Frontex’s History of Handling Abuse Evidence Dogs Balkan Expansion

Suddenly, someone jumped from the bushes.

"The dog reacted by biting, which is a natural defence reaction for service dogs," said a Frontex internal report filed shortly after the October 11, 2016 incident.

The dog attack is a vivid example of what rights groups say amounts to a pattern of aiding and abetting the heavy-handed tactics of Hungarian authorities patrolling a key EU frontier.

Internal documents reviewed by BIRN show that the head of Frontex rejected a recommendation in 2016 from the agency's own compliance watchdog to suspend operations on the Hungarian-Serbian border amid concerns of complicity in rights violations by Hungarian officers.

Among the reported acts of brutality: the use of batons, teargas and pepper spray on asylum seekers — including children — and violent "pushbacks" of refugees and migrants into northern Serbia.

Meanwhile, as Frontex expands its footprint into non-EU countries in Southeast Europe, critics say agreements between the agency and Western Balkan governments will allow Frontex staff to operate with a worrying level of impunity for any wrongdoing.

They say the agreements speak volumes about the degree of accountability and transparency surrounding the actions of one of the European Union's fastest-growing agencies.

A police officer with a dog patrols along a temporary border fence along the Hungarian-Serbian border near Roszke, 180 kilometers southeast of Budapest, Hungary, in April 2017. The construction of a second line of fences aimed at preventing migrants' illegal entry into Hungary had just been completed along the 155-kilometre border between Hungary and Serbia. Photo: EPA/ZOLTAN GERGELY KELEMAN

Questions of complicity

Known officially as the European Border and Coast...