In September, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) documented 40 cases of pushbacks along the Balkan Route and in Greece. This publication analyses how these illegal and violent acts function, and how they impact people-on-the-move. In a month where the European Union released its controversial Pact on Migration and Asylum, the stories of 1548 people recorded by BVMN show how the existing border system is already underpinned by abuse.
As a network comprised of grassroots organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans, this report was produced via a joint-effort between Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Josoor, InfoKolpa, Escuela con Alma, Centre for Peace Studies, Re:ports Sarajevo, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response
The report analyses among other things:
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- Improvised weapons used in Romania and Croatia
- A chain pushback from Austria
- Patterns in the Aegean Sea
- Outsourcing pushbacks in Evros
- Internal violence in Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia
This publication also looks at trends in pushbacks from North Macedonia, military deployment in Italy, the fire in Moria camp, and statistics from Croatia. As summer draws to a close, people-on-the-move remain subject to systemic violence at borders and interiors in the Balkans and Greece.
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