In January, BVMN’s Legal Working Group submitted three contributions to the call for input for the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report. The submission is open for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from each country; BVMN submitted input for three EU Member States: Croatia, Greece and Slovenia.

In the submission on Croatia, BVMN submitted information regarding the decision of the Dutch Council of State to reconsider deportations of people on the move to Croatia based on the Dublin regulation, due to the risk of pushbacks and the lack of access to asylum due to the modus operandi of pushbacks. In addition, the lack of oversight of and accountability for supervision of violence by the Croatian police was discussed, as well as the lack of implementation of the M.H. and Others v Croatia judgement and serious concerns regarding the implementation of the country’s Independent Border Monitoring Mechanism. The establishment of the practice to hand out ‘7-day notice’ expulsion decisions to people on the move was elaborated. Concerning criminalisation, the topics of SLAPPs against journalists, lack of protection in the newly established “Whistleblower Act”, as well as criminalisation of Migrant Rights Defenders based on Art. 53 of Croatia’s Aliens act were discussed.