National Independent Monitoring Mechanisms for Fundamental Rights Compliance at the EU’s External Borders

The European Union is torn between its aim to curb down the number of migrants and refugees and its obligation to protect fundamental rights of all individuals on its territory. National independent monitoring mechanisms, stipulated by the Screening Regulation and the Asylum Procedures Regulation, are the reflection of this tension. The mechanisms’ aim will be to contribute to the protection of fundamental rights of irregular migrants and applicants for international protection, by monitoring the activities of police officers at the EU’s external borders. While the establishment of national monitoring mechanisms is a positive step in the context of the protection of fundamental rights at the EU’s external borders, their confinement to screening activities and novel border procedures is a manifest disregard of the fact that violations of third-country nationals’ rights are most likely going to happen during border surveillance, which are not encompassed by the mandate of monitoring mechanisms. The aim of this Article is to critically evaluate the rules for the establishment and work of national independent monitoring mechanisms, point to the main challenges and make recommendations, while using the Croatian pilot mechanisms as a test case to discuss the mechanisms’ mandate, methodology and work.