In February, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 32 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 364 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first-hand testimony from a range of countries in the region to look at the way European Union states and other actors are affecting systemic violence towards people crossing borders.
In January, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 29 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 344 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first-hand testimony from a range of countries in the region to look at the way European Union states and other actors are affecting systemic violence towards people crossing borders. It delves into emerging trends in pushbacks and border violence against people-on-the-move in northern Serbia, focusing mainly on evictions and forced removals in the towns of Srspki Krstur and Dala.
In December the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 30 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 280 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first-hand accounts from a range of countries in the region to look at the way European Union states and other actors are affecting systemic violence towards people crossing borders.
In November the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 34 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 1,289 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first-hand accounts from a range of countries in the region to look at the way European Union states and other actors are affecting systemic violence towards people crossing borders.
Despite the Human Rights Council calling upon all States to “take effective measures to ensure that public functionaries, in the conduct of their public duties, do not discriminate against individuals on the basis of religion or belief” BVMN is deeply concerned that Islamophobia continues to underpin violent and illegal border enforcement in Greece and the Balkan region. At the time of submission of this evidence to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, BVMN had recorded 1,212 pushback testimonies many of which reveal a pattern of verbal, physical and psychological religious abuse and discrimination at the hands of law enforcement.
Continue reading “Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief”