A/HRC/50/31 63. In D. A. v. Poland,116 the Court ruled that Poland had unlawfully pushed back Syrian nationals at the border between Poland and Belarus, and had repeatedly denied them the possibility to lodge applications for international protection. It further held that the situation of the applicants was not reviewed individually, and that the Polish authorities returned them to Belarus despite the Court’s interim measure indicating that they should not be removed. Poland was therefore found to have violated the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, and the prohibition of collective expulsion; the authorities had not provided access to effective remedy to challenge the pushbacks, and had hindered the exercise of the right of application by not complying with the Court’s interim measure. The Court’s case law has already established that at the time of the pushbacks, the authorities had employed a “wider policy of not receiving applications for international protection from persons presenting themselves at the Polish-Belarusian border and of returning those persons to Belarus, in violation of domestic and international law”.117 64. In May 2021, the Administrative Court of Munich declared the bilateral agreement between Germany and Greece, which allows the immediate return of asylum applicants from the German border with Austria to Greece, “clearly unlawful” and in breach of European law. 118 Since 2018, dozens of asylum seekers have been affected by the agreement, as German police authorities sought to fast-track the return of those who had already applied for protection in Greece, failing to individually assess the risk of refoulement and other human rights violations or to take into account systemic deficiencies in the Greek asylum system.119 65. The Special Rapporteur stands firmly by the assessment that Libya cannot be considered a safe port of disembarkation for migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea.120 He welcomes the accountability achieved in criminal proceedings in Italy in 2021, in which a shipmaster of an Italian merchant vessel was convicted by a court in Naples for disembarking over a hundred migrants in Libya in 2018.121 He notes, however, that ultimate responsibility lies with States coordinating search and rescue activities in the region to refrain from requesting or authorizing disembarkation in Libya, and that such operations should be suspended without delay. 2. Frontex reform 66. Frontex has been facing scrutiny for its operations at the external borders of the European Union. The Special Rapporteur notes that, in October 2021, the European Parliament voted to freeze part of the agency’s 2022 budget and to only make it available if Frontex improved its human rights monitoring and financial, recruitment and procurement procedures. 122 The Special Rapporteur welcomes the recent review by the European Ombudsman of the agency’s complaints mechanism for alleged breaches of fundamental rights, and the issuance of a decision setting out a series of suggestions to improve the accessibility of the complaints mechanism for potential victims of fundamental rights violations and to strengthen the transparency and accountability of Frontex operations. 123 Additionally, the Special Rapporteur notes that, in May 2021, an action was lodged with the Court of Justice of the European Union on behalf of two asylum-seeking applicants who were subjected to a pushback in the Aegean Sea, which alleges that Frontex bears legal responsibility for failing to terminate its operations in Greece despite “serious, systematic, and widespread” violations of human rights.124 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 Application No. 51246/17, Judgment of 8 July 2021. See M. K. v. Poland, applications Nos. 40503/17, 42902/17 and 43643/17, Judgment of 23 July 2020. Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 (Dublin III Regulation). See Pro Asyl, press release of 5 May 2021, available at: https://www.proasyl.de/en/pressrelease/dealbetween-greece-and-germany-clearly-unlawful/. A/HRC/47/30, para. 73, and S/2021/62, para. 107. See submission by Sea-Watch. See European Parliament, “EP asks for part of Frontex budget to be frozen until key improvements are made”, 21 October 2021. See European Ombudsman, OI/5/2020/MHZ, 15 June 2021, available at: https://europa.eu/!kr67tjv. See statement by front-LEX of 25 May 2021, available at https://frontlex.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/pr_25-may-2021.pdf. 15