External EU border: Asylum seekers imprisoned and mistreated

Security forces at the EU’s external borders in Bulgaria, Hungary and Croatia use loud monitor-Research secret locations where fugitives are apparently abused and held captive before being illegally forced back across the border.

Video footage shows people locked in a ramshackle barracks, sitting on the bare floor surrounded by rubbish. Bare brick walls, metal bars, the roof is leaking. There is no furniture and no toilet. The pictures were taken as part of a joint research by the ARD magazine monitor with Lighthouse Reports, “Spiegel”, “Sky News”, “Le Monde”, “Domani”, SRF and RFE/RL Bulgaria.

The barred shed is located on the premises of a Bulgarian border police station. The people locked up here are refugees, for example from Syria or Afghanistan, who are looking for protection in the EU. As part of the European research cooperation, it was possible for the first time to take pictures of this and other secret places on the EU’s external border, where people are apparently mistreated before border officials force them back out of the EU.

The recordings from Bulgaria were taken on a total of five different days. The door of the barracks is guarded at all times, and journalists were able to see how people were later put in cars and driven away. Refugees report that some of them were locked up for several days without water and food. After that, the Bulgarian police brought her back to the border and forced her to go back to Turkey – without any chance of applying for asylum in the EU.

“An absolute violation of the law”

The legal scholar Constantin Hruschka from the Max Planck Institute in Munich sees such practices as a multiple violation of applicable law: “It is an absolute violation of the law, because under no circumstances should you deviate from the ban on inhuman or degrading treatment,” said Hruschka in an interview with monitor. The deprivation of liberty itself is also unlawful, as is the subsequent repatriation across the border without any trial.

Other videos available to the research cooperation show that these illegal practices are often enforced with violence. A video shows how Bulgarian border police beat people lying on the ground with batons. Numerous refugees report being beaten and bitten by dogs that the Bulgarian police let loose on them.

Bulgaria has so far left an inquiry about the research uncommented. At a press conference last Monday, Bulgarian Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev merely referred to an alleged increase in aggression on the part of migrants. However, the Bulgarian border authorities would pay attention to humane treatment.

Detentions under the eyes of Frontex?

Particularly explosive: These illegal detentions are apparently taking place directly under the eyes of the EU agency Frontex. Frontex is responsible for the EU border and coast guard and is also active in Bulgaria. Internal documents that monitor could see: Ten Frontex officers are also stationed at the Bulgarian border police station as part of “Operation Terra”. Frontex vehicles parked on site were repeatedly documented, within sight of the shed in which refugees were being locked up under degrading conditions at the same time.

The director of Human Rights Watch Germany, Wenzel Michalski, believes it is the duty of Frontex officials to stop the practices of the Bulgarian border authorities: “If they remain silent about it, they are complicit – to that extent Frontex is part of the problem.”

When asked, the EU agency writes that Frontex officials only supported the Bulgarian border police in the area in monitoring the border. The conditions described are not registered with Frontex. But the information will be passed on. The agency points out that Frontex officials ensure the protection of fundamental rights in all their actions. In addition, Frontex officers are obliged to report any violations of fundamental rights.

Hungary: Locked up in shipping containers

In Hungary, the research cooperation uncovered similar practices: recordings show how people are herded to shipping containers by the Hungarian border police with batons. Asylum seekers report that they have been locked in such containers for hours, again without water or food. They were then taken to the border crossing in buses and forced back to Serbia. monitor there are several videos showing such illegal pushbacks.

Aid organizations on the ground, including “Doctors Without Borders”, have expressed alarm this year at the increasing violence against asylum seekers on the Hungarian border. Alessandro Mangione from “Doctors Without Borders” in Serbia tells of many reports about the use of pepper spray in the containers. Apparently, space should be created so that more people can be locked in the containers. When asked, the Hungarian government contradicts all allegations: the Hungarian officials always adhered to EU law.

Croatia: Locked in vans in extreme heat

It was not until 2021 that research showed that monitor was involved, just as refugees in Croatia were forced to leave the EU again – without any chance of applying for asylum, without any procedure. At the time, the EU Commission reacted with outrage, condemning such practices as illegal and calling for investigations. But even in Croatia, people are apparently still being detained and rejected illegally and under catastrophic conditions.

Videos of refugees who were crammed into vans by the Croatian border police have been appearing for years. Those affected reported that they often had to stay in these vans for hours at high temperatures without windows and without water before they too were forced back across the border.

“Enormous contempt for human beings”

A practice that is apparently still being carried out despite all the EU’s assurances to the contrary: A woman who fled from Afghanistan told the research team how she was held in a locked van by the Croatian border police in September, together with more than 20 other people, for more than eight hours had been, without water, in extreme heat.

On request, the Croatian government writes that it cannot comment on such reports by refugees and videos. However, the Croatian police abide by European and national law. In addition, Croatia is the only EU member country that has set up independent mechanisms for monitoring border protection.

For Wenzel Michalski from Human Rights Watch, the research shows that there is still no will on the part of the EU to enforce the protection of human rights at the EU’s external borders: “Apparently, people would like the treatment of migrants at the external borders to be so deterrent that people don’t even think about coming to Europe. The contempt for human beings that screams in our faces is enormous.”

As recently as November, the EU Commission spoke out in favor of including Bulgaria in the Schengen area alongside Croatia and Romania. The Commission said that fundamental rights were respected at the Bulgarian border. An inquiry to the EU Commission about the new research has so far remained unanswered.