Violent pushbacks on the EU external borders: “What we need, is real solidarity between European member states”em

Can you give our readers a brief overview of the pushbacks at the Croatian border?

Pushbacks from the Croatian territory are a systematic and ongoing practice on the Croatian Border since 2016. It has been six years now that severe human rights violations happen at the Croatian border with thousands of testimonies of people who have been tortured, who have been pushed back, and who experienced traumatic treatment from the Croatian police.

We have known for years that these illegal pushbacks are ordered from the very top of the of the hierarchy in Croatia, from the ministry of Interior. But there are no effective investigations into these human rights violations: neither into the policemen who commit the pushbacks, nor politicians who let them happen or even command them. This shows that this is not only a human rights violation issue, but it’s also an issue of the justice system in Croatia.