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Under Article 111 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 on the European Border and Coast Guard, a person whose fundamental rights are directly affected by the conduct of staff involved in Frontex operational activities may submit a written complaint to Frontex. In July 2025, the Frontex fundamental rights officer – who handles such complaints – shared the following data with FRA: from 2016 to 2024, Frontex received 313 complaints, 43 of which were found admissible. Most complaints (84) were filed in 2024, showing an increase compared to the 64 complaints submitted in 2023.
Most complaints are inadmissible since they concern the conduct of national authorities. The planned revision of the rules governing the handling of complaints envisage reinforcing referrals of inadmissible complaints to national complaint handling bodies, subject to the applicant’s agreement. The upcoming revision of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 could introduce, more formally, such a referral mechanism, combined with a duty to inform Frontex and its fundamental rights officer of the outcome of national investigations.
In 2024, the Frontex fundamental rights officer reviewed the substance of eight complaints concerning alleged collective expulsions and ill-treatment of migrants: six from Greece to Türkiye and two from Bulgaria to Türkiye. He recommended to the national authorities that they reinforce preventive measures and strengthen national investigations [13]
Frontex, The Fundamental Rights Officer – Annual report 2024, July 2025, Section 3.2.
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Every participant in Frontex operational activities needs to report any situation of potential violation of fundamental rights through a ‘serious incident report’ [14]
For a short overview, see Frontex, ‘Fundamental rights at Frontex’. The serious incident reporting is based on the requirement set out in Article 38(3)(h) of Regulation (EU) 2019/1896. Fundamental rights violations are one of four categories of serious incidents.
. From 2019 to 2024, the Frontex fundamental rights officer handled 262 serious incident reports, 56 of them in 2024, according to the data he shared with FRA in July 2025.
In 2024, the fundamental rights officer closed 48 serious incident reports finding that in three out of four cases (37), a fundamental rights violation either occurred or likely occurred. Only one incident concerned a violation by Frontex. In all other cases, national authorities were responsible for the confirmed or alleged violation, which in many cases entailed inhuman or degrading treatment at borders [15]
Frontex, The Fundamental Rights Officer – Annual report 2024, July 2025, Section 3.1.
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Serious incident reports aim to establish whether fundamental rights violations occurred and, if so, to recommend mitigating steps for the future. They do not replace criminal or disciplinary investigations. The Frontex fundamental rights officer noted that national authorities often fail to follow up on cases where allegations of fundamental rights violations by their officers are reported [16] Ibid.
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