The issue of migration in Europe has returned to the fore in 2022. Since the beginning of the year, the Frontex agency, responsible for monitoring the borders of the European Union (EU), has detected some 281,000 irregular entries, up 77% compared to the same period of 2021… Thursday, December 8, in Brussels, the subject was once again to be addressed during a council of interior ministers of the Twenty-Seven and to discuss the plans for actions recently presented by the Commission to respond to this situation.
While discussions are going well in the European capital, on the ground, border management has its dark side, and the “pushbacks”, the fact of refusing to welcome people seeking protection in defiance of international law, is increasing on all migratory routes.
Thursday, December 8, a dozen NGOs gathered since 2016 in the Border Violence Monitoring Network project (network for monitoring violence at the borders) publishes the second edition of its “Black Book of Refoulements”.
This sum of more than 3,000 pages maps the violence taking place at the borders of the EU thanks to some 1,600 testimonies, which concern approximately 25,000 people. All turned away, beaten, humiliated, robbed, mistreated, deprived of water or food, etc. wanting to seek asylum. Testimonies were collected in more than half of European countries, including the Balkan states.
“Deterrence Tactics”
“The new edition of the”black book” clearly shows the violence still experienced every day by women, men and children on the move at the external and internal borders of the EUcomments Cornelia Ersnt, left-wing German MEP (Die Linke). The European Commission is still inactive, not initiating infringement procedures against member states [qui] refuse the right of asylum. »
While the first edition, in 2020, was already edifying, this second volume takes into account the period of Covid-19, during which the number of people entering EU territory declined sharply. But this has not led to a drop in violence and other repressions. On the contrary.
As countries took measures to restrict movement in order to fight the coronavirus, NGOs evacuated their employees from border areas. “Aware of this lack of witnesses, write Hope Barker and Milena Zajovic, the report’s co-authors, the border guards of Croatia, Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and other affected countries began to implement horrible “ deterrence tactics”: these included extreme and prolonged beatings, shaving of the head, forced stripping, sexual assault, dog attacks and attacks with electric shock weapons, among others. »
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