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Apr 29 • 9 tweets • 10 min read
Today, after more than 2 years of investigations by @LHReports, the head of the EU’s border agency Frontex resigned. Small teams working in Europe’s public interest can make a big difference. Explainer in short 🧵
Our first story on Frontex revealed how it was switching to drones to evade rescue operations in the Central Med. Denials, big spending, misuse of tech, inversion of humanitarian responsibilities
theguardian.com/world/2019/aug…
We were looking at an agency supercharged with EU taxpayers’ money. See this animation of Frontex’s budget projections (as they were then) & its role in deportations for a sense of scale
vimeo.com/351673775
The real investigative breakthrough came a year later when, w/partners incl. @derspiegel @bellingcat we proved that illegal pushbacks in the Aegean weren’t rogue actions by Greece but operations undertaken with the complicity of Frontex
lighthousereports.nl/investigation/…
@derspiegel @bellingcat The team’s reporting saw us face accusations of fake news or serving foreign propaganda. But the work was recognised with this year’s IJ4EU Impact Award, picked up at the @EU_Commission HQ in Berlin
@derspiegel @bellingcat @EU_Commission The Aegean isn’t our sole focus & we’ve kept on reporting the Central Med. This investigation showing the extent of Frontex’s command of the Libyan coastguard has been nominated for the @EuroPressPrize
lighthousereports.nl/investigation/…
@derspiegel @bellingcat @EU_Commission @EuroPressPrize Which brings us to yesterday, where our parsing of Frontex’s own data made front pages & revealed how they were logging the pushbacks they claimed to know nothing about.
@derspiegel @bellingcat @EU_Commission @EuroPressPrize @LHreports we think big breakthroughs require small teams that mash up disciplines from OSINT & FOIA to ground reporting & data. You need to stay on the story & you need committed partners like @derspiegel & others who will need another tweet
@derspiegel @bellingcat @EU_Commission @EuroPressPrize It’s quite a roll call of Europe’s leading media & fellow digital muckrakers: @reportmainz
@tagesschau #monitor
@LeMonde @Mediapart @Libe @Domani @guardian
@RepublikMagazin @SRFNews @Trouw @Bellingcat

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More from @LHreports

Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Apr 27
1/ Europe’s border agency Frontex denies involvement in pushbacks but their own database shows the exact opposite. By analysing @Frontex data @LHreports can reveal how illegal push backs are registered and concealed
2/ @LHreports w/partners @derpsiegel @lemondefr @RepublikMagazin #Rundschau analysed incidents registered in Frontex’s own database & found the agency involved in pushing back at least 957 people from Greece to Turkey
3/ We used freedom of information laws to request Frontex data. They sent us partial data from their database, JORA, with crucial fields redacted. We got the incident type, dates & number of people involved but no descriptions
Read 14 tweets
Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Mar 23
Trained by Russia, the Syrian military has flattened vast parts of former opposition neighborhoods in the name of de-mining. Our new investigation reveals the extent of the destruction, which experts say could be a war crime.
These areas are mostly off limits to residents & journalists so @LHreports @SIRAJ_SYRIA @RozanaFM used #OSINT to document how the military razed one district & spoke to Syrians who lost homes in an op unnecessary for de-mining
Satellite analysis shows that almost half of the buildings in Qaboun were destroyed since the government recaptured the area in 2017. It was reduced to rubble not through war, but the government’s “peace.”
Read 22 tweets
Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Mar 23
While the world's universities rightly offer places to Ukrainian students, at least 4 of their African counterparts, from the same Unis, have been jailed in Poland just for crossing the border to escape a war 🧵
Their stories & those of at least 52 other non-Westerners fleeing the war, uncovered by @LHreports come out today in @Spiegel @Independent @Mediapart & in our continuing live reporting thread inset
@Spiegel @Independent @Mediapart Adamou from Cameroon studied AgSci outside Kiev, one of 70k+ foreign students doing degrees widely recognised in EUR. His family dug deep to send him. Now he's in a detention centre in Warsaw
spiegel.de/ausland/ukrain…
Read 7 tweets
Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Mar 8
THREAD. Looming food crisis caused by invasion of #Ukraine seen by “Big Ag” (agricultural lobby & their political allies) as an opportunity to throttle the EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy. But this could compromise future food security + puts animal feed over food. We explain: Image
Big Ag’s argument is: the war threatens EU’s food supplies so we should roll back environmental considerations in #F2F & #CAP, like curbing the use of chemical fertilisers & pesticides and keeping some land to restore & protect nature
But take cereals, one of the key commodities at stake: The EU is a NET EXPORTER of cereals & has a self-sufficiency rate of 112%. Last year, the EU exported 44.8m tonnes & imported only 19.7m tonnes. Source: EU data. Image
Read 15 tweets
Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Mar 8
INVITATION Apply for a place at a free April webinar on investigating conspiracy theorists in Europe. @Belllingcat, together with European investigative newsroom @LHreports, is offering a limited number of free webinar places
You’ll learn how to research social networks & online platforms used by the likes of #QAnon enthusiasts across the continent. It will cover Telegram, VK, 4chan/8kun & other relevant niche social networks
Who can Apply? Individuals, organisations, universities & schools can all apply to take part. Members of any military or intelligence service are not permitted to join our workshops
Read 7 tweets
Lighthouse Reports Profile picture
Mar 1
The leadership of @Frontex faces the most serious fallout to date from @LHreports investigations, as we can reveal the findings of a damning report from the EU anti-fraud watchdog OLAF, confirming they covered up pushbacks
spiegel.de/ausland/eu-ant…
The 200-page OLAF report, based on the testimony of 20 witnesses incl. multiple staff from Frontex, is considered so sensitive that it has only been shared with the agency’s Management Board & a committee of MEPs
In it, staff members testified that senior leadership at the multi-billion euro agency harassed staff & covered up multiple rights abuses including the common practice of leaving refugees adrift at sea in life rafts
Read 6 tweets

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