Chained push-backs of refugees

Two days ago we visited Sid and nearby villages which are hosting dozens of refugees in informal squats. During our visit to one of those squats, two guys from Afghanistan just came back from an unsuccessful “Game” (border crossing attempt). One of them told us that he has been trying to cross the border for a year now – ever since he was chained pushed back from Italy back to Serbia during the last year’s Ramadan. Italy was his final destination and he was planning to seek asylum there. He told us that police patrol stopped him on the street of Trieste immediately after he has entered the city so he told them that he wants to apply for asylum. Police officers told him they will take him to a refugee camp but instead, they took him to the border with Slovenia and handed him over to the Slovenian border police. Slovenian border police then took him directly to the Croatian border and handed him over to the Croatian border police officers. He told us that the Croatian police then took him close to the Serbian border where they beat him and took his phone and money. Then they forcibly pushed him back to the Serbian territory, on the green border, without notifying and presence of the Serbian police. He showed us pictures of his injured arm and bruises on his back which he keeps on his FB profile. At the end of our conversation he told us that he still wants to stay in Italy, but only the next time he will go to some city further away from the border before he seeks protection from the authorities.

This is not the first time we hear testimonies on the chained push-backs of refugees across the Balkan refugee route. Chained push-backs from Italy, through Slovenia, Croatia, and finally Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina especially stand out. One thing that is always the same is the fact that Italian, Slovenian, and Croatian police coordinate and cooperate in these chained push-backs. They are always done on the official border crossings with the presence of the police of the country where people are being pushed back to. Another thing that is always constant is that Croatia, as a final EU country in this chain, randomly, illegally and with the use of violence returns refugees to Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. One guy, who was also pushed back from Slovenia, told us that the Croatian police took him to the border with Bosnia and forced him to go deeper into the Bosnian territory, although he was never in Bosnia before. Instead, he originally entered Croatia from Serbia. With these practices of the European Union, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are becoming tampon zone, a territory where the European Union is “dumping” unwanted refugees.