EUROSUR: saving lives or building borders?

Uncertainties at the European Union's southern borders: actors, policies, and legal frameworks

“…The human rights record of most states in the MENA region, however, is by no means impressive. Thus, EU-MENA cooperation on migration and security through coercive means and surveillance technology, such as the EUROSUR project (Rijpma and Vermeulen 2015), would seem to run counter to democracy and the rule of law, those core norms supposedly guiding the EU's external actions.…”

“…In fact, Schumacher (2015) demonstrates that the EU has been maintaining very different, and partly contradictory, discourses towards the MENA region (such as those based on EU interests and those based on EU values), discourses which legitimize different lines of policies, thus creating yet more uncertainties. These contradictions are also reflected in the current EUROSUR project, where the discourse of "saving lives at sea" has been added almost as an afterthought and sits uneasily with the primary rationale of preventing unwanted migration (Rijpma and Vermeulen 2015).…”

“…It is then possible to recognize a legal and territorial extension of counterterrorism practices (Kaunert 2010, Kaunert and Léonard 2011see also O'Neill 2015) and another pertaining to migration control policies (Boswell 2003, Lavenex 2006, Rijpma and Cremona 2007; see also Geddes 2015), with both presenting ethical challenges (Wolff 2008, Jeandesboz 2011; see also Rijpma and Vermeulen 2015). While the degree of integration of MENA states into various EU legal and functional frameworks has undoubtedly increased over the last decade, 2 studies on the EU's migration and security policies towards third countries build on the concept of "externalization" of the Union's internal policies in the realm of JHA (Lavenex and Ucarer 2002, Geddes 2005, Bigo 2006, Guiraudon and Lahav 2006, Lutterbeck 2006, Balzacq 2008.…”

“…This underpins the image of a "Fortress Europe", with hundreds of irregular immigrants drowning yearly in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Europe. At the discursive level, the securitization of migration has been challenged by a "search and rescue" paradigm as well as humanitarian approaches, which, however, have not substantially influenced policy directions and the priority given to security (Fink 2012, Rijpma andVermeulen 2015).…”

Who speaks for the European border security industry? A network analysis

“…In addition, the language of "emergency" and "crisis" is largely lacking, even in the midst of the financial and migration "crises" confronting Europe. With the increasing number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean and in light of claims surrounding Eurosur as a life-saving system (Rijpma and Vermeulen 2015), more research is needed to uncover the extent to which actors use discourses of saving lives. However, in an environment where business actors profit from technologies used in the control of vulnerable populations (which may result in rights violations), it is important to note that business actors have important obligations to respect human rights, according to Principle 11 of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights 2011).…”