The European Border Guard Agency (Frontex) said Thursday (December 8th) that it would examine reports that Bulgarian police had locked migrants in a cage, after the UN expressed its “
concern
”.
An investigation carried out by several European media claims that migrants were locked up in a makeshift cage on the Bulgarian border with Turkey "
under the gaze
" of Frontex agents.
"
Frontex treats any reports of alleged violations of fundamental rights seriously
," the Warsaw-based agency told AFP.
“
The information you provided to us has been forwarded to the Frontex Fundamental Rights Office who will look into the allegations
,” Frontex added in its email.
The allegations stem from an investigation published Thursday by the newspaper Le Monde in partnership with the organization Lighthouse Reports and other European media.
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Le Monde
says it has video footage of the cage used to lock up refugees, adding that at least 34 people were detained there between mid-October and the end of November.
The makeshift cage is "
made up of iron bars and strewn with rubbish, it is visible from the street
", indicates the newspaper.
Le Monde
interviewed four men - Syrians and Afghans - who "
told them that they had been locked up there following their attempt to enter Bulgaria
".
According to the newspaper, video footage shows a Frontex car visible near the cage, in the Bulgarian town of Sredets.
Frontex told AFP that since last year, its rights office had registered ten "
serious incidents
" that allegedly occurred on the Bulgarian-Turkish border.
“
One refers to the Sredets area but is not at all related to the conditions at the border guard post
,” the agency points out.
The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, for its part told AFP that its representatives had not seen the images in question and could not comment on them, but that they were "
deeply concerned by these allegations
.
"
We urge affected states to investigate all allegations of violations and abuses
," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.
“
UNHCR stands ready to support States and the European Commission in setting up independent monitoring mechanisms for the follow-up and investigation of such incidents
,” he stressed.
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