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(Budapest) –The European Union and Western Balkan countries, meeting on October 25, 2015, should focus on alleviating the suffering of migrants and asylum seekers stranded at various European borders, Human Rights Watch said today.
Cascading border closures, starting with Hungary closing its border with Serbia on September 15, then its border with Croatia on October 16 and the lack of coordination between authorities trapped people in miserable conditions.
“The degrading treatment meted out to people fleeing Europe’s borders is shameful and should end immediately,” said Lydia Gall, Eastern Europe and Balkans researcher at Human Rights Watch. “If EU member states do not start working together to resolve the refugee crisis, people will die at Europe’s borders this winter. »
The closure of Hungary’s borders with Croatia and Serbia has diverted the flow of asylum seekers and migrants from Croatia to Slovenia in their efforts to reach Western Europe.
On October 18, around 1,400 asylum seekers and migrants were stranded for 24 hours between Croatian and Slovenian border crossing points. A train dropped them off around 1 a.m. in Trnovce, Croatia, and they walked to the nearby Slovenian border. Slovenian authorities turned them back, saying the registration center at Srebisce ob Dravi on the Slovenian side of the border, which can accommodate 300 people, was full.
The Croatian authorities refused to let them return to Croatia. Entire families, including young children, the elderly and the disabled, suffered through the night and the next day in near-freezing cold and constant rain, without shelter. Food, water and clothing did not arrive until around 3 p.m., when volunteer organizations gained access to the area.
On October 19, Croatian police ordered at least two groups of around 500 people each to march from the Serbian-Croatian border to the Opatovac transit camp, located around 15 kilometers away. Once they arrived, poor planning and coordination led to unnecessary suffering, Human Rights Watch said.
“They (the police) made us walk for six hours,” said Alaa, a 16-year-old Syrian boy. “About 300 meters from the camp, they made us all sit on the wet road where we waited for almost three hours to enter the camp. »
Two men, interviewed separately, said Croatian police beat people during the long march. “Foroud,” a 30-year-old Iranian man, said: “Seven to ten police officers hit me and others with their sticks…. There was no reason for this…. They hit me on the shoulder, knees and feet…”
Allegations of excessive use of force by police should be thoroughly investigated by Croatian authorities, Human Rights Watch said.
On the Slovenian side of the border, lengthy procedures at Srebisce ob Dravi and other registration centers contributed to delays, Human Rights Watch said. On October 20, it took five police officers at the Srebisce ob Dravi registration center around 14 hours to register around 260 asylum seekers and migrants, finishing around 4 a.m. on October 21. Transfers to an official reception center, however, did not begin until around 1 p.m. In the meantime, people were housed in makeshift tents, often without sufficient camp beds, heating or toilets.
Families are frequently separated at borders. Human Rights Watch spoke with several asylum seekers and migrants who said they had been separated from their wives, children, siblings, and parents in the chaos of border crossings, the surge in buses or entry to registration or reception centers. They didn’t know when or where they would see their loved ones again.
Bachar, 24, from Afghanistan, said he was separated from his pregnant wife on October 17, on the Croatian-Serbian border. He said he was on one side of the border, his wife on the other, and that Croatian police had not listened to their pleas not to separate them. Bachar did not know where his wife was and was unable to contact her.
Similarly, on October 19, a Syrian man in his forties said he had been separated from his wife amid the chaos between the Croatian and Slovenian borders and that he had no idea what happened. where she was. Alaa, mentioned above, said he was separated from his brother, aunts and cousin on October 19 at the Serbian-Croatian border before the long march to the Opatovac camp and that he did not didn’t know where his loved ones were.
Slovenian police pulled Ahmed, an Iraqi boy around 10 years old, through gaps in the fence along the Croatia-Slovenia border the night before his interview with Human Rights Watch on October 21. His mother had been left on the Croatian side. Slovenian police took him to the Sentilj reception center, where Slovenian media reported that he was finally reunited with his mother.
Separating family members makes children, women, and people with disabilities particularly vulnerable, and authorities should take steps to avoid separating families, Human Rights Watch said. When this happens, authorities and international organizations must work diligently to find missing family members and reunite them as soon as possible.
Since October 16, at least 50,410 asylum seekers and migrants have entered Slovenia. Initially, Slovenia said it would only take as many as Austria would accept, capping capacity at 2,500 per day.
However, on October 22 alone, 12,000 people entered Slovenia, prompting the government to request assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. This mechanism allows for the coordinated distribution of material aid – for example tents, mattresses and food – from participating countries to the requesting country to assist victims of natural or man-made disasters. Macedonia and Serbia have already received aid through this mechanism. Croatia should also request this assistance.
Although all countries have the sovereign right to control their borders, the EU and international law require that border control measures respect fundamental rights, including the right to seek asylum, and ensure humane treatment. The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights states that “human dignity is inviolable” and must be respected and protected.
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which the EU and all its member states are parties except Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands, requires states to take “all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of people with disabilities in risky situations, including humanitarian emergencies. All EU member states are also parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which obliges states to ensure that unaccompanied and accompanied children “receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance for the enjoyment of applicable rights “.
“Blocking people at closed borders will have no deterrent effect and will only make a difficult situation worse,” Gall said. “Instead of playing hot potato with fleeing humans, the EU and Western Balkan countries should use the next meeting to agree on viable solutions to avoid a deadly winter at Europe’s borders. »
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