Annual Torture Report 2020

Torture and pushbacks – an in depth analysis of practices in Greece and Croatia, and states participating in violent chain-pushbacks

This special report analyses data from 286 first hand testimonies of violent pushbacks carried out by authorities in the Balkans, looking at the way practices of torture have become an established part of contemporary border policing. The report examines six typologies of violence and torture that have been identified during pushbacks from Croatia and Greece, and also during chain-pushbacks initiated by North Macedonia, Slovenia and Italy. Across the report, 30 victim testimonies of torture and inhuman treatment are presented which is further supplemented by a comprehensive legal analysis and overview of the States response to these allegations.

As a network comprised of grassroots organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans, the testimonies and information analysed in this report were gathered via a joint-effort between Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Josoor, IPSIA, Disinfaux Collective, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Re:ports Sarajevo, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response.

The violations profiled include:

• Excessive and disproportionate force
• Electric discharge weapons
• Forced undressing
• Threats or violence with a firearm
• Inhuman treatment inside a police vehicle
• Inhuman treatment inside a detention facility

Download Torture Report 2020

Download Greece InfosheetDownload Croatia Infosheet

Key Findings from Croatia: 

• In 2020, BVMN collected 124 pushback testimonies from Croatia, exposing the treatment of 1827 people
• 87% of pushbacks carried out by Croatia authorities contained one or more forms of violence and abuse that we assert amounts to torture or inhuman treatment
• Violent attacks by police officers against people-on-the-move lasting up to six hours
• Unmuzzled police dogs being encouraged by officers to attack people who have been detained.
• Food being rubbed into the open wounds of pushback victims  
• Forcing people naked, setting fire to their clothes and then pushing them back across borders in a complete state of undress 

In 2020, BVMN collected 124 pushback testimonies from Croatia, highlighting the treatment of 1827 people.

Key Findings from Greece: 

• 89% of pushbacks carried out by Greek authorities contained one or more forms of violence and abuse that we assert amounts to torture or inhuman treatment
• 52% of pushback groups subjected to torture or inhuman treatment by Greek authorities contained children and minors
• Groups of up to 80 men, women and children all being forcibly stripped naked and detained within one room
• People being detained and transported in freezer trucks
• Brutal attacks by groups of Greek officers including incidents where they pin down and cut open the hands of people on the move or tied them to the bars of their detention cells and beat them. 
• Multiple cases where Greek officers beat and then threw people into the Evros with many incidents leading to people going missing, presumingly having drowned and died.

In 2020, BVMN collected 86 pushback testimonies from Greece, exposing the treatment of over 4583 people.

Reporting in the media

• “Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks“, Lorenzo Tondo, The Guardian, 5th May 2021.
• “Vast majority of pushbacks in southeast Europe involve torture, rights watchdogs say”, Benjamin Bathke, InfoMigrants, 5th May 2021.
• “Folter an den EU-Außengrenzen:Pushbacks mit brutaler Gewalt”, Tobias Müller, Taz, 4th May 2021.
• “Une violence sans limite contre les migrants aux frontières de l’Europe”, Nelly Dilot, Liberatione, 4th May 2021.
• “Ljudi u crnom, kečap i kundak”, Ivana Perić, Bilten, 20th May 2021.
• “Hard Talk – with Greek Minister Harry Theoharis”, BBC World Service, 12th May 2021.
• “Orientering – Kroatiske grænsevagter udøver systematisk tortur mod flygtninge og migranter”, dr.dk, 17th May 2021.
• “Tineke Strik onderzoekt pushbacks in Griekenland, Dobberend op zee achtergelaten”, Ingeborg Beugel, De Groene, 26th May 2021.

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