Amnesty International has asked the EU to place anti-immigration border patrols under the scrutiny of officials from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in order to guarantee the rights of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers.
The human rights organisation expressed concerns over the sea patrols currently being run by Frontex, the EU's border control agency, off the Canary Islands. Similar patrols are due to start soon in the Italy-Malta-Libya strait.
Amnesty's views were expressed in a document sent to the European Commission and to EU Interior Ministers prior to their two-day Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Tempere, Finland, at the end of this week.
The Canary Islands mission, known as Hera II, was introduced a few weeks ago while the central Mediterranean route will be patrolled in an operation called Jason 1.
Amnesty said: "Although (Justice and Home Affairs) Commissioner Franco Frattini stated that the mentioned operations are not about building a Fortress Europe but about saving lives at sea, until today it remains unclear how many persons were intercepted through such actions and what happened to them."
Amnesty said the multitude of initiatives launched indicates the serious nature of the Mediterranean crisis and the fact that the EU still lacks an appropriate and global response to such developments.
Although the organisation acknowledges that these events constitute a major challenge to the EU's immigration policy, it is particularly concerned that the right to seek asylum may not be upheld in these circumstances.
Immigration measures should always respect obligations deriving from international human rights and refugee law, it insisted.
It recommended that EU ministers agree that "in order to avoid any major violations of refugee law, the EU and its member states should guarantee that UNHCR personnel are allowed to monitor the Frontex missions and that refugee experts are systematically involved."
Interception measures should not result in asylum seekers and refugees being denied access to international protection, it said. Intercepted persons found to be in need of international protection should have access to durable solutions.
Interior ministers will start their meeting on Thursday by tackling illegal immigration on the EU's southern borders. Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg will represent Malta.