By Esme Smithson Swain and the Protection Team
Our latest report exposes intensified border violence and erosion of asylum rights in Europe – an immediate result of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact and the reforms to the Schengen Border’s Code.
Through troubling testimonies of border violence, our latest biannual report in the “Bloody Borders” series, exposes the escalating violence and systemic abuse faced by people at Europe’s borders. This report, covering the period from November 2023 to May 2024, underscores the impact of recent EU policy changes that have not only intensified the use of technology to monitor and expel migrants but have also increasingly and deliberately undermined the fundamental right to seek asylum.
KEY FINDINGS:
1. Increased Use of Surveillance Technology:
The report highlights a surge in the deployment of drones and thermal imaging technology across EU borders, including for the criminalisation of solidarity. These tools are being weaponized to track, apprehend, and violently push back people on Europe’s borders. Eyewitness testimonies from the Croatian-Bosnian border detail how drones facilitate mass violations of human rights, including theft, beatings, and illegal expulsions. This increase is a direct result of the reforms to the Schengen Border’s code which expands and institutionalises this usage.
2. The Right to Asylum Under Siege:
With the introduction of the new Migration and Asylum Pact and reforms to the Schengen Borders Code in April 2024, the EU has legally sanctioned practices that dismantle the right to asylum. The report documents numerous instances where asylum seekers were denied due process, forcibly returned without hearings, and subjected to degrading treatment. This has been happening for years on Europe’s borders, but testimonies featured in this report make the violence of the new Pact explicit and undeniable.
3. Institutional Failures and Legal Breaches:
Detailed testimonies and analysis within the report illustrate the systemic failure to uphold international legal standards. People on Europe’s borders are frequently detained arbitrarily, expelled without due process, and deprived of basic human rights, raising grave concerns about the actions and accountability of state and EU actors.
Case Highlight:
The report features the pushback account of a 29-year-old Moroccan man who, along with two companions, was repeatedly pushed back across the Serbia-Bulgaria border 6 times in a row. The men were apprehended by Serbian police, stripped of their belongings, and beaten by masked officers wearing uniforms of the Serbian police brigade. The testimony also implies reports the involvement (and collaboration in violence) of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. This testimony is one of many collected which exemplifies the extreme brutality and disregard for human rights prevalent at these borders.