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.
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.
Continue reading “Press Release from BVMN-member InfoKolpa on Slovenian Court Ruling”
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.
Press Release: 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. Continue reading “Press Release: Court find Slovenian state guilty of chain pushback to Bosnia-Herzegovina”
Germany must actively promote the respect of human rights and the rule of law at the EU borders during its EU Council Presidency
You can find a German version here.
More than 700 reports published on the database www.borderviolence.eu document the experiences of a total of more than 7,000 asylum seekers who have been illegally expelled from Croatia in recent years. In many of these so-called pushbacks, the persons concerned were deported from the EU to Serbia or Bosnia-Herzegovina even across several national borders. In 80% of the cases there are indications of disproportionate use of force up to cases of torture by Croatian officials and 38% of those affected are minors. For thousands of people seeking protection, who want to continue their refuge to Western and Central Europe via Greece, the Balkan region represents a politically intended impasse.