ASYLNYTT

Poland unlawfully, and sometimes violently, summarily pushes migrants and asylum seekers back to Belarus, where they face serious abuses, including beatings and rape by border guards and other security forces, Human Rights Watch said today. At least one person drowned and another disappeared in March 2022 in the course of being pushed back.

"It's unacceptable that an EU country is forcing people, many fleeing war and oppression, back into what can only be described as hellish conditions in Belarus," said Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The unlawful pushbacks of migrants to Belarus and subsequent abuse they face there stands in stark contrast to Poland's open door policy to people fleeing the war in Ukraine."

The humanitarian crisis on the Poland-Belarus border began in 2021, with severe ill-treatment of migrants and asylum seekers by border forces on both sides. Hundreds of people from countries including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Cuba attempting to seek asylum in the EU end up trapped in the inhospitable border area between the two countries.

Between March and May, Human Rights Watch conducted phone interviews with nine migrants, including families with children and single men, a human rights expert, and activists. Human Rights Watch also interviewed representatives of two border guard stations and two detention centers for foreigners in Poland.

People interviewed said that Polish border guards had pushed them back to Belarus in March and April, sometimes violently, and without due process, despite their pleas for asylum. On the Belarusian side, people reported violence, inhuman and degrading treatment and other forms of coercion by Belarusian border guards. Vulnerable groups, including families with children, older people, and people with health issues were among those summarily pushed back to Belarus.

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Arkiveringsdatum 220607:

Human Rights Watch 22-05-26:

Bulgarien/ Migrants brutally pushed back at Turkish border

Bulgarian authorities are beating, robbing, stripping, and using police dogs to attack Afghan and other asylum seekers and migrants, then pushing them back to Turkey without any formal interview or asylum procedure, Human Rights Watch said today.

"Bulgarian authorities are brutally and summarily pushing back migrants and asylum seekers across the land border with Turkey," said Michelle Randhawa, refugee and migrant rights officer at Human Rights Watch. "The European Union should ensure that Bulgaria immediately stops the illegal and dehumanizing pushbacks at its borders and allows asylum seekers access to fair asylum procedures."

In July 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) unanimously ruled that the Bulgarian government had violated articles 3 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the prohibition against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, and the right to a remedy when, in 2016, it pushed back a Turkish journalist to Turkey without a risk assessment or allowing him to challenge his removal. At the end of 2021, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee reported there had been 2,513 pushbacks from Bulgaria, involving 44,988 people. In 2020, it reported that Bulgarian authorities pushed back 15,173 people.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 15 Afghan men between November 2021 and April 2022. They described being victims of 19 pushbacks by Bulgarian authorities from Bulgaria to Turkey. Seventeen occurred between October and April and two in the summer of 2021.

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Omni 22-05-26: Bulgariska myndigheter misshandlar asylsökande (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 220518:

Picum 22-05-13:

Polen/ Non-Ukrainians fleeing the war met with detention

Since the outset of the war in Ukraine, nearly 6 million people have fled violence perpetrated by the Russian army. The majority have crossed borders to the EU. While many have been welcomed in neighbouring countries, a number of reports have emerged of differential treatment towards non-Ukrainian nationals escaping the war.

Investigations conducted by Lighthouse Reports with The Independent, Der Spiegel, Radio France, and Médiapart, revealed that African nationals were detained in Poland and Estonia after fleeing Ukraine. While the total number is unknown, Polish police confirmed on March 15 that at least 52 third-country nationals were detained after crossing the border from Ukraine to Poland.

People apprehended at the border were denied legal aid and interpreters, and were left with no information on the circumstances of their detention. For instance, the Polish Border Guard detained a Nigerian student who was forced to sign a document written in Polish, without any appropriate translation, under the threat of five months in jail should he refuse to sign. When the student went to court, he wasn't provided with an interpreter, and eventually found himself in an immigration detention center.

Many other students from Cameroon, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and other African nations also ended up in detention centres. None of them had access to information, they all had their phones confiscated and very limited access to the Internet.

A student from Nigeria experienced similar treatment in Estonia. The officers claimed that he did not have the right to enter the country and threatened him with a five-year entry ban to the whole Schengen territory.

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Arkiveringsdatum 220413:

Elena Legal Update 22-04-08:

Polen/ District Court finds collective expulsion of Afghans on Belarusian border illegal

On 28 March 2022, the Bielsk Podlaski District Court gave its judgment in a case concerning three Afghan nationals. The applicants entered Poland irregularly from Belarus on 29 August 2021, expressed their wish to apply for international protection and were taken to a Border Guard post where they were detained for a few hours and returned across the border during the night. The Border guards did not record any documentation of the event and the applicants complained against the detention and collective expulsion experienced.

The District Court firstly determined that the lawfulness of the detention depends on the manner in which it was carried out and the conditions of the detention. It continued that in the present case, the detention actually happened and can in no way be described as a "temporary restriction of freedom of movement". It mentioned that the defendant's arguments that the officer's aim was to feed and provide rest to the applicants was not convincing and that it was evident that the aim was to bring them to the border discreetly which was inhumane and illegal. The Court therefore held that the detention was unjustified and referred to national law in elaborating that the Minister of Internal Affairs could only limit or suspend traffic at border crossings and was not authorised to regulate the situation of people who have crossed the border as in the case at hand. It furthermore agreed with the applicant that stay in Poland cannot be limited until an application for international protection is examined and in this case the applicants clearly intended to apply for international protection. The Court reasoned that although the detention did not exceed the statutory limit of 48 hours, the applicants were not informed about their rights or reason for detention and it thereby concluded that their apprehension was unjustified, illegal and irregular in light of the applicable provisions of law.

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Amnesty 22-04-10:

Polen/ bevis på övergrepp visar "hyckleriet" i den ojämlika behandlingen av flyktingar

Myndigheter kränker flyktingars rättigheter vid gränsen mellan Polen och Belarus, bland annat genom kroppsvisiteringar och annan kränkande behandling i överfulla häkten. Vissa har blivit tvångssövda när de återsänts till sina hemländer. Pushbacks och frihetsberövanden står i bjärt kontrast till det välkomnande som möter flyktingar vid gränsen från Ukraina.

De polska myndigheterna har frihetsberövat närmare 2 000 flyktingar som korsade gränsen in i landet från Belarus under 2021, och utsatt många av dem för övergrepp, som kroppsvisiteringar i smutsiga och överbefolkade anläggningar. I vissa fall har flyktingar till och med blivit tvångssövda eller skjutna med elpistoler.

Efter ett uppehåll under vintern kommer nu dessutom fler och fler flyktingar som försöker ta sig in i Polen från Belarus. Till följd av omvärldens sanktioner mot Belarus kan de inte få tillgång till mer pengar i landet, och de riskerar att utsättas för trakasserier eller gripanden av belarusisk polis. Vid den polska gränsen möter de taggtrådsstängsel och upprepade pushbacks av gränsvakter, ibland upp till 20-30 gånger.

- Flyktingar som korsat den belarusiska gränsen in i Polen, även sådana som tvingats över gränsen av belarusisk gränspolis, hålls nu frihetsberövade i smutsiga och överfulla flyktingförvar, där vakter utsätter dem för kränkande behandling och nekar dem kontakt med världen utanför, säger Jelena Sesar, regional utredare vid Amnesty International.

- Denna våldsamma och förnedrande behandling står i stark kontrast till det varma välkomnande som Polen visar de flyktingar som anländer från Ukraina. De polska myndigheternas beteende stinker av rasism och hyckleri. Polen måste omedelbart utvidga den beundransvärda omsorg man visar dem som kommer till landet från Ukraina till alla människor som korsar gränserna i jakt på säkerhet.

Frihetsberövande och förfärliga förhållanden i förvar

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Asylnytt 22-04-00:

Makedonien/ Europadomstolen friar Nordmakedonien för kollektiv utvisning

Målet rör händelserna i mars 2016 efter att EU-länderna bestämt att "Balkanrutten" måste stängas. Ett mycket stort antal asylsökande hade under 2015 passerat genom Nordmakedonien på väg till Serbien och olika EU-länder. En del sökte asyl i Nordmakedonien, men en förkrossande majoritet av dessa avvek från asylproceduren. Den 8 mars stoppade Nordmakedonien inresa för personer som inte hade rätt att vistas i landet eller sökte asyl. Tusentals människor blev fast i Grekland på andra sidan gränsen, bland annat i Idomeni, där förhållandena snart blev miserabla. Den 14 mars samlades omkring 1.500 asylsökande till en gemensam marsch in i Nordmakedonien. Där möttes de av soldater som tvingade dem under delvis förnedrande former att återvända till Grekland. Några av personerna som var med, asylsökande från Syrien, Afghanistan och Irak, vände sig till Europadomstolen och hävdade att de utvisats kollektivt och inte tillåtits söka asyl. Men Europadomstolen har nu avslagit anmälan. Det är visserligen en kollektiv utvisning, men eftersom personerna kunde ha anmält sig vid en gränsövergång men istället valt att försöka forcera sig in, så har Nordmakedonien enligt domstolen haft rätt att avvisa dem utan procedur. Resonemanget är snarlikt det som fördes i målet N.D och N.T. mot Spanien, trots att det inte förekom något våld från de asylsökande i det aktuella ärendet.

Applications nos. 55798/16 and 4 others, case of A.A. and Others v. North Macedonia (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 220404:

Human Rights Watch 22-04-01:

Polen/ Polish activists arrested for saving lives

Authorities should stop harassment at Belarus border

It is a tale of two borders. In Poland, at the Ukrainian border, volunteers are heralded as heroes for helping Ukrainian refugees. At the Polish-Belarusian border, Polish police treat volunteers as criminals for providing aid to people trying to leave Belarus. Many of these people are now stranded in a forest on the Polish-Belarus border, their only lifeline being the volunteers who are risking imprisonment to help them.

According to Grupa Granica, a group supporting refugees on the Polish-Belarusian border, and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, on March 22, police arrested four volunteers for helping a family with seven children in the forest. A prosecutor charged the volunteers with organizing illegal immigration, a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison. On March 25, the court rejected the prosecutor's request for pre-trial detention. The same day, police arrested another volunteer as she sat in her car. Court proceedings against the five volunteers are pending.

Weronika, a 20-year-old volunteer said the police arrested her while she was on her way to meet other volunteers who were providing aid to four Cubans in the forest. She has been charged with organizing illegal migration. "The police were aggressive ... I said I was innocent, that I'm just helping stranded people but they arrested me anyway ... I am scared that they want to set an example with my case to scare other volunteers."

Polish authorities have blocked access to the border since mid-2021 when Belarus began encouraging people to travel from the Middle East and other countries into Poland. Poland responded by forcing people back to Belarus, sometimes violently, leaving people trapped in poor conditions and with little or no humanitarian support. The volunteers were all arrested outside the two-kilometer restricted border area, according to Polish civil society groups.

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Arkiveringsdatum 211231:

Europadomstolen 21-12-06:

Polen/ Requests for interim measures on the situation at the borders with Belarus

The European Court of Human Rights is receiving and processing requests for interim measures on a daily basis concerning the situation at the borders with Belarus. In most cases, the applicants claim to be on Polish territory allegedly with a view to seeking international protection.

Relying principally on Articles 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition on inhuman and degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants seek, among other things, legal assistance, material aid (in particular sustenance, medical care and sanitation), not to be removed from Poland, and international protection. They allege that their lives will be in danger if they are sent back to Belarus and, in some cases, subsequently to their countries of origin.

Measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court are decided in connection with proceedings before the Court, without prejudging any subsequent decisions on the admissibility or merits of the case. The Court grants such requests only on an exceptional basis, when the applicants would otherwise face a real risk of irreversible harm. For further information, see the factsheet on interim measures.

Between 20 August and 3 December 2021, the European Court of Human Rights processed a total of 47 requests for interim measures brought by a total of 198 applicants. Thirteen of the requests were received between 20 August and 31 October 2021, and 34 requests were received in November and December. Forty-four of those requests were lodged against Poland, with one request being lodged against Lithuania and two against Latvia.

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Amnesty International 21-12-20:

Polen/ Violence from Belarusian forces against migrants facing pushbacks from the EU

New evidence of brutal violence from Belarusian forces against asylum-seekers and migrants facing pushbacks from the EU

Asylum-seekers and migrants trying to enter the EU from Belarus and facing pushbacks and other human rights violations on the Polish border, are subjected to horrific torture or other ill-treatment, inhumane conditions, extortion and other abuse at the hands of Belarusian forces, new evidence gathered by Amnesty International reveals.

Harrowing testimonies reveal that people including families with children, often in need of immediate help, have been beaten with batons and rifle butts and threatened with security dogs by Belarusian forces, as well as being forced to repeatedly cross the border in dangerous conditions by both Belarussian and Polish authorities, including through a fast-flowing river.

"People at the border find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Stranded in what is effectively an exclusion zone on Belarus's border with the EU, they face hunger, exposure and shocking levels of brutality from Belarusian forces repeatedly forcing them into Poland where they are systematically pushed back by Polish officers. The opposing forces are playing a sordid game with human lives," said Amnesty International Refugees and Migrant Rights Researcher Jennifer Foster.

Amnesty International interviewed a total of 75 people who were lured into Belarus between July and November 2021 by a false promise of easily crossing into the EU. They then experienced pushbacks by EU countries, including Poland. The interviewees included 66 Iraqi nationals, seven Syrian nationals who travelled from Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, one Lebanese man, and one Sudanese man. With several of those interviewed travelling with family and friends, the testimonies account for a total of 192 affected people.

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IOM 21-12-15: IOM offers safe and dignified return assistance to migrants stranded in Belarus (Extern länk)

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ECRE 21-12-17:

Kroatien/ Croatian Schengen accession approved amid mounting reports of violations

(...) Amid mounting evidence of human rights violations and confusion over the first report of the Independent Border Monitoring Mechanism, the European Council has approved Croatia's accession to Schengen.

In their latest report under the Protecting Rights At Borders (PRAB) initiative, ECRE member the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and six civil society organisations have published a report uncovering the pushbacks of more than 6,000 people between July and November 2021. The vast majority of the cases took place in the Balkan region, with almost five thousand in Croatia alone.

According to the report: "Overall, Afghan nationals are the largest population reporting pushbacks. 10 percent of all pushback incidents involve children". The report notes: "Testimonies document unlawful, yet seemingly tolerated and ongoing, pushbacks involving physical abuse, harassment, extortion, destruction of property, theft and denial of access to seeking asylum. But it is not only theft of people's belongings, it's also a loss of EU's basic value of human dignity and respect for people's fundamental rights".

According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, 48,500 people crossed borders irregularly in the Balkan region during the first 10 months of 2021. In October, 9,000 people entered the EU irregularly through the Balkans. Reportedly, the routes by which people are seeking entry to Europe are changing, due to stepping up controls at the Greek-North Macedonian border and a barbed wire fence established on the border of North Macedonia and Serbia.

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Arkiveringsdatum 211210:

CPT 21-12-03:

Kroatien/ Council of Europe anti-torture Committee publishes report on ad hoc visit

In a report on Croatia published today, the CPT urges the Croatian authorities to take determined action to stop migrants being ill-treated by police officers and to ensure that cases of alleged ill-treatment are investigated effectively.

The Committee carried out a rapid reaction visit to Croatia from 10 to 14 August 2020, and in particular along the border area to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), to examine the treatment and safeguards afforded to migrants deprived of their liberty by the Croatian police. The CPT's delegation also looked into the procedures applied to migrants in the context of their removal from Croatia as well as the effectiveness of oversight and accountability mechanisms in cases of alleged police misconduct during such operations. A visit to the Je?evo Reception Centre for Foreigners was also carried out.

The report highlights that, for the first time since the CPT started visiting Croatia in 1998, there were manifest difficulties of cooperation. The CPT's delegation was provided with incomplete information about places where migrants may be deprived of their liberty and it was obstructed by police officers in accessing documentation necessary for the delegation to carry out the Committee's mandate.

In addition to visiting police stations in Croatia, the CPT's delegation also carried out many interviews across the Croatian border in the Una-Sana Canton of BiH, where it received numerous credible and concordant allegations of physical ill-treatment of migrants by Croatian police officers (notably members of the intervention police). The alleged ill-treatment consisted of slaps, kicks, blows with truncheons and other hard objects (e.g. butts/barrels of firearms, wooden sticks or tree branches) to various parts of the body. The alleged ill-treatment had been purportedly inflicted either at the time of the migrants' "interception" and de facto deprivation of liberty inside Croatian territory (ranging from several to fifty kilometres or more from the border) and/or at the moment of their push-back across the border with BiH.

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Asylnytt 21-12-10:

Kroatien/ Europadomstolen: Sexåring dödades av tåg efter pushback, Kroatien döms

Europadomstolen har slagit fast att Kroatien bröt mot Europakonventionens artikel 2 (rätt till liv) då det inte gjordes någon ordentlig utredning av vad som hade hänt innan ett barn blev påkört av ett tåg strax utanför Kroatiens gräns i november 2017. Familjen hävdade att de tagit sig in i Kroatien men blivit utkörda och att gränsvakterna pekat ut för dem att gå i mörkret utmed järnvägen mot närmsta stad i Serbien. Strax därpå kom tåget bakifrån och en sexårig flicka hann inte undan. Enligt de kroatiska gränsvakterna hade familjen inte varit i Kroatien utan kom gående mot gränsen. Vittnesmålen är motstridiga och inspelningar från värmekameror saknas. Domstolen påpekar att gränspolisen har avstått från att undersöka mobiltelefoner, som kunde ha visat var de inblandade befunnit sig. Rapporter från en rad organisationer om systematiska pushbacks så som familjen beskrivit bidrog till att Europadomstolen anser att Kroatien har ett ansvar. I domen fälls även Kroatien för kollektiva uvisning och för att de överlevande barnen i samma familj senare hölls i förvar alltför lång tid under fängelseliknande former, även om förhållandena i förvaret var relativt goda. Familjen, som numera tagit sig vidare till annat EU-land, tilldöms 40.000 Euro i skadestånd, plus rättegångskostnaderna.

Applications nos. 15670/18 and 43115/18, case of M.H. and Others v. Croatia (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 211122:

International Rescue Committee 21-11-19:

Polen/ Situationen vid gränsen till Belarus är ohållbar - nu måste EU ingripa

International Rescue Committee kräver obehindrat humanitärt tillträde och att asylrätten försvaras i gränsområdena. Annars kommer fler liv att riskeras, varnar den humanitära organisationen.

"Belarus missgärningar, som har lockat in utsatta människor i ett politiskt spel, ursäktar inte Europas omänsklighet. Dessa handlingar bör fördömas och stoppas, och de europeiska medlemsstaterna bör inte falla i den fälla som lagts ut för dem", säger Harlem Désir, styrelseordförande för International Rescue Committee i Sverige och vice generalsekreterare för organisationen i Europa.

Eftersom dödläget mellan EU och Belarus fortsätter uppmanar International Rescue Committee alla inblandade länder att omedelbart upphöra med att använda människor som politiskt påtryckningsmedel. Vid gränserna lever mellan 2 000 - 4 000 människor utomhus i vinterkyla utan mat, vatten eller skydd och nekas tillgång till humanitär hjälp och juridiskt stöd. Minst elva personer har redan dött och det kommer allt fler rapporter om människor som lider av hypotermi.

"Belarus sätter liv på spel genom att avsiktligt underlätta förflyttningen av människor till sin gräns, inte låta dem återvända och dessutom neka dem tillgång till humanitär hjälp. Polens svar - att möta människor med våld och olagligt förneka dem rätten att söka asyl - strider mot europeisk och internationell rätt och undergräver EU:s egna värderingar. Att söka asyl är inte ett brott, utan en mänsklig rättighet", säger Harlem Désir.

I detta kritiska läge uppmanar International Rescue Committee till en omedelbar nedtrappning och till att alla stater garanterar en human behandling av migranter och flyktingar. EU bör fortsätta att göra allt det kan för att avråda Belarus från dessa avskyvärda handlingar som sätter människors liv och värdighet på spel.

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UNHCR 21-11-09: UNHCR and IOM Call for immediate de-escalation at the Belarus-Poland border (Extern länk)

UNHCR 21-11-12: IOM, UNHCR provide emergency aid to asylum-seekers and migrants at the Belarus-Poland border, call to ensure well-being of people and prevent loss of life (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 211018:

OHCHR 21-10-06:

Polen/ UN: Belarus and Poland: Stop sacrificing migrant lives to political dispute

Belarus and Poland must work together to keep more migrants from dying on their border as victims of a political dispute, UN Special Rapporteurs* said today.

"It is absolutely tragic that six people have already died; not one more person must be allowed to die as a result of this political dispute," they said. "Belarus reportedly has encouraged refugees and other migrants from as far away as Iraq and Afghanistan to cross its borders into the European Union, while Poland and other EU countries have declared 'states of emergency' in an attempt to deny asylum-seekers access to protection in their countries, but now they must work together to save the lives of all those stranded at their common border."

They called on the two countries to offer life-saving medical assistance, food, clean water and - as temperatures fall close to zero -- shelter adequate for the conditions.

They spoke after the deaths of six migrants, including a 16-year-old boy, in the border zone in September, as record numbers of migrants, including asylum-seekers, poured across Belarus's EU frontier into Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

"Above all, the human rights of all these individuals must be respected," the Special Rapporteurs said. "No matter how they have travelled and arrived at international borders, all migrants, regardless of status, have the right to seek and enjoy protection," the Special Rapporteurs said. "The rights of migrants to a prompt, individual examination of their circumstances must also be respected. We remind countries that international law prohibits arbitrary or collective expulsions and refoulement."

Several weeks before the deaths, the Special Rapporteurs expressed concern to Belarus and Poland about the dire conditions of people, including children, stranded at the border without adequate shelter and food, clean water, sanitation facilities or medical care. They were not being allowed to seek asylum and other protection under international human rights law. They continue to discuss the issue with the two countries.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210808:

Asylnytt 21-08-08:

Bulgarien/ Europadomstolen fäller Bulgarien för utvisning av journalist till Turkiet

Fallet rör en journalist som arbetat på en tidning i Turkiet, som ansågs stå nära Gülenrörelsen. Tidningen stängdes efter försöket till statskupp år 2016, trots att redaktionen redan bytts ut. Efter kuppförsöket skedde massgripanden av anhängare till Gülenrörelsen men också bredare bland lärare, journalister mfl. Mannen flydde tillsammans med några andra i en tung lastbil. De upptäcktes av tullvakter vid gränsen mot Bulgarien. De förhördes i polishäkte men fördes inte till någon flyktingförläggning. Istället kördes de tillbaka och överlämnades till turkisk polis. Mannen fängslades och befinner sig fortfarande i Kandžra-fängelset. Ingen asylprocedur inleddes i Bulgarien. Mannen fick inte tillgång till juridiskt stöd, tolk eller möjlighet att överklaga. Bulgarien hävdar att det inte framgått att han sökte asyl, men enligt Europadomstolen hade de bulgariska myndigheterna tillräcklig information för att inse att mannen riskerade behandling i strid med konventionens artikel 3. Ärendet lämnades till Europadomstolen år 2017 efter att mannen dömts till sju års fängelse.

Requête no 29447/17, en l'affaire D c. Bulgarie (Extern länk)

Pressmeddelande på engelska (Extern länk till pdf-fil)

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Arkiveringsdatum 210720:

Asylnytt 21-07-00:

Polen/ Europadomstolen fäller åter Polen för att inte ha släppt in asylsökande

För knappt ett år sedan avgjorde Europadomstolen att Polens hantering av några familjer från Tjetjenien bröt mot Europakonventionen. Familjerna hade efter att ha vistats i Belarus försökt att söka asyl i Polen men inte släppts in. Det nu aktuella ärendet följer samma mönster. Den här gången gäller det tre personer från Syrien som efter att ha studerat i Belarus inte kunde förlänga sina tillstånd där och stod inför utvisning. I Syrien riskerade två av dem bland annat hårda straff för värnpliktsvägran. Precis som i det föregående fallet hade personerna upprepade gånger försökt söka asyl vid gränsen men eftersom gränspolisen varje gång hävdade att inga asylskäl framförts, enbart familjeskäl, så kom de inte längre. UNHCR har yttrat sig och bekräftar att samma mönster tycks ha upprepats i hundratals fall under flera år. Det hjälpte inte att personerna lämnade in skriftliga ansökningar med sina foton och inkallelseordrar från Syrien. Personerna fick inte stanna för att söka asyl ens när Europadomstolen ålagt Polen att inte verkställa några utvisningar förrän saken prövats. Polen döms för brott mot förbudet mot tortyr och annan förnedrande behandling (genom att personerna inte tilläts söka asyl trots vad de eventuellt riskerade i Syrien). Polen fälls även för att det inte gick att överklaga avvisningarna med suspensiv effekt och för att avvisningarna verkställts trots Europadomstolens förbud. Dessutom anser Europadomstolen att förfarandet ska definieras som kollektiv utvisning, vilket inte är tillåtet.

Application no. 51246/17, case of D.A. and Others v. Poland (Extern länk)

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Asylnytt 21-07-00:

Ungern/ Avvisning via Ungerns gränskorridor mot Serbien fälls av Europadomstolen

En person från Pakistan försökte tillsammans med elva landsmän att ta sig in i Ungern från Serbien. De greps av en grupp poliser och fördes till ett område utmed gränsen till Serbien. Där fick de order att sitta ned tills alla samlats. De misshandlades på platsen och uppmanades sedan att lämna platsen. Området är stängt mot Ungern och ligger öde. För att överleva måste männen passera gränsen och återvända till Serbien, vilket de också gjorde. Den man som gjort anmälan tog sig till ett uppsamlingsläger i Serbien, där han sökte vård för sina skador. Enligt Ungern rör det sig inte om kollektiv avvisning eftersom männen inte förpassats utanför Ungern. De har uppmanats att bege sig till någon av gränsstationerna, där de kan söka asyl. De två gränsstationerna är dock belägna flera mil från den plats där männen placerats och går inte att nå annat än genom Serbien. Proceduren vid gränsstationerna går till så att en informell väntelista upprättas med hjälp av någon av de sökande själva. Endast 15 personer om dagen från respektive station släpps in. Förhållandena har dömts ut både av UNHCR och EU-domstolen. Det kan ta flera månader att vänta och ensamstående män riskerar att tas bort från listan om de lyckas bli inskrivna. Detta drabbade även den man som sedan vände sig till Europadomstolen. Eftersom mannen inte framfört asylskäl prövades inget brott mot artikel 3. Men Ungern fälls för att ha tillämpat kollektiv utvisning (artikel 4 i tilläggsprotokoll nr 4) och inte ha gett möjlighet att överklaga (artikel 13).

Application no. 12625/17, case of Shahzad v. Hungary (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 210701:

Elena legal update 21-06-18:

Ungern/ Commission sends two letters of formal notice and reasoned opinion

The European Commission recently sent two letters of formal notice and a reasoned opinion to Hungary in relation to its national asylum procedure.

/Asylnytt: Ärendet i EU-domstolen rörde framför allt Ungerns gränsprocedur som i praktiken omöjliggör för de flesta asylsökande att komma in i proceduren samt systematiskt förvarstagande av asylsökande./

The first letter relates to Hungary's failure to comply with the Court of Justice's (CJEU) ruling in case C- 808/18, 17 December 2020. In that case, the CJEU held that Hungary had failed to fulfil its procedural obligations under EU law in relation to granting international protection and returning non-EU nationals who do not have the right to remain in the EU. The Commission subsequently decided to send a letter of formal notice urging Hungary to take and implement all required measures to remedy the situation since the ruling. The infringement procedure, based on Article 260(2) TFEU, requires Hungary to reply within two months to the concerns raised by the Commission. Otherwise, the Commission can refer the matter back to the CJEU with the proposal of financial sanctions.

In addition, the Commission decided to send a reasoned opinion accompanied by a letter of formal notice, to Hungary for failing to fully transpose the recast Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU). The reasoned opinion follows a letter of formal notice previously sent by the Commission in September 2015 and covers provisions on the personal interview, the medical screening and guarantees for unaccompanied children and teenagers. This most recent formal letter of notice covers additional provision on the asylum examination procedure which had to be transposed at a later stage. Hungary has two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken to ensure full transposition of the Directive. Otherwise, the Commission can refer the issue concerning the first part to the CJEU and send a reasoned opinion in relation to the remaining provisions.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210314:

Human Rights Watch 21-03-05:

Kroatien/ Witness: "If you scream, they will beat you more"

Migrants face human rights abuses at EU borders; impunity persists

Dawn was breaking when Akram and around 20 others dragged themselves up the banks of the Glina river, their bodies bruised from beatings by Croatian police officers. Some of them were barefoot and so badly injured they could barely walk.

Akram was back where he had started - Bosnia and Herzegovina - after being pushed back unlawfully from the borders of three European Union countries.

Only a day earlier, Akram had finally reached Italy after an exhausting and dangerous journey through the forests and mountains of Croatia and Slovenia. Italian police stopped him at the Trieste train station. "I hoped they would take me to a camp, so I didn't run away from them," he told me. Instead, they detained him until dark in what he described as a cell in a building outside the city, and then handed him over to police officers at the Slovenian border who in turn drove him to the Croatian border.

This was the second time Akram had been returned to Croatia, so he knew the Croatians would send him back to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

But then something happened he did not expect. "They [Croatian police officers] took me to a place in the forest with many, many police officers and even more immigrants, some of them were badly injured, did not have shoes or jackets." Akram and a group of other men were ordered to kneel and put their hands behind their heads. Akram did not dare look around.

A flashlight blinded Akram's eyes, and he raised his arms to protect his face. Police beat him and the other men on their backs and heads with batons. "If you scream, they will beat you more," he said.

(...)

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Arkiveringsdatum 210208:

Elena Legal Update 21-01-29:

Serbien/ Removal of a group of Afghan nationals amounts to collective expulsion

On 29 December 2020, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia rendered decision No. U? 1823/2017.

The case concerned a forcible removal of 25 refugees (9 children) from Afghanistan, who entered Serbia from Bulgaria. The group was arrested by the border police officers and was detained for 12 hours in the basement of the Border Police Station Gradina. Later on, they were taken to the misdemeanour court to face trial for illegal entry to Serbia. An acting judge dropped the charges stating that the defendants are in need of international protection, that they should not be removed to Bulgaria due to poor living conditions in reception centres and because 'they might be victims of human trafficking'. The judge ordered the police to issue the applicants with asylum certificates and to take them to an asylum centre. Right after the trial, and upon being issued with asylum certificates, applicants were boarded in the back of the van and, instead of being taken to the reception centre, were taken to the green border area and collectively expelled to Bulgaria.

The Constitutional Court found that Gradina officers had violated the applicants' right to liberty and security (Article 27 (3) and Article 29 (1) of the Constitution) by denying them the possibility to challenge the lawfulness of their detention with the assistance of competent legal representative. The Court dismissed the applicants' claim that the material conditions of the basement amounted to inhumane and degrading treatment, stating that the period of 12 hours is not lengthy enough to reach the threshold of Article 25 of the Constitution (Article 3 of ECHR).

(...)

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Arkiveringsdatum 201207:

ECRE 20-11-20:

Österrike/ Chain pushbacks to Bosnia amid growing evidence of widespread abuse

Amid mounting evidence of widespread and severe violations along the Balkan route, Austrian police have reportedly been involved in several cases of pushbacks to Slovenia followed by chain pushbacks to Bosnia. A complaint has been filed against Austrian police but authorities deny that the people involved requested asylum prior to expulsion.

According to reports from media and the NGOs, Austrian police in two incidents in September expelled groups of people across the border to Slovenia despite their requests for asylum. In the first incident from 5 September reported by No Name Kitchen and documented by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), five men from Syria, Tunisia, and Morocco were detained in the village of Laafeld and subsequently pushed back through Slovenia and Croatia to Bosnia, suffering humiliations at the hands of police along the way, lacking translation and denied their right to apply for asylum.

The second incident from 28 September documented by ECRE member asylkoordination österreich involved seven Moroccans who were picked up by Austrian police in a corn field near the village of Halbenrain. While police acknowledge that they were registered and handed over to Slovenian officials, the Interior Ministry denies that they had expressed the will to apply for asylum prior to being expelled. Lawyer Clemens Lahner, representing one of the expelled in complaint against Austrian police points out that every refugee is aware that they have to request asylum and his client explains that he did so several times in English and French. Spokesperson and asylum expert at asylkoordination österreich , Lukas Gahleitner-Gertz stated: "Our documentation of cases indicate that the government is well aware of the push-back route starting at the Southern border of Austria going down to Bosnia. The government's denial about the asylum requests is not credible and also contradicts its own argumentation about Austria being a main country of destination for refugees."

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Arkiveringsdatum 201111:

Human Rights Watch 20-10-29:

Kroatien/ Violent pushbacks on Croatia border require EU action

Recent reports by humanitarian groups and the media paint a gruesome picture of abuse on Croatia's border with Bosnia-Herzegovina. Photos show injuries consistent with beatings by police batons. Testimonies from migrants and asylum seekers speak of sexual abuse, violence, humiliation and robbery.

These harrowing stories are consistent with what I documented when I interviewed dozens of migrants brutally pushed back from Croatia to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina between 2015 and 2019.

The vast majority of people I talked to then, including women and children, told me that persons they identified as Croatian police beat them, stole or destroyed belongings including bags, clothes, money and phones. Some said they were forced to undress, dumped in the forest, and left on their own in the middle of nowhere. Some were forced to cross freezing streams in the middle of winter.

Human rights groups are not the only ones denouncing this sickening treatment of migrants. Last week, the Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic expressed concerns about the reports of violence and pushbacks.

But Croatian authorities have repeatedly denied allegations of both pushbacks and violence by border officials.

Last week, EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson tweeted that she is "taking these reports very seriously." But as thousands of migrants have suffered abuse for years at the hands of Croatian border officials, the question remains why the EU Commission has turned a blind eye for so long despite this growing body of evidence. Two years ago, the Commission even gave money to Croatia to set up a fundamental rights mechanism that never saw the light of day.

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ECRE 20-10-30: New brutal pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia, where a humanitarian crisis unfolds (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200831:

CPT 20-08-08:

Kroatien/ Anti-torture Committee carries out visit to examine treatment of migrants

The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has just completed a five-day rapid reaction visit to Croatia to examine the treatment of persons attempting to enter the country and apprehended by the police.

The CPT delegation visited a number of border police stations in Croatia as well as the country's main reception centre for foreigners (Je?evo) in order to examine the conditions of detention and formal pre-removal procedures.

The delegation also visited several temporary reception centres and informal migrant settlements in north-west Bosnia and Herzegovina where it interviewed and medically examined many migrants who claimed they had very recently been apprehended by Croatian law enforcement officials within the territory of Croatia and forcibly returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The preliminary observations of the delegation were presented to the Croat authorities at the end of the visit and a full report on the visit will be transmitted to them in due course. The CPT will continue to engage constructively with the Croat authorities with a view to ensuring that all migrants deprived of their liberty are treated in accordance with the CPT's standards, in particular as regards fundamental safeguards against ill-treatment and the effectiveness of police accountability mechanisms.

In the course of the visit, the delegation held consultations with Ms Terezija Gras, State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior and Mr Zoran Ni?eno, Head of the Border Police Directorate.

The delegation also met with representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) and non-governmental organizations active in areas of concern to the CPT.

Pressmeddelandet i dess helhet (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200805:

FARR 20-07-29:

Polen/ Polen fälls för kollektiva avvisningar av asylsökande

Europadomstolen publicerade i slutet av juli en skarp dom mot Polen, för brott mot Europakonventionen om mänskliga rättigheter. Ärendet rör en enskild och två familjer från Tjetjenien i Ryssland, som gång på gång försökt få komma in i Polen via Belarus (Vitryssland). Men de polska gränsvakterna har lika envist enbart antecknat ekonomiska skäl. Detta är ännu ett exempel på hur asylrätten kränks vid EU:s yttre gränser.

Polen har vägrat släppa in de asylsökande till en asylprocedur. Även då en person bevisligen redan deporterats från Belarus och tvingats fly på nytt från den fruktade säkerhetspolisen i Tjetjenien så har de polska gränsvakterna enbart fört in ekonomiska skäl i formulären. Ibland fanns en polsk advokat på plats men utan att få närvara då den sökande intervjuades. Personerna har muntligt och skriftligt framfört vilken förföljelse de riskerar i Ryssland och varför de inte kan få skydd i Belarus - där beviljas tjetjener bara korta visum. Avvisningsbesluten är snarlika och även om de asylsökande formellt haft möjlighet att överklaga så har detta inte hindrat att de avvisats omedelbart från gränsen.

En rapport från den polska ombudsmannen tyder på att Polen på detta sätt systematiskt har nekat tjetjener att söka asyl. Även inför Europadomstolen har Polen fortsatt hävda att tjetjenerna inte framfört skyddsskäl. Europadomstolens beslut om inhibition enligt "rule 39" har inte respekterats.

Europadomstolen har i ett par andra fall nyligen lagt fast ribban för vad som räknas som pushbacks och/eller kollektiva utvisningar. Spanien och Slovakien har friats för återsändande av personer som Europadomstolen ansåg kunde ha sökt asyl en laglig väg (N.D. and N.T. v. Spain) eller som försökt undvika asylproceduren (Asady and Others v. Slovakia). Men i det domslut mot Polen som nu har avkunnats fanns inga sådana tveksamheter. Polen fälls för brott mot Europakonventionen, artiklarna 3, 13 och 34 samt förbudet mot kollektiv utvisning som finns i ett tilläggsprotokoll. Personen och familjerna ska ersättas med 34.000 euro vardera.

(...)

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Case of M.K. and Others v. Poland, applications nos. 40503/17, 42902/17 and 43643/17 (Extern länk)

UNHCR 20-07-24: UNHCR calls on Poland to ensure access for people seeking asylum (Extern länk)

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Asylnytt 20-08-05:

Polen/ Polens avvisningar av asylsökande från Tjetjenien fördöms av Europadomstolen

Ärendet rör en enskild och två familjer från Tjetjenien i Ryssland som gång på gång försökt få komma in i Polen via Belarus (Vitryssland) för att söka asyl. De har muntligt och skriftligt framfört sina skäl och varför de inte kan få skydd i Belarus. De polska gränsvakterna har enbart antecknat ekonomiska skäl, även då någon bevisligen redan deporterats till Ryssland och råkat illa ut. Advokater har inte tillåtits närvara. Avvisningsbesluten är snarlika och har i praktiken inte varit möjliga att överklaga. En rapport från den polska ombudsmannen tyder på att Polen systematiskt har nekat tjetjener att söka asyl. Även inför Europadomstolen har Polen fortsatt hävda att personerna inte framfört skyddsskäl. Europadomstolens beslut om inhibition enligt "rule 39" har inte respekterats. Europadomstolen har i ett par andra fall nyligen lagt fast ribban för vad som räknas som pushbacks och/eller kollektiva utvisningar. Spanien och Slovakien har friats för återsändande av personer som Europadomstolen ansåg kunde ha sökt asyl en laglig väg (N.D. and N.T. v. Spain) eller som försökt undvika asylproceduren (Asady and Others v. Slovakia). Men i det domslut mot Polen som nu har avkunnats fanns inga sådana tveksamheter. Polen fälls för flera brott mot Europakonventionen och förbudet mot kollektiv utvisning. Personen och familjerna ska ersättas med 34.000 euro vardera.

Case of M.K. and Others v. Poland, applications nos. 40503/17, 42902/17 and 43643/17 (Extern länk)

UNHCR 20-07-24: UNHCR calls on Poland to ensure access for people seeking asylum (Extern länk)

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Border Violence Monitoring Network 20-07-20:

Slovenien/ Court find Slovenian state guilty of chain pushback to Bosnia-Herzegovina

Civil initiative Info Kolpa, a key member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network, are sharing here the landmark judgement issued on 16th July 2020 by the Slovenian Administrative Court. The findings prove that the national police force carried out an illegal collective expulsion of a member of a persecuted English-speaking minority from Cameroon who wanted to apply for asylum in Slovenia.

The court heard the experience of the applicant, J.D., who was held in a Slovenian police station for two days and denied access to asylum, despite making three verbal requests. After this procedural gatekeeping, the applicant was readmitted to Croatia - under an agreement described by the Slovenian Ombudswoman as "against the European legal order". From Croatia, J.D. was chain refouled to Bosnia-Herzegovina, a pattern analysed in a feature length report by InfoKolpa published in May 2019.

The Administrative Court found that the Republic of Slovenia violated the applicant's right to asylum (Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), the prohibition of collective expulsions (Article 19 § 1) and the principle of non-refoulement (Article 19 § 2):

"that no one shall be removed, expelled or extradited to a State in which he or she is in serious danger of being subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".

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Border Violence Monitoring Network 20-07-20:

Kroatien/ Court find Slovenian state guilty of chain pushback to Bosnia-Herzegovina

(...)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200624:

Amnesty International UK 20-06-11:

Kroatien/ Shocking evidence of police torture of migrants

16 Pakistanis and Afghans subjected to five hours of abuse at Croatian border

Tortured by black-uniformed officers who mocked their injuries and smeared ketchup on wounds as further humiliation

'The European Union can no longer remain silent' - Massimo Moratti

In a horrifying escalation of police human rights violations at the Croatian border with Bosnia, a group of migrants and people seeking asylum were recently bound and tortured by officers who mocked their injuries and smeared food on their bleeding heads to humiliate them, Amnesty International UK has revealed today.

In a new investigation, Amnesty spoke to six men among a group of 16 Pakistani and Afghan people apprehended by Croatian police during the night of 26-27 May near Lake Plitvice.

Between eight and ten people wearing black uniforms and balaclavas identical to those used by Croatia's Special Police, fired their weapons in the air, then kicked and repeatedly hit the restrained men with metal sticks, batons and pistol grips. They then rubbed ketchup, mayonnaise and sugar belonging to one into the migrants' bleeding heads and hair. Amnesty also spoke to doctors who treated the men and NGOs who witnessed their injuries

Ten men suffered serious injuries as a result of the sustained attack. Tariq, 30, now has both of his arms and a leg in a cast (his is now required to use a wheelchair), visible cuts and bruises on his head and face, and is suffering from severe chest pain. He told Amnesty:

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Hela pressmeddelandet (Extern länk)

ECRE 20-06-05: Croatia: Further Evidence of Systemic Push-Backs at the Border with Bosnia (Extern länk)

Amnesty International 20-06-11: Fresh evidence of police abuse and torture of migrants and asylum-seekers (Extern länk)

Amnesty International 20-06-19: Prosecution of police accused of beating migrant must herald end of cruel practices at the borders (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200426:

Asylnytt 20-04-26:

Slovakien/ ECHR: Snabbprocess för 19 afghaner var inte "kollektiv utvisning"

Målet handlar om 19 personer av en grupp om 32 från Afghanistan som tog sig in i Slovakien i en lastbil. De intervjuades av polis med hjälp av en enda tolk. Tolv personer sökte asyl och fördes till ett mottagningscenter och en togs till läkarundersökning. De återstående 19 skickades snabbt tillbaka till Ukraina. De hävdar att de utsatts för kollektiv utvisning. Alla polisens intervjuer registrerades som exakt tio minuter långa - men med överlappande tider. Utskrifterna är i stort identiska och visar att de 19 lämnat hemlandet av ekonomiska skäl. Personerna finns idag utspridda i hemlandet, i Ukraina och runtom i Europa där flera är asylsökande i andra EU-länder. Ombudet har hållit kontakt via internet, men Europadomstolen accepterade inte fullmakt för dem som enbart haft kontakt i en facebookgrupp. Några hade försvunnit och två dragit tillbaka ansökan. Formellt rörde målet därför sju personer. Enligt dem har gruppintervjuer skett, det har inte funnits utrymme att lägga fram skäl, de har tvingats underteckna papper på slovakiska etc. Europadomstolen konstaterar ändå att de intervjuats var och en, även om frågorna var standardiserade och svaren likartade. De tretton personer som anförde asylskäl utvisades inte på samma sätt. Slovakien har alltså inte brutit mot konventionens förbud mot kollektiv utvisning. Tre domare var skiljaktiga och hävdar att de 19 inte prövats individuellt samt att de - till skillnad från personerna i målet N.D och N.T. mot Spanien - inte haft tillgång till någon legal inresa.

Application no. 24917/15, case of Asady and Others v. Slovakia (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200306:

Bordermonitoring Bulgaria 20-03-02:

Bulgarien/ Bulgaria is not changing its push-back policy at its border to Turkey

On the 27th of February 2020 the Turkish government announced migrants will no longer be stopped on the Turkish side of the borders to Greece and Bulgaria. Following this statement thousands of migrants are moving on to Edirne, which is located in the three country border region. For this they used buses (non-stop), organized by the Turkish government, some took taxis. While during the night many people tried to cross the Turkish-Greek border, 60 migrants have been pushed back at the Bulgarian-Turkish border on the following morning.

The practice of pushing people back to Turkey has not changed so far. During the last days the Greek border is much worse when it comes to the number of people who have been pushed back in only in a short while, but for Greece and Bulgaria this push back practice is not new. While in the past asylum seekers and Bulgarian government officials have both admitted that the Bulgarian border fence could be easily crossed, the Bulgarian authorities have a bad reputation, regarding their behavior towards migrants. The Bulgarian Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov just stated that the bulgarian army is ready at any time.

Media reported that FRONTEX installed 60 additional staff members to the already existing 50 ones at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. This raises the question of whether FRONTEX will only watch the Bulgarian authorities while they go on with their push-back practice in the upcoming days. Until now, the number of crossing incidents around the Turkish-Bulgarian border near Kapžkule/Kapitan Andreevo seem much lower in comparison to the Greek-Turkish border around Pazarkule/Kastanies - both border crossings are only about 10 km away from each other.

(...)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200125:

Border Violence Monitoring Network 20-01-15:

Kroatien/ New yearly report on torture of asylum seekers at EU external borders

Together with a number of NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Are You Syrious / Centre for Peace Studies, and Amnesty International, the Border Violence Monitoring Network has been working to document illegal pushbacks and police violence along the EU's external borders in the Western Balkans since the formal closure of the route in 2017. While the existence of systematic illegal pushbacks along the Croatian and Hungarian borders with Serbia and Bosnia is evidenced extensively, this report focuses on the increasing violence that is applied to refugees and migrants under the framework of the Croatian case.

By analyzing data on violent pushbacks across Croatian borders in the course of 2019, the report demonstrates how the systematic violence by Croatian authorities constitutes clear and purposeful cases of torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. More than 80% of our case reports collected in 2019 contained one or, in most cases, multiple features of violence indicating either torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. Focusing on six patterns of abuse and misconduct by Croatian authorities identified from within our data, case reports are summarized and analyzed alongside existing domestic and international legal mechanisms. The result is an inventory of systematic practices of torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment ranging from physical force (like violence, abuse and disproportionate force as well as abusive use of Electric Discharge Weapons) to psychological violence, humiliations and threats (such as forced undressing for an extended periods of time or excessive force with firearms) to brutality during detention or transport (such as detention lacking basic facilities).

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Hämta rapporten (Extern länk)

ECRE 20-01-31: Croatia: New report on torture of asylum seekers by authorities (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 191017:

EU-kommissionen 19-10- 07:

Montenegro/ EU undertecknar avtal om samarbete inom gräns- och kustbevakning

Idag undertecknade EU ett avtal med Montenegro om ett gränsförvaltningssamarbete mellan Montenegro och Europeiska gräns- och kustbevakningsbyrån (Frontex). Avtalet undertecknades av Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU-kommissionär för migration, inrikes frågor och medborgarskap och Maria Ohisalo, Finlands inrikesminister och rådets ordförande, och av Montenegros inrikesminister Mevludin Nuhod?i?.

- Idag stärker vi ytterligare vårt gränssamarbete med Montenegro och tar ännu ett steg mot att föra västra Balkan närmare EU, säger Dimitris Avramopoulos. De migrations- och säkerhetsutmaningar vi står inför är gemensamma och även våra insatser måste vara gemensamma.

- Syftet med detta avtal är att låta Frontex samordna det operativa samarbetet mellan EU-länderna och Montenegro när det gäller förvaltningen av de gränser som EU och Montenegro delar, säger Maria Ohisalo. Undertecknandet är ännu ett bevis på det fördjupade och utvidgade samarbetet med Montenegro. Avtalet kommer att medföra fördelar för båda parter, särskilt i fråga om förbättrad gränsförvaltning.

Avtalet gör det möjligt för Frontex att hjälpa Montenegro med gränsförvaltningen, utföra gemensamma insatser och placera ut enheter i regioner i Montenegro som gränsar till EU, under förutsättning att Montenegro samtycker.

Dessa åtgärder är inriktade på att hantera irreguljär migration, särskilt plötsliga förändringar av migrationsströmmar, samt gränsöverskridande brottslighet, och kan omfatta mer teknisk och operativ hjälp vid gränsen.

Ett förstärkt samarbete mellan prioriterade tredjeländer och Frontex kommer att bidra till hanteringen av irreguljär migration och ytterligare förbättra säkerheten vid EU:s yttre gränser.

Vad händer nu?

(...)

Hela pressmeddelandet med länk till avtalet (Extern länk)

ECRE 19-10-11: Second EU Agreement on Border Cooperation in the Balkans with More to Follow (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 190826:

Helsingforsstiftelsen June 2019:

Polen/ HFHR report: access to asylum procedure at Poland's external borders

A recently published report of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, entitled Access to Asylum Procedure at the external borders of Poland. Current State of Affairs and Future Challenges, discusses access to the asylum procedure at the Eastern border of Poland.

For a number of years, the HFHR has been alerting about the Border Guard's arbitrary refusals of the right to submit an application for international protection at Polish border crossing stations, in particular at Terespol and Medyka. Several judgements of Polish courts in cases concerning the refusal of entry and the ongoing legislative works on an amendment to asylum laws provided the impetus for the drafting of this report.

The report summarises the situation on the eastern border of Poland in the years 2015-2019. It presents an analysis of national, EU and international law on access to asylum, describes the case law of national courts and the European Court of Human Rights and sums up the findings of monitoring activities undertaken by non-governmental organizations, the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ombudsman for Children. The report also outlines planned changes to asylum law. These changes include, among other things, new border procedures, lists of safe third countries and countries of origin and significant changes in the appeal procedure, which, according to the HFHR, will, in fact, legitimise forced returns of refugees arriving at Polish borders. A review of the proposed provisions and their rationale leads to the conclusion that the amendments' purpose is twofold: first, they aim at preventing the entry to Poland of persons declaring their intention to apply for international protection and, second, they are designed to facilitate the process of expulsion of asylum seekers while failing to provide them with any basic procedural guarantees, such as the right to an effective remedy.

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Arkiveringsdatum 190801:

Border Violence Monitoring 19-07-17:

Kroatien/ Complaint by Croatian police officers who are being urged to act unlawfully

After the Croatian president Grabar-Kitarovic confirmed a couple of days ago that Croatian authorities are involved in illegal pushback of migrants to Bosnia & Herzegovina ("a little bit of force is needed"), another complicit voice speaks up: Croatian Ombudswoman presents an anonymous complaint by police officers that were ordered to "return everyone without papers, no traces, take money, break mobile phones or take for ourselves, and forcefully return refugees to Bosnia." Read the whole letter and a rough English translation (thanks to Centre for peace studies Zagreb) below.

English translation of the letter

"Dear Ms, I am asking for your help because I can see that you are the only one taking legal care of refugees and other distressed people, who are treated in a bad and inhumane way every day.

I work at the police station *censored* and I have been engaged on protection of the state border for a longer while. A few of us are screaming, we have no more will nor power to look at what is being done to these humans. Every day we return them to Bosnia, without papers, without processing, no matter whether they are women, children, we treat everyone the same. There is no asylum, that doesn't exist, only and if in extraordinary situations, when media are on the spot.

Orders of the chief *censored*, the executive, and the administration is to return everyone without papers, to leave no traces, to take money, break mobile phones throw into *censored*, or take for ourselves, and forcefully return refugees to Bosnia.

This is the truth about how we treat them, the police that come as extra resource units from the other police stations are especially cruel, because they are angry for being here. Moreover, they stay here shortly so they do what they want to without control. They remind me of the Janissaries, beating and stealing. This is sad, but true, and it is done with the blessings of the executives from the police station and administration.

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Arkiveringsdatum 190721:

Human Rights Watch 19-07-15:

Kroatien/ President admits unlawful migrant pushbacks

Croatia should immediately stop summarily returning migrants and asylum seekers to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in some cases with force, Human Rights Watch said today in an open letter to President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. The president's recent admission during an interview on Swiss television that Croatian officials are engaged in these pushbacks triggers a responsibility by Croatian authorities to investigate and to hold those responsible for any unlawful action to account.

Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental and intergovernmental organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Council of Europe (COE), have regularly reported on and raised concerns about pushbacks and violence by Croatian border officials at Croatia's border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Croatian authorities had denied the allegations, in some cases with smears of the groups and victims.

"Zagreb needs to put an end to unlawful pushbacks and violence against migrants at its borders," said Lydia Gall, senior researcher for Balkans and the Eastern European Union (EU) at Human Rights Watch. "Croatian border officials have mistreated hundreds, perhaps thousands, of migrants and asylum seekers, who deserve redress and justice."

Human Rights Watch found in a December 2018 report that Croatian border officials apprehend migrants far inside Croatian territory, and without due process push them back into Bosnia and Herzegovina. In some cases, they use force, pummeling people with fists, kicking them, and making people cross freezing streams, and run gauntlets between police officers. Violence is directed against women and children in some cases.

The government denied all allegations of summary returns and violence. In a separate May 20 meeting with the Interior Ministry, the state secretary said that the people Human Rights Watch interviewed had fabricated their accounts and accused activists of impersonating Croatian police officers to make them look bad.

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Human Rights Watch letter to Croatia's President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (Extern länk)

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Källor: Informationen på denna sida är hämtad från följande källor (externa länkar): EU (kommissionen, ministerrådet, parlamentet och domstolen), Europarådet (mr-kommissionären, domstolen, kommittén mot tortyr), FN:s flyktingkommissariat UNHCR, FN:s kommitté mot tortyr m.fl. FN-organ, Sveriges Radio, SvT, andra svenska media via Nyhetsfilter och pressmeddelanden via Newsdesk, utländska media till exempel via Are You Syrious och Rights in Exile, internationella organisationer som Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ECRE, Statewatch och Picum, organisationer i Sverige som Rädda Barnen, Asylrättscentrum, Svenska Amnesty, FARR och #vistårinteut samt myndigheter och politiska organ som Migrationsverket, Sveriges domstolar, JO, Justitiedepartementet m.fl. departement och Sveriges Riksdag.

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