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Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens has told Euronews he wishes that no migrants arriving in Europe had to be returned to Libya, where they often face human rights abuses — but said his agency sometimes “has no choice”.

Frontex, the EU’s external border and coast guard agency is regularly challenged by human rights groups for not doing enough to save lives at sea.  

It uses drones or planes to detect boats, often packed to the brim with people, heading in the direction of the European coastline. A coordination centre is then alerted, and the migrant boats often intercepted and returned to other Mediterranean coastlines.

Among them is Libya, a key departure point for dangerous sea crossings to Europe, where severe human rights abuses of refugees and migrants, including torture, have been widely documented.

Asked about the fate migrants face when deposited back on Libyan soil, Leijtens sounded a regretful tone.

“I don’t want people to be returned to Libya, that’s the only way we can do it, is to inform this maritime rescue coordination centre”, he said. “And if it’s in Libyan territory, it’s the Libyans who have to take the responsibility, and they do.”

Leijtens said he is often asked why Frontex often doesn’t alert NGOs that take on the responsibility of rescuing those in danger instead of simply returning their boats to Libya itself.

“That would mean that I would play with human lives, because if the NGOs are not available, then there’s no coordination, then people might drown”, he explained.

Leijtens told Euronews that despite the fate that might await them, sometimes return is the best way of ensuring migrants don’t drown.

“And I cannot take that responsibility. So as long, as much as I do not like people to be returned to Libya, if I have to choose, again, I’d rather save lives than not save lives”.

‘Part of the ecosystem’

NGOs that take on the responsibility of searching and rescuing endangered civilians often face serious hostility from EU member states, who see their work as a “pull factor” that encouraged refugees to flee.

Leijtens rejected this, saying there is no evidence that the work NGOs do is the reason why often vulnerable civilians risk their lives to cross dangerous waters to Europe. 

He said he regards NGOs as “part of the ecosystem”, with them and Frontex “cooperating” to save lives at sea. 

“I’m in touch with them, we speak. We try to understand each other’s positions, we try to make sure that we don’t sort of block each other because we all see the need to save lives at sea, for example”, he told Euronews.

One of Frontex’s roles is the return of people whose asylum applications have been rejected. This, he explained, is an area where more cooperation with NGOs is possible.

“For example, what we do is, after we return people, we have a so-called post-return programme, which is meant to help people pick up their lives again,” Leijtens explained. 

“And for this, we hire NGOs to perform this on our behalf with European Frontex funding. So I think it’s actually a more nuanced picture than has often been told.” 

Leijtens, who has served as the head of Frontex for the past two years, is considering the prospect of a potential expansion in Frontex’s search and rescue work.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed to increase the agency’s staffing by 30,000, a number that could provide a significant boost in Frontex’s mission to secure Europe’s external borders.