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…
On the occasion of the Western Balkans Conference in Tirana on December 6 2022, we publish here the “Belgrade Conference Joint Statement on Open Borders: Building Alliances for the Right to Migrate!” Source: Nidžara Ahmetašević The declaration opposes the externalisation of borders and the expansion of border protection, and calls for a human right to…
This is a joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde, Sky News, ARD, The Times and Free Europe (Svobodna Evropa). Source: Free Europe / Svobodna Evropa
Two months after announcing an unprecedented surge in the number of migrants trying to enter Bulgaria, the authorities reported that they had brought the situation under control. Official state data confirms this – there has been a noticeable increase in the number of offenders detained, and reports by the interior ministry of people detained in…