European Central: Violence At border of EU’s Newest Member State

Sean Gladwell

In the Balkans a lot of the spot light has been on the problems in prospective member states but it is now clear that Croatia must address how it regulates migration. Croatia is the EU's newest member and joined the bloc on January 1st, 2013. There have been numerous reports of violence targeting irregular migrants trying to cross over the eastern Border Croatia shares with Bosnia-Hercegovina. These reports include migrants being violently pushed back into Bosnia-Hercegovina. Some of these migrants were beaten for not understanding commands only given in Croatian by border guards. As these migrants do not originate from Bosnia-Hercegovina but are passing through the country and originate from countries in the middle east it is unreasonable to expect them to understand these commands or face physical violence.  

The most disturbing accusations include male migrants raped with sticks and forced to strip before being sent back into Bosnia-Herzegovina, even in harsh weather conditions. What makes it worse is that it appears that the beatings were not a result of those patrolling the border abusing their power but instead were ordered by the Croatian government under a scheme known as Operation corridor. The police officers do not clearly identify themselves to migrants as they wear clothing void of symbols or wording identifying themselves as law enforcement agents. Instead, they start beating migrants with their batons. 

Croatia alleges that the police officers decide whether to take migrants to the police station, push back across the border, or take the migrants to initiate the process of filing for asylum. Irregular migrants who attempted to cross into Croatia for the purpose of asylum allege they were pushed back out of the country  instead of being allowed to petition for asylum status.

The European Union is investigating this matter. If there are any cases found where equipment from the European Union was used improperly to harass and beat migrants, Croatia may be facing penalties. As it is Ylva Johansson, the EU Home Affairs commissioner stated that EU investigations have shown that funds from the bloc were misused to abuse the irregular migrants. Johansson does not approve of the allegations. 

Not only Croatia but numerous other member states are in the same predicament of how to curb the flow of migration while simultaneously respecting the rights of migrants trying to reach Europe. Other member states have brain stormed methods which have been called into question such as Poland proposing to build a border wall or Greece using noise pollution to prevent migrants from entering either country. While both of these methods have their critics they both pale in comparison of the accusations against Croatian national police and border guards. While member states may be angered by irregular migration, this does not give these member states the right to violently crack down on irregular migrants trying to cross the border. It is also important to note that there is international law that dictates the rights of migrants besides European Union laws. 

It is important to note that it seems there is concrete evidence and this is not a he said she said scenario. Journalists went under cover and witnessed first hand migrants being beaten. Der Spiegel from Germany and Liberation, a French newspaper had journalists dressed as fishermen  and used drones to record the abuse of migrants. Journalists spoke with migrants after they were beaten and saw the bruises and welts. They also complained that they were called terrorists by the police and told to go back home.  

It finally appears that border agents are finally being disciplined for their actions. In early October three border agents were suspended as they were filmed beating migrants. So far nobody else is suspended including the bosses of the agents despite evidence showing that Croatia sanctioned the abuse and pushback of migrants as it was known as Operation Corridor. This is because the three border agents allegedly went against internal rules, but nothing says they were ordered to ignore these internal rules by these superiors. NGOs have demanded that the Croatian Interior Minister steps down as well.