Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed an action seeking compensation brought by Syrian refugees against the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) following their re-admission from Greece to Turkey.
The case concerns Syrian citizens who, together with other refugees, arrived on the island of Milos in 2016. After being transferred to Leros, they expressed their desire to apply for international protection. However, following a return operation conducted jointly by the European Border and Coast Guard Organization (Frontex) and Greece, these persons were transferred to Turkey and Iraq, where they have resided ever since.
What they had asked for compensation
The Syrian refugees complained against Frontex's fundamental rights officer regarding redeployment to Turkey. As they failed, the same persons filed a lawsuit before the General Court of the European Union requesting the award of compensation.
In particular, they asked for more than 96,000 euros for property damage and 40,000 euros as monetary satisfaction due to moral injury due to the allegedly illegal behaviour of Frontex before, during and after the return operation.
According to the applicants, if Frontex had not breached its fundamental rights obligations about the return operation, they would not have been illegally readmitted to Turkey. They would not have been deprived of the international protection to which they were entitled, taking into account both their nationality and the situation in Syria at the time of the actual events.
According to their allegations, Frontex violated, among other things, the principle of non-refoulement, the prohibition of group deportations and the ban of degrading treatment, and broke the right to recognition of asylum, the rights of the child, the right to good administration and the right to an effective remedy.
The General Court dismissed the action
With today's decision, the General Court rejects the action, as according to the reasoning, the conduct accused of Frontex is not directly related to the financial damage and moral damage claimed to have been suffered by the specific persons, i.e. the costs to which they were subjected in Turkey and Iraq, as well as the feeling of anxiety they experienced especially on the flight back to Turkey.
Concerning return operations, the EU's highest judicial body underlines that the exclusive task of Frontex is to provide technical and operational support to the member states. Instead, Member States are solely responsible for assessing the merits of return decisions and examining applications for international protection.
Therefore, the plaintiffs wrongly argue that if Frontex had not committed the alleged violations, they would not have been illegally returned to Turkey and would not have suffered material and moral damage because they would have been granted the requested international protection due to the situation in Syria.
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