A/80/302 measures take various forms, including pullbacks 12 and pushbacks. 13 Less visible measures involve funding and strengthening the capacity of third States to control their borders, thereby preventing migrants from entering or leaving their territory. 14 8. While agreements regarding the interception and containment of migrants en route to externalizing States have been implemented in various regions (for example, between Australia and Indonesia and between the United States of America and Mexico), the European Union appears to offer the most examples. The European Union has signed a range of migration agreements aimed at reducing migration to the European Union, with these agreements serving to create a sort of “buffer zone.” Although many of the arrangements pursuant to those agreements are not public, the European Union provides funds, capacity-building and equipment, as well as broader benefits, to third States. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) plays an important role in supporting third States in preventing migrants from arriving in the European Union. 15 9. The European Union engages in multifaceted cooperation with Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, as well as Kosovo) 16 in the context of the process of those countries’ accession to the Union. That cooperation involves strengthening and funding border management by these countries, in order to align their border management practices with European Union integrated border management standards. 17 The broad range of support provided includes capacity-building, technical support and border surveillance equipment. Frontex has concluded so-called status agreements with most of those countries that allow the agency, in practice, to exercise executive powers, ranging from involvement in border patrols and joint operations to border control powers.18 There have been reported cases of pushbacks across this region, including in Frontex operational areas. 19 10. While cooperation between the European Union and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa region is long-standing, there have been multiple additional initiatives in the region in recent years. The Union agreed to enter into cooperation __________________ 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 25-12609 Pullbacks are understood as operations designed to physically prevent migrants from leaving the territory of their State of origin or a transit State or to forcibly return them to that territory before they can reach the jurisdiction of their destination State. Pullbacks are carried out by retaining States or local armed groups, at the instigation and on behalf of destination States (A/HRC/37/50, para. 54). Pushbacks are understood as various measures taken by States that result in migrants being summarily forced back, without an individual assessment of their human rights protection needs, to the country or territory, or to sea, from where they attempted to cross or crossed an international border (A/HRC/47/30, paras. 34–37). A/72/335, paras. 11 and 36; and A/HRC/37/50, para. 7, and A/HRC/23/46, paras. 55–61. European Union member States also have bilateral arrangements with third States that are frequently supported by the European Union, for example the agreements signed by Cyprus and Lebanon and by Morocco and Spain (A/HRC/50/31, paras. 50 and 55), and the memorandum of understanding signed by Italy and Libya (available at www.asgi.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/ 02/ITALY-LIBYA-MEMORANDUM-02.02.2017.pdf). References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999). The European Union, through its Eastern Partnership initiative, also cooperates on border management with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine ( available at https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/policies/international-affairs/collaboration-countries/easternpartnership_en). See submissions by AccessNow and Border Violence Monitoring Network; see also www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/western-balkans-route/#frontex. See submission by Médecins sans frontières; see also European Union Agency for Asylum, “Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2023”. 5/23