BORDER VIOLENCE AND PUSHBACKS TO SERBIA
In 2007 Serbia and the EU signed an Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Serbia on the readmission of persons residing without authorization which regulates the procedure under which EU countries could return Serbian nationals and third-country nationals back to the territory of Serbia. According to this Agreement, EU countries are entitled to readmit third-country nationals back to Serbia if these persons hold valid visas or residency permits issued by Serbia or if they illegally and directly entered the territory of the Member State after having stayed on or transited through the territory of Serbia. However, in practice, very few people are being readmitted from EU countries back to Serbia.
Instead, EU countries that share a land border with Serbia much more often use "push-backs" to return third nationals back to the territory of Serbia. Push-backs are illegal, they are done outside of any formal and legal procedure. When Croatian/Hungarian police find migrant(s) on their territory they forcibly return them back to the territory of Serbia. These returns are done on the "green" border, away from the official border crossing point and usually with heavy use of force and violence. People often get beaten, humiliated, threatened, their belongings are stolen or destroyed. Police often use firearms, usually by firing in the air, as another way of intimidation. Also, during push-backs, people have no access to asylum and international protection. Even if they try to ask for asylum, their request would be completely ignored and they would still be pushed back to the territory of Serbia.
Violent push-backs are very common on the Balkan route. They happen on all borders, both at land and at sea. The highest numbers of pushbacks are happening at the EU borders - from Greece/Bulgaria back to Turkey and from Croatia/Hungary back to Serbia. The vast majority of refugees are trying and failing several times before they manage to cross the border and continue their journey to a safe destination. This is why the refugees call this crossing of borders in search of safety a "Game". Over the past years a lot of NGOs, volunteer groups, but also institutions and international actors, reported on the increased violence and pushbacks at the EU borders, especially from Croatia and from Hungary.
The main focus during the Klikaktiv's work in the past months was to document and report on cases of violence pushbacks, breaches of law, and disrespect of basic human rights at the EU border. For this purpose, Klikaktiv actively works in the border area, especially in city Sid and Subotica, two cities closest to the border with Croatia and Hungary. In both of these cities, there are refugees squats that accommodate several dozens of people at all times. These squats are the place where refugees sleep and live before they find the right time to try to cross the borders and where they come back after they have been caught and pushed back.
