Asylum, migration and borders

FRA took part in a Council of Europe roundtable with selected National Preventive Mechanisms on fundamental rights monitoring and its challenges in the context of migration. Discussions paid particular attention to the new forms of fundamental rights monitoring under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.

Participating National Preventive Mechanisms, Council of Europe representatives and other participants, including the European Commission, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, civic society organisations and FRA, exchanged experiences in monitoring from national perspectives. 

They discussed challenges in monitoring locations holding migrants and asylum applicants. They reflected on how to strengthen the preventive dimension of their work and how the new forms of monitoring under the EU Pact can be accommodated within their mandate. 

The Agency presented its current and planned work on operationalising its 2024 guidance on how to set up independent national monitoring mechanisms under the EU Pact, notably developing a common monitoring methodology for future monitoring bodies. FRA’s expertise and knowledge gained through its work operationalising its general guidance on monitoring under the EU Pact was recurrently sought throughout the event. 

The roundtable took place on 3 February in Larnaca, Cyprus. It was organised in the framework of the joint Council of Europe /EU Technical support for more effective and resilient National Preventive Mechanisms project.