Sunday

28th May 2023

Croatia carrying out violent and illegal pushbacks, says NGO

  • Previously documented violence of migrant abuse in Croatia - this picture from 2020 is from the Danish Refugee Council (Photo: Danish Refugee Council)
Listen to article

Illegal pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers has fully resumed following Croatia's entry into the border-free Schengen area, says Human Rights Watch.

"We're seeing more and more of a return to business-as-usual," said Michael Bochenek, a researcher at the NGO and author of a 94-page report on Croatia out Wednesday (3 May).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"People are describing violence during pushbacks, 15-year olds tell me they're being kicked by police. Money is being taken, phones are stolen or damaged," he said.

The European Commission last year praised Croatia for protecting people's rights. They said Croatia had set up a so-called independent monitoring mechanism to ensure fundamental rights are respected along the outer rim of its borders.

The praise came ahead of Croatia's entry into the Schengen area, which allows passport-free movement to more than 400 million EU citizens.

It also came at a time when Croatia's state secretary, Terezija Gras, was aiming to become the next head of the EU's border agency Frontex.

Gras had taken credit for setting up the independent monitor in June 2021, telling MEPs it would provide the necessary oversight of fundamental rights in the conduct of border police activities.

Similar systems are slated elsewhere under a proposal from the European Commission to overhaul the EU's asylum and migration policies.

But Human Rights Watch, and others, continue to dispute that any such monitor is actually doing anything of use.

"It's not independent. It doesn't really go to the border. Doesn't really monitor," said Bochenek.

"It only goes to official border crossings," he said, noting that pushbacks happen in the forests and away from official crossing points.

The Croatian government did not respond when asked for a comment. Neither has the European Commission as of publication.

For its part, the EU's border agency Frontex says it has has 10 officers stationed along official crossing points between Croatia and Bosnia, as well as another 13 between Croatia and Montenegro and 19 with Serbia.

The Danish Refugee Council says they recorded some 30,000 pushbacks from Croatia into Bosnia over the span of two years.

This includes 201 reports of pushbacks in March, involving 37 children. Some of those reports may have involved one person being pushed back multiple times.

Meanwhile, Bochenek's report offers ample testimonies and further evidence of pushbacks of people from Croatia into Bosnia, which has no functioning asylum system.

Some 100 people were interviewed, including more than 20 unaccompanied children and two dozen parents travelling with young children.

One 19-year old from Cameroon said Croatian police had beat him so badly he could not walk for two months. Two 15-year olds from Afghanistan said they had been pushed back to Bosnia by Croatian police in April.

"They said if they caught us again, they would really beat us," they told Human Rights Watch.

Illegal pushbacks happening daily in Croatia, says NGO

More than 1,600 testimonies of alleged illegal pushbacks of migrants and refugees throughout the EU has been published, collated by the Border Violence Monitoring Network and the Left party — adding to the mounting evidence of abuse.

Lithuania law to allow 'volunteer' border guards to use violence

Lithuania's parliament passed a controversial new law allowing volunteers from around Europe to join its national border guard force — while giving them the right to use violence against asylum seekers and migrants crossing in from Belarus.

EU relying on 'ineffective' Greek body to probe pushback video

The European Commission says it cannot act on latest revelations by the New York Times of illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers until authorities in Greece first conduct a national investigation. Critics say those same authorities are politically compromised and ineffective.

Latest News

  1. How the EU's money for waste went to waste in Lebanon
  2. EU criminal complicity in Libya needs recognition, says expert
  3. Europe's missing mails
  4. MEPs to urge block on Hungary taking EU presidency in 2024
  5. PFAS 'forever chemicals' cost society €16 trillion a year
  6. EU will 'react as appropriate' to Russian nukes in Belarus
  7. The EU needs to foster tech — not just regulate it
  8. EU: national energy price-spike measures should end this year

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us