Infrastructuring Nature: the Croatian-Bosnian Border

This report, produced by BVMN and anonymous members organisations as part of the Infrastructuring Nature project funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, documents the weaponisation of the natural environment against people on the move at the Croatian-Bosnian Border. It seeks to expose how border control has become increasingly complex, involving a vast web of actors, thus blurring responsibility for violence and human rights violations. The report also points to the structural impunity that results from outsourcing violence to a seemingly neutral landscape, which is deliberately constructed and weaponized to prevent movements. 

Croatia became a member of the European Union in 2013, however it only joined the Schengen Area in 2023. In the ten years leading up to Schengen accession, Croatia was awarded at least 328 million Euros to advance its border surveillance at the border that is now an external border of the EU. We thus trace how the Croatian-Bosnian border has been fortified through the strategic placement of border surveillance technologies and adaptation of the border landscape and how this has impacted the experience of people on the move at this border. 

Drawing on field research, satellite imagery and testimonies and interviews with local organisations the report covers the following:

• The construction and management of (EU-funded) border surveillance at the Croatia-border 

• The strategic use of border rivers at the Croatia-Bosnian border and the impact on violence, deaths and disappearances of people on the move. 

• The deliberate adaptation of forests for border infrastructures and the role of forests during pushbacks 

• The significance of landmines in the border area for border control 

• Avenues for accountability for border violence