Joint Statement on Violence and Push Backs at the Serbian-Hungarian Border

Since May 2022, non-governmental organizations operating in northern Serbia have recorded a significant number of reports that demonstrate a high volume and intensity of violence against people on the move by Hungarian border forces.

The Western Balkans is currently the busiest route for individuals entering the European Union. The number of individuals passing through the region between January and June was almost twice as high as the same period last year according to official data. The route from northern Serbia into Hungary now sees the most crossings within this region, eclipsing routes through Romania or Bosnia. During this period, the number of forced push backs from the Hungarian border forces has also increased dramatically according to official data from both the Hungarian police and the Council of Europe.

Beyond this concurrent rise in number of attempted crossings and pushbacks, there has been a marked trend of increasingly severe injuries affecting people on the move who have been pushed back. Since May, Médecins Sans Frontières have treated 75 patients with injuries that are consistent with reports and patient testimonies of violence perpetrated by border forces. Medical Volunteers International encountered 47 individuals with such injuries in July, rising to 195 in August. These injuries include fractures, dislocations, hematomas, and lacerations that are consistent with reports of physical assaults using boots, batons, belts, rubber bullets, and electric shocks, as well as the impact of razor wire or falls from the four meter high fence infrastructure along the Serbian-Hungarian border. 

In addition to physical injuries, the organizations present in northern Serbia have recorded numerous reports of abuse and degrading treatment perpetrated by Hungarian border forces. Recurrent reports account extensive use of pepper spray and tear gas in close proximity to individuals and in closed, overcrowded spaces; overnight placement within metal containers; death threats; insults; racially charged forms of humiliation including forced shaving of heads; deprivation of food, water, and clothes; theft and destruction of personal belongings; and interruption or denial of medical assistance for the wounded. Many of these reports have been published by the Border Violence Monitoring Network and reported publicly by Médecins sans frontières.

These acts of violence may amount to torture and inhuman treatment by the Hungarian border police as they inflict severe and potentially life-altering injuries upon a population who often lacks access to medical care. Systematic exposure to violence can have not only significant repercussions on the physical health of the people involved, but also a deteriorating impact on their mental health and psychological wellbeing, with particular concern with the most vulnerable including single women, children and the elderly. These concerning accounts indicate that European Union Member States continue to intentionally engage in the use of violent tactics, harmful technologies, and hostile infrastructure to deter people from seeking asylum in the European Union, while turning a blind eye to the unprecedented levels of violence unfolding at its external borders. 

The use of violence to deny access to territory for those seeking international protection is a breach of not only Hungary’s international obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, but also human rights that are guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Pushbacks observed are also in contravention to the respect of Fundamental Rights prescribed in the EU Charter. Under these instruments that constitute international legal obligations, each and every individual must have access to territory and thus access to fair and efficient asylum procedure without any prejudice and discrimination in regards to race, nationality, religion, gender, or membership of a particular social group. Additionally, special guarantees must be secured for those who are most vulnerable, such as children traveling alone without parents and guardians. Under ECHR Protocol Number 4, collective expulsions of foreigners is also prohibited which includes any measure of the competent authorities compelling aliens as a group to leave the country, except where such a measure is taken after and on a basis of a reasonable and objective examination of the particular cases of each individual alien of the group.

In this perspective, the signatories of this statement call for:

• Increased scrutiny into reports of police brutality and violence against people on the move by the Hungarian government at its borders;

• Creation of safe pathways for individuals to apply for international protection in Hungary and other EU Member States free from physical and psychological violence;

• Increased accountability  for border security practices and asylum procedures at the Hungarian- Serbian border, including the termination of EU Commission’s  funding for border management that perpetuates such forms of violence and inhuman and degrading treatment. 

Signatories:

Collective Aid | www.collectiveaidngo.org

Medical Volunteers International | www.medical-volunteers.org

Médecins Sans Frontieres | www.msf.org

No Name Kitchen | www.nonnamekitchen.org

HCIT | www.hcit.rs

KlikAktiv | www.klikaktiv.org

BVMN | www.borderviolence.eu

InfoPark | www.facebook.com/infoparkserbia