The Bulgarian-Turkish border is seeing an upsurge in pushbacks and violence against migrants. InfoMigrants uncovers the reasons why and who are the most at risk. *This article is the first in a four-part series. All research and interviews were conducted between June and August 2023, with field reporting in Bulgaria carried out between June 18…
KAPIKULE, TURKEY, May 24th, 9:00 GMT]- Over 100 members of The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, a persecuted religious minority, who have presented themselves at the Turkish-Bulgarian border claiming asylum this morning have just been refused entry, violently beaten, pushed back and taken to Edirne public safety office. Gunshots were fired at them, they…
We, the undersigned, are writing to urge you to fulfil the fundamental rights obligations Bulgaria are bound by under the Law on Asylum and Refugees, Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Directive 2013/32/EU, the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human…
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has called on European governments to protect foreign nationals deprived of their liberty under immigration legislation from any ill-treatment and to put an end to pushbacks at land or sea borders, particularly at the borders of the European Union. In its annual report for 2022, the CPT…
Pushbacks and criminalisation of CSOs in Greece – Executive Summary While pushbacks are not a recent phenomenon, the number of cases of reported pushbacks at the land and sea borders of Greece with Turkey has increased since March 2020. At the same time, NGOs and human rights defenders who provide legal aid to victims of…
Bulgaria faces mounting accusations that it is abusing people trying to cross its border with Turkey, with asylum seekers saying they have been pushed back, locked up, stripped and beaten. The EU member serves as a gateway into the bloc and is trying to tighten the border to stop a rising number of people seeking…
SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF PUSHBACKS AND INTERNAL VIOLENCE DOCUMENTED BY BVMN DURING THE MONTH OF OCTOBER In October, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 35 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 550 people-on-the-move (POM) across the Balkans and Greece. This report brings together first-hand testimonies from a range of countries in the region to look at…
Ursula von der Leyen: ‘The most pressing issue right now are at the land border between Bulgaria and Turkey’ (Photo: European Union 2023 – Source : EP) The European Commission wants to shore up the land border between Bulgaria and Turkey with drones. “We can strengthen the border with management capabilities,” European Commission president Von…
of Mission Wings Foundation and Center of Legal Aid – Voice in Bulgaria Foundation on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day and the joint international investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Free Europe, Sky News, ARD Monitor, Domani, SRF, Le Monde and Der Spiegel On 10 December 2022,…
https://flashvideo.rferl.org/Videoroot/Pangeavideo/2022/12/0/03/034d0000-0aff-0242-8942-08dad8fa22a7_240p.mp4 Video footage and eyewitness accounts show that Bulgarian police authorities are illegally holding migrants in a barricaded hut without the right to an international protection procedure. They are then returned to Turkey. It is also suspected that this is happening with the knowledge of the Frontex forces in the country. This is a…