Europe for those who need and those who want to move.
Read the full blog post - #AbolishFrontex: On World Refugee Day, we call on the EU to end its border regime
About Josephine Valeske
Josephine Valeske holds a MA degree in Development Studies from ISS and currently works for the research and advocacy organization Transnational Institute in Amsterdam that supports the #AbolishFrontex campaign
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