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Open Letter in Support of Plaintiff Chain Pushed Back from Slovenia

An appeal to ensure respect of the rule of law in Slovenia

The Supreme Court of Slovenia has found the Slovenian police conduct to be illegal, reminding the state of its obligation to respect the non-refoulement principle – an individual should not be returned to another state without an official assessment if the other state is safe for this individual. Slovenia must enable the plaintiff, an asylum seeker who had been a victim of a chain-push-back, to effectively request asylum in Slovenia.

Addressed to:

Minister Aleš Hojs, Commissioner Ylva Johansson, Honourable member Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar and Ombudsperson Janez Svetina

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Joint Statement on Croatia’s Independent Border Monitoring Mechanism

In August, BVMN members Are You Syrious and Centre for Peace Studies joined six other organisations in a joint statement on the independent border monitoring mechanism in Croatia. The mechanism, which is intended to provide impartial and thorough oversight over national border operations, has been the topic of much debate given its dubious implementation. The signatories drew attention to these shortcomings and the standards that needed to be met to ensure its effectiveness in the protection of fundamental rights at Croatian borders.

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Italian Court Ruling on Chain Pushback

A new ruling from the Court of Rome has been released, finding in favour of an applicant who was subject to an illegal chain pushback from Italy, via Slovenia and Croatia, to Bosnia-Herzegovina. This important development was brought to the court by Italian legal association ASGI, and supported by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), who provided a first hand testimony from the applicant. The court found unequivocal evidence of violations of international law, and acknowledged the applicant’s right to enter Italy immediately, and to full and proper access to the asylum system.

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Press Release from BVMN-member InfoKolpa on Slovenian Court Ruling

Over the last year the civil initiative Info Kolpa, a key member of the Border Violence Monitoring Network, are sharing an important victory on their applicant’s court proceedings seeking justice against the Slovenian state’s expulsion practices. This month, the administrative court established once again that the Republic of Slovenia violated the applicant’s right to prohibition of collective expulsions, his right to prohibition of torture and his right to access to the asylum procedure, by following the abbreviated procedure on the basis of the Readmission Agreement between the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia, through which it handed the applicant over to the Croatian authorities in August 2019.

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Press Release: Enforced Disappearances Report to UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances

For the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Border Violence Monitoring Network releases its seminal report to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearance regarding the use of illegal pushbacks by the Greek government. 

BVMN has consistently documented the disappearance of refugees and migrants from Greek territory, including the illegal pushbacks of 1196 persons. BVMN is increasingly concerned of the disappearance and pushbacks of refugees and migrants from humanitarian distribution sites, refugee camps and pre-removal centres in Greece. The illegal pushback and disappearance of refugees and migrants is systematically followed by the statewide dismissal of credible evidence and the perpetual refusal to open a free and fair investigation into the whereabouts of the missing. 

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