Fortress Europe – War against refugees?

Via wikileaks I found this very interesting video, unfortunately only in German. If I had some time I would add subtitles (here is the text file). Although only a shorter version of the video was shown on German TV, it is quite a good example of EU related journalism.

The video is about Frontex and how the EU in general deals with the problem of so called “illegal immigrants”, often refugees from Africa,  that try to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. There are claims that many refugees die as a result of Frontex activity. Border guards regularly catch people in small boats trying to reach Europe. There seems to be evidence that border guards force these people to return to their countries in those small boats and without enough food, water, equipment.  This practice  is not  allowed under the European Convention on Human Rights which obviously contradicts all the talk of Europe being at the forefront of defending human rights…

Moreover, the video also mentions  that Frontex and EDA are likely to use  more sophisticated military equipment in the fight against immigrants in the future. This poses the question whether the EU actually  ‘militarises’ its  external borders and whether that is a desirable outcome…