Monthly Report BVMN July 2020

The Border Violence Monitoring Network published 21 cases of illegal pushbacks during July, documenting the experience of 389 people whose rights were violated at the European Union’s external border. Volunteers in the field recorded a variety of cruel and abusive acts by officers, representing at least eight different national authorities. This report summarises the data and narrative testimony shared by people-on-the-move, highlighting the depth of violence being carried out in the service of European borders.

The report analyses among other things:

• Romanian “pull-ins”
• Frontex deployed to Montenegro
• Continued Greek Maritime Pushbacks
• Dangerous Italian return protocols
• Landmark ruling in Slovenian courts

Special focus is given to the Romanian context where a sequence of push-backs in the last two months have alluded to the practice of Romanian authorities apprehending transit groups in Serbian territory before bringing them into Romania for short periods of detainment. Two reports conducted by members of the Border Violence Monitoring Network allude to this practice and anecdotal evidence from the field reinforces these accounts.

Download report here
Italian Version

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