{"id":35018,"date":"2019-07-29T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/?p=35018"},"modified":"2026-06-09T11:04:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:04:45","slug":"the-systematic-infringement-of-human-rights-on-the-balkan-migrant-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/en\/stories\/the-systematic-infringement-of-human-rights-on-the-balkan-migrant-route\/","title":{"rendered":"The systematic infringement of human rights on the Balkan migrant route"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Western Bosnia and Herzegovina is a bottleneck for migrants and refugees who are fleeing through the Balkans. During the past year, many of them are caught en route to Northern or Western Europe in Slovenia and then systematically handed over to Croatian authorities. In Croatia, they are often subjected to police violence. They finally end up in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are condemned to an interminable wait. <\/p>\n

The Slovenian police deny migrants access to asylum and turn a deaf ear to their appeals. These are first-hand accounts of the migrants who we met along the Balkan route from Slovenia to Bosnia. Similar cases are also recorded by NGOs and are being investigated by the Ombudsman. <\/p>\n

Such actions systematically contravene international conventions on human rights \u2013 within two EU member states.<\/p>\n

Closed Balkan corridor<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The situation today is very different from the one that came as a rude awakening to the public in the fall of 2015.<\/p>\n

Memories of those events, during which, according to rough estimates, one million displaced people were on the move in the Balkans, are perhaps still freshly etched in some minds. Situation on the ground now, however, has changed dramatically. <\/p>\n

The migration route towards Western and Northern Europe collapsed after the agreement <\/a> between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey was concluded. Among other things, it provided for the return of refugees and migrants from Greece to Turkey. As stipulated in the agreement, its effects included the termination of mass migrations and an almost complete closure of the Balkan corridor in spring 2016. This meant that many migrants were left stranded in it. <\/p>\n

During the following year, information emerged regarding the controversial return of displaced people in Slovenia and Croatia to the border with Bosnia, including reports of violence, confiscated and smashed phones, stolen money, thefts and damaged personal belongings.<\/p>\n

Despite numerous testimonies and much evidence, the Slovenian and Croatian police outright deny the allegations of NGOs, media, migrants and refugees.<\/p>\n

In the middle of July this year, the Croatian Ombudsman published an anonymous complaint<\/a> from a group of Croatian policemen. In it, they admitted that according to their superiors\u2019 instructions, they have to return migrants to Bosnia. Many of their colleagues used violence while doing this, took away migrants\u2019 belongings etc…. \u201cIf we stood up to this, we would get laid off and then how we are supposed to support our families?\u201d wrote disgruntled police officers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Syrian family from Hama who made it all the way to Slovenia, but was later returned to Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina. On the photo: in the search for a safe place to sleep in Velika Kladu\u0161a in BiH. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Many displaced people who we met along what is left of the Balkan route confirm such treatment. <\/p>\n

Among them was a young Syrian family from Hama who made it all the way to Slovenia this spring. \u201cAs soon as we crossed the border, we bumped into Slovenian policemen. We tried to apply for asylum but they said that this wasn\u2019t possible; that there \u2018is no asylum in Slovenia.\u2019 They returned us to Croatia where they took our phones. They treated us like savages even though we were travelling with kids. They threw us into a van and took us somewhere near the Bosnian border.\u201d <\/p>\n

From there, they went on foot in pouring rain and winter-like cold to Velika Kladu\u0161a, a town in north-west Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is currently one of the hotspots on the Balkan migrant route. The Bosnian Ombudsman estimates that at least 60,000 migrants will enter the country this year, but local authorities warn that the country is ill-prepared for them. <\/p>\n

In Velika Kladu\u0161a, innkeeper Asim Lati\u0107-Latan let the drenched and exhausted Syrian family into the dining room of a former pizzeria, now converted into a makeshift soup kitchen. He has been serving refugees and migrants for a year and a half. His guests are fleeing from war, totalitarian regimes, poverty, violence and climate change, and he serves them dinner. Every day, he prepares as many as 800 evening meals for them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Innkeeper Asim Lati\u0107-Latan every day prepares as many as 800 meals for migrants in the dining room of a former pizzeria in Velika Kladu\u0161a in BiH.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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After arriving, the family ate dinner, their first real meal in a week, the father of two small children told us. He only gave us his initial, A. He was the only refugee who did not wish to reveal his full name among those whose testimonies are published below. He said he feared that the regime in his homeland, where his parents, brothers and sisters remained, would take revenge on his family. <\/p>\n

A. headed from Syria towards Europe with his family, brother-in-law and his partner in the hope of asking for international protection when he arrived. He did not expect any complications as he was coming from a war zone and was travelling with children. He was wrong. His family joined the ranks of a mounting number of people who were stripped of their right to asylum before they even applied for it. <\/p>\n

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Fast-track refoulement<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Starting in last spring, Slovenian police have denied many refugees and migrants the right to asylum and handed them over to Croatia. This practice of precluding the filing of asylum applications and pushing back refugees and migrants began at the end of May 2018. <\/p>\n

At that time, a now former Director General of the Slovenian police, Simon Veli\u010dki, issued instructions to policemen<\/a> which said that people who are caught crossing the border by mixed Slovenian-Croatian patrols \u201cshould be handed over to Croatian police to be handled by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data published by the police on its own website<\/a> confirms the changes in the treatment of migrants, and also possible irregularities in the procedures used for handling people who enter Slovenian territory with the purpose of applying for international protection.<\/p>\n

The statistics on refugee refoulement rose dramatically from last year when, according to data from a report by the Slovenian police, as many as 4,653 people were deported to Croatia, which is 11 times more people compared to the previous three-year average since 2015, when the Balkan migration route was mapped out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Migrant route through Balkan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Slovenian and Croatian police deny entry to displaced people on the grounds of a bilateral agreement<\/a>, which the two countries signed in 2006. This agreement provides for the return of migrants according to a summary procedure. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s appalling that two EU member states simply get rid of some asylum seekers by using a summary procedure to bounce and return them into a third country,\u201d said Amnesty International<\/a> in the statement.<\/p>\n

Due to allegations against the police regarding violations of the right of access to international protection, the Ombudsman\u2019s office, as an autonomous and independent agency, reviewed<\/a> the work of police.<\/p>\n

Based on the findings of a report in February this year, the Ombudsman suggested to the Ministry of Internal Affairs that the police should take \u201call necessary measures\u201d to ensure full respect for human rights, unhindered access to international protection and accurate documentation of procedures with foreigners. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A Slovenian police officer at the Slovenian-Croatian border.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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If the Slovenian police hand over a foreigner who is caught by a Slovenian-Croatian patrol in Slovenian territory to Croatian security authorities, even though he has expressed an intention to apply for asylum, this, according to the Ombudsman, infringes on laws of international protection. <\/p>\n

Among other things, it highlighted the lack of (serious) consideration of the personal circumstances of each individual. From police documents, it was not clear whether a detained person stated his or her intention to claim asylum or whether he or she stated such an intention but was possibly ignored. Such inconsistencies could mean that the police denied some people asylum procedures. <\/p>\n

The Ministry of the Interior assured the Ombudsman that anyone can be informed of their rights in police facilities; brochures are available in various languages. Such provision of information is, according to the Ombudsman, undoubtedly useful, but should be accessible in places where people can leaf through the brochure\u2019s contents. <\/p>\n

The Ombudsman warns that an asylum seeker should be granted the possibility to apply for international protection and obtain it in line with the provisions of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, i.e. the Geneva Convention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe negligible number of cases of expressed intention to apply for asylum actually recorded at \u010crnomelj police station reflects the seriousness of the allegation that some police procedures could be irregular, including collective expulsions which are prohibited in compliance with the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,\u201d explained Nata\u0161a Kuzmi\u010d from the Ombudsman\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

In its report<\/a> from April this year, the civil society initiative Info Kolpa found that \u201cthe practice of violating the legislation by denying the right to asylum\u201d became systematic last June. It states, <\/em>among others things,<\/em> that this practice spread from \u010crnomelj station to other police stations in the southern border region, such as Metlika, Ilirska Bistrica, and Dragonja.<\/p>\n

Last June, soon after the above-mentioned instructions were issued, the share of people stating their intention to apply for asylum at the \u010crnomelj police station decreased by 95 per cent in only one month \u2013 from 98 to 3 percent.<\/p>\n

We asked Slovenian police for updated data on asylum seekers for 2019 (by individual border police stations), but received none. They explained that gathering the data would be a \u201cdisproportionate administrative burden\u201d on them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n