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Improving border management and access to asylum by civil sector monitoring: is there a link?

In democratic societies, various mechanisms have been set up with a view to supervising and monitoring the procedures of executive authorities. However, one should not forget the supervision carried out by civil society and citizens, as no one is better positioned to monitor government services to ensure that they perform well than the citizens who use those services. It is expected that, by allowing the civil sector to observe the manner of work of the state administration, the transparency and accountability of governmental structures will improve. In general, there is a ‘knowledge gap’ in the ways in which the provisions, administrative guarantees and fundamental rights are applied along the EU external borders. The grey areas characterising practices on border control and the return of irregular immigrants across Europe seriously undermine general democratic principles of accountability and scrutiny. However, there are a few examples of civilian monitoring of the conduct and procedures of the border police with regard to irregular migrants and asylum seekers. Border monitoring, as a form of external supervision, is aimed at the prevention of violations of irregular migrants’ human rights and at granting the right of access to asylum.

Border monitoring, accountability, asylum, refugees, civil society

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