From Palestine to Senegal: Abolish Frontex!

Frontex, disappearances and Palestine

Since 2014, hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared on their way to Europe. Frontex, the EU’s infamous border agency, and its cooperation with violent militias and authoritarian governments, are responsible for most of these disappearances. Since its inception, Frontex has become the best-funded and deadliest agency in the European Union. With a massive increase in its budget, it has established a fleet of drones and planes to monitor the Mediterranean, the Sahara, and the Atlantic without providing direct assistance in maritime emergencies.

Several surveillance technologies used by Frontex are Israeli-made. In 2020, the agency bought a drone fleet worth 100 million euros from Elbit Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, companies that are know to use the occupied Palestinian territories and its people as a testing and developing ground. Both companies are pillars of Israel’s Occupation Force and are complicit in today’s genocide in Gaza. Additionally, as recent as 2024, Frontex listed BeeSense, another Israeli drone manufacturing company with deep connections to the IOF, as a viable partner for EU member states to buy equipment from.

Frontex is thus not only responsible for the death and disappearance of hundreds of thousands of people at Europe’s externalized borders, it also contributes to the ongoing offensives in Gaza and the West Bank and the current genocide on Palestinians through platforming and cooperating with the Israeli arms industry.

This complicity in surveillance and repression connects the suffering of migrants and Palestinians. Frontex’s actions, including illegal pushbacks and abusive detentions, worsen systemic oppressions and violate human rights, in the Mediterranean, the Sahara, the Atlantic and Palestine.

The Missing Voices group

Frontex’ operations are not limited to Europe’s geographical borders. Since June 2022, the agency is active on Senegalese soil and waters, in cooperation with the Senegalese government. The Missing Voices (REER) group was founded in October 2023 after more than 7,000 people went missing on the Atlantic route, departing from Senegal or Mauritania. The group aims to build an online database allowing the families of the missing to connect, share their stories, and draw attention to the often-overlooked consequences of these disappearances.

“20 Years of Frontex: An Anniversary Marked by a Tragic Record.”

On December 7^th 2024, marking the 20^th anniversary of Frontex, the Missing Voices group organised a major protest in front of the European Union Delegation embassy in Dakar to denounce the severe injustices committed by this agency and to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people. The event shed light on the history of Frontex, its relationships with the arm industry and its connection with Israeli companies and their role in surveillance systems used both against migrants and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hosting a range of speakers and testimonials, the event also expanded upon Frontex’ and the EU’s influence on Senegalese citizens and sovereignty, exposing the complicity of African government in human rights violations by implementing European migration policies on African soil. Read more (in French) on Senegals current migration policies here.

During the event, police disrupted the gathering and ordered its end. The founder of the Missing Voices group, Ibrahima Konate, was arrested after refusing to dismantle the authorized event. His 2 weeks detention is a worrying sign of the deterioration of Senegalese democracy and the right to free speech.

Despite Kanote’s arrestation, the event was a success, addressing and explaining the link between the repression and genocide in Palestine, Frontex’ violent operations and Europe’s neocolonial migration policy enforcements in African states. Missing Voices group will continue to organize events and actions addressing these issues and calling for the abolition of Frontex! The goal is to demand that Frontex be held accountable, ceases supporting practices that contribute to the oppression of vulnerable populations, and be abolished permanently.

Het Actiefonds is proud to have supported this event and will continue to support Missing Voices group and any organization fighting Frontex, the arms industry, the genocide in Palestine. Don’t push back migrants, push back Frontex!