All 27 Member States except Ireland are bound by the EU’s return directive (Directive 2008/115/EC) to have effective forced return monitoring mechanisms.

The 26 EU countries bound by the return directive have all adopted a legal basis for national forced return monitoring systems. In addition, national preventive mechanisms established under the 2002 Optional Protocol to the United Nations (UN) Convention against Torture have a mandate, under international law, to monitor all places where individuals are deprived of their liberty, which includes forced returns.

In six Member States, none of their forced return operations was monitored in 2022, FRA reported. In 2023, at least some were monitored in all the 26 Member States bound by the return directive except Croatia.

In 2023, across the EU there were 164 staff trained to be national monitors, and 139 monitors were operational.

Some of them were also part of the Frontex pool of forced return monitors. In 2023, the Frontex pool monitored 178 return operations, as the Frontex Fundamental Rights Officer reported in his annual report.