European Union (EU) officials visited the northwestern Bosnian town Bihac this week, to discuss the migrant issue with local authorities. They expressed concern over inadequate conditions in the Vucjak camp but failed to answer N1’s enquiry about why the Union provides funds to Croatia to protect its borders while financially supporting Bosnia to keep the migrants on its territory.
The Brussels officials also expressed concern with the migrants’ testimonies about the brutal treatment of Croatian police.
“It is necessary to investigate these allegations and start a dialogue with representatives of the Croatian Government in order to investigate the situation because the border control must be conducted in accordance with the international standards,” said Martin Taschner of the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations.
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While Brussels is looking into the migrants’ wounds, Slovenia is returning the large groups of migrants to Croatia, referring to the Readmission Agreement.
Croatia has sent back 537 migrants to Bosnia in 2019, acting upon the Readmission Agreement, but Bosnian authorities banned the entry for 64 of them due to incomplete documentation.
Slobodan Ujic, the Chief of Bosnia’s Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, claims that there are indications that this agreement has been violated.
“There were certain abuses and we know about it thanks to the statements of migrants who were returned beyond the border crossings and the readmission rules. We learned from the Una-Sana Canton (the westernmost Bosnia’s region) police that there were many such persons and groups,” he said.
It remains unknown if 9,000 migrants whom Slovenia sent back to Croatia are now illegally back to Bosnia.
“The only logical idea is that those 9,000 migrants have been returned in an illegal way. I will definitely speak about it in the European Parliament, to all politicians and leaders who must know about this. I’m not sure, the EU claims they are monitoring the situation. Maybe more of them should go to the border. Not say they will come but to come during the night and see what’s happening,” Irena Joveva, Slovenia’s MEP, told N1.
According to her, the Parliament mostly discusses the infamous Vucjak camp, while very small attention is paid to how the Croatian police are treating the migrants. She said she would keep forcing this subject.
Border Violence Monitoring Network, a network of organisations promoting the rights of migrants, has been trying for some time to draw attention to this matter.
“We collected many testimonies as well as the allegations of whistle-blowers, I think it is very clear that there are places where people are tortured by the Croatian police. There was one incident in August, where a juvenile was beaten while he was in a bathtub filled with water. I believe we can say there is a systematic approach to these returns,” Simon Campbell of the Border Violence Monitoring Network told N1.
Six Slovenia’s MEPs asked Croatia to respect the international standards and not get involved with illegal returning of migrants to Bosnia. They also demand that Croatian police actions are investigated.
