Purchasing Heron drones from Israeli military companies to enable Frontex and the European Maritime Safety Agency to control borders

8.5.2020

Question for written answer E-002861/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Manu Pineda (GUE/NGL), Sira Rego (GUE/NGL)

Since 2018, the EU has had contracts with Israeli military companies to purchase Heron drones worth EUR 59 million. This type of drone has been used by Israel to kill dozens of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Frontex and the European Maritime Safety Agency use these drones to monitor and provide intelligence information on the movements of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean without offering rescue protocols for refugees exposed to fatal dangers at sea, in breach of the United Nationals Convention on the Law of the Sea. [1]

• 1.What criteria have been used to select the companies that develop these drones responsible for breaching the human rights of Palestinians?
• 2.In the Commission’s view, how is entering into this type of agreement compatible with the aims of the Common Foreign and Security Policy with regard to human rights enshrined in Article 21 of the Treaty on EU?
• 3.Does the Commission intend to keep supporting violations of the rights of refugees in the Mediterranean and the use of military drones at the EU's foreign borders?

 

• [1] https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/3529/EU-Should-Cancel-€59M-Contract-with-Israeli-Companies-for-Drones-to-Surveille-Migrants