Croatia Accused of Assaulting Migrants
Law Enforcement Agencies of Croatia have been accused by migrants of assaulting them. Refugees reported brutal and prolonged beatings by police.
Danish aid workers residing in the Balkans say refugees allege to have been victims of assault and sexual abuse at the hands of law-enforcement in Croatia. Migrants say that when they tried to cross into the nation, before being expelled back to Bosnia, they were assaulted by officers.
Head of the Danish Refugee Council in Bosnia, Nicola Bay reported that 149 refugees of varying nationalities have been interviewed independently by his team members in the country over the past 10 days, and have reported being exposed to “extremely abusive” treatment by police officers in Croatia.
Refugees reported brutal and prolonged beatings, of some being stripped naked and forced to lie like logs stacked on top of each other. Bay said, adding: “In two cases, we have reports of severe sexual abuse.”
In order to verify the reliability and to cross-check the truth of the allegations by the migrants, Bay said groups who had not been in contact with each other recorded testimonies and they included the same descriptions of violence.
“The similarities between these accounts are really chilling in that they point to systematic patterns of abuse…(by) men in black uniforms and with black balaclavas” hiding their faces, he added.
DRC’s secretary-general, Charlotte Slente, issued a statement in which she condemned the Croatian police’s act and emphasised on ending the systemic violence. “Treating human beings like this … irrespective of their migratory status, cannot and should not be accepted by any European country, or by any EU institution.”
“We need to see action to put a stop to the systematic use of violence. Treating human beings like this, irrespective of their migratory status, cannot and should not be accepted by any European country or EU institution” @CharlotteSlente – via @AJEnglish https://t.co/OeRRHACgXl
— Danish Refugee Council (@DRC_ngo) October 23, 2020
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights also took notice of the brutality and voiced concern over the matter. Disturbingly, these reports suggest that violence and de-humanising acts accompanying pushbacks are increasing, and it seems that Croatian law enforcement officers continue to enjoy impunity for such serious human rights violations,” Mijatovic said.
For years, human rights organisations have accused law enforcement of Croatia for brutality and illegal repelling of migrants, which Croatia has consistently denied.
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