• #Frontex : l’UE va signer un accord de coopération avec la #Bosnie-Herzégovine

    Le Conseil a adopté ce jour une décision autorisant l’UE à signer un accord avec la Bosnie-Herzégovine concernant les activités opérationnelles menées par l’Agence européenne de garde-frontières et de garde-côtes (Frontex).

    Cet accord permettra à l’UE et à la Bosnie-Herzégovine d’organiser des opérations conjointes associant des garde-frontières de Frontex et de Bosnie-Herzégovine. Il prévoit également que les équipes de Frontex affectées à la gestion des frontières peuvent être déployées en Bosnie-Herzégovine et il permettra à Frontex d’aider la Bosnie-Herzégovine à gérer les flux migratoires, à lutter contre l’immigration illégale et à combattre la criminalité transfrontière.

    Contexte

    Afin d’accomplir ses tâches, Frontex peut mener des actions relatives à la #gestion_des_frontières de l’UE sur le territoire d’un pays tiers, sous réserve de l’accord de ce pays.

    Depuis l’adoption, en 2019, d’un nouveau règlement relatif à l’Agence européenne de garde-frontières et de garde-côtes, le personnel de Frontex peut exercer des pouvoirs d’exécution dans un pays tiers, tels que les vérifications aux frontières et l’enregistrement des personnes.

    En 2022, le Conseil a autorisé l’ouverture de #négociations avec quatre partenaires des Balkans occidentaux sur la coopération avec Frontex. Depuis lors, l’UE a signé des accords de coopération en matière de gestion des frontières avec la Serbie, la Macédoine du Nord et le Monténégro.

    https://www.consilium.europa.eu/fr/press/press-releases/2025/01/27/frontex-eu-to-sign-cooperation-agreement-with-bosnia-and-herzegovin

    #migrations #frontières #externalisation #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #réfugiés

  • Border imperialism in the Balkans

    Our guest is #Manja_Petrovska, a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam and the Université libre de Bruxelles.

    We start our conversation today in the Balkans. Before her PhD, Manja spent five years supporting people travelling through the Balkans to Europe’s more affluent northwest, including at the Macedonian-Greek border and in Bosnia.

    Witnessing the intense violence that Croatian, Greek, Macedonian, and other police forces inflicted on people on the move, she increasingly started questioning who governs and funds this violence. This led her to focus on the International Organization for Migration, or the IOM.

    From this five-year engagement, Manja co-authored a report from this five-year engagement, titled Repackaging Imperialism: The EU-IOM Border Regime in the Balkans, published by the Transnational Institute. Although the report’s other authors are not featured in this episode, everything we discuss related to the report is based on their work as well, so special thanks to Nidžara Ahmetašević, Sophie-Anne Bisiaux, and Lorenz Naegeli, as well as Niamh Ni Bhriain, who was the report’s main editor.

    As the report lays out, while the IOM portrays itself as a neutral broker and knowledge center on migration, it is, in fact, an active implementer of particular states’ border policies, bolstering police, border guards, and private contractors known to commit atrocities. Most IOM funding comes from affluent states that can directly commission projects, which the IOM then implements in regions far from its primary funders.

    What emerges from the conversation is a European Union border regime that extends its influence into the Balkans through the IOM, funding violence that northwestern European states can then distance themselves from by mobilizing racist depictions of brutality as always something occurring in various elsewheres. From the perspective of people living in the region, this is not a new phenomenon but rather one that echoes the efforts of past empires that sought to shape what we now call the Balkans. Hence the report’s title: Repackaging Imperialism.

    In addition to affecting the lives of people on the move, this regime is also leading to a remilitarization of borders in a region still recovering from war and genocide.

    We then move to discussing Manja’s current PhD project. As part of this project, she has recently attended a number of border technology fairs, which are marketplaces where security companies showcase their ideas for border security, with government officials as their clients. Manja takes us into a world where cowboy hats, raffles, and rampant alcohol consumption are used to aid in the selling of heartbeat monitors, document scanners, and weapons—illustrating how absurdly and soul-crushingly removed the worlds of weapons sales are from the people whose lives these weapons affect.

    Finally, Manja recounts her own encounter with border enforcement. After leaving one of the last security fairs she attended, she was administratively detained and taken to immigration detention in Belgium. There, she met and tried to support many others who were in a much worse situation than she was, mainly people from other Balkan states and Palestinians.

    We end the conversation by reflecting once again on the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the need to resist the brutal slaughter, starvation, displacement, and land theft of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli state. We feel pain at this destruction of life. Weapons companies, Manja explains, profit, not only from causing mass death but also from surveilling, governing, and dividing people when displaced, once again showing us that our struggles are deeply interconnected.

    https://pca.st/1fo2d7kg

    #frontières #impérialisme #violence #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #IOM #OIM #militarisation_des_frontières
    #audio #podcast

    ping @karine4 @_kg_

  • La Serbie va recevoir 14 millions d’euros de l’UE pour renforcer ses frontières

    L’Union européenne a promis une enveloppe de 14 millions d’euros à la Serbie pour renforcer les contrôles aux frontières. Les arrivées en Serbie ont déjà fortement diminué depuis 2023, avec une route migratoire qui se décale du côté de la Macédoine du Nord et de la Bosnie-Herzégovine.

    La Serbie s’apprête à recevoir une enveloppe de quatorze millions euros de la part de l’#Union_européenne pour lutter contre les migrations irrégulières et renforcer ses frontières.

    « Il s’agira d’#équipements spéciaux destinés aux couloirs verts et bleus, c’est-à-dire les frontières et les rivières », a précisé #Emanuele_Giaufret, le chef de la Délégation de l’Union européenne à Belgrade, rapporte l’AFP.

    Entre 2021 et 2024, l’UE a augmenté de 60 % ses financements en faveur des pays des Balkans occidentaux, pour atteindre plus de 350 millions d’euros. Des aides destinées à la fois à la gestion des frontières mais aussi aux systèmes d’asile et d’accueil.

    Une route « pratiquement fermée » selon l’Intérieur serbe

    En réaction à cette nouvelle enveloppe de 14 millions d’euros, le ministre serbe de l’Intérieur, Ivica Dačić, a mis en avant le fait que la route migratoire de la Serbie vers la Hongrie était « pratiquement fermée », mais que de #nouvelles_routes migratoires apparaissaient sans cesse. Il a également précisé qu’en 2023, le nombre de passages migratoires aux frontières serbes avait été réduit de près de 70% par rapport à 2022.

    Une nette diminution corroborée par les chiffres de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) : entre janvier et octobre 2024, 15 200 migrants sont arrivés en Serbie, contre 106 000 en 2023 et 120 000 en 2022.

    De manière plus globale, au cours des cinq premiers mois de 2024, le nombre total de franchissements des frontières de l’UE par la route des Balkans a chuté de 71 % par rapport à l’an passé, pour atteindre un peu plus de 8 900 franchissements, selon les chiffres de Frontex, l’agence européenne des gardes-frontières.

    #Frontex bientôt déployée en #Macédoine_du_Nord et #Bosnie-Herzégovine

    Frontex est déjà déployée en Serbie, au niveau des frontières avec la Bulgarie et la Hongrie, depuis un accord de coopération signé fin juin. Cet accord encadre les opérations conjointes avec les gardes serbes pour surveiller les frontières albanaises, macédoniennes et celles du Monténégro.

    Cette coopération sera bientôt étendue à la Macédoine du Nord et à la Bosnie-Herzégovine, a fait savoir l’UE. Pour rappel, ces deux pays ne font pas partie de l’UE - malgré des demandes d’adhésion introduites en 2005 pour l’un et en 2016 pour l’autre - et constituent une voie d’entrée dans l’UE.

    Le but est de s’adapter aux changements de route : dès 2023, Frontex notait que la route migratoire principale se décalait de la frontière serbe pour se rapprocher plutôt de cette frontière de l’UE avec la Bosnie-Herzégovine. Frontex y enregistrait 80 % de passages frontaliers irréguliers supplémentaires en 2023, par rapport à 2022.

    https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/61577/la-serbie-va-recevoir-14-millions-deuros-de-lue-pour-renforcer-ses-fro

    #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #Serbie #externalisation #externalisation_des_frontières #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers #asile #migrations #réfugiés #aide_financière #militarisation_des_frontières #gestion_des_frontières #Frontex

  • Lutte contre l’immigration irrégulière : le #Royaume-Uni signe des accords avec trois pays des #Balkans

    Londres va signer des accords avec la #Serbie, la #Macédoine_du_Nord et le #Kosovo destinés à « accroître le partage de #renseignements et à intercepter les gangs criminels de #passeurs ». L’an dernier, « près de 100 000 migrants ont transité » par les Balkans occidentaux, ce qui en fait une « route importante utilisée par ceux qui se retrouvent illégalement dans l’UE ou au Royaume-Uni », selon le gouvernement britannique.

    Le Royaume-Uni multiplie les partenariats pour tenter de freiner l’immigration irrégulière. Le gouvernement britannique a annoncé mercredi 6 novembre qu’il allait signer des accords avec la Serbie, la Macédoine du Nord et le Kosovo, trois pays de transit des migrants en route vers l’Europe de l’ouest.

    La coopération entre le Royaume-Uni et ces trois États vise à « accroître le partage de renseignements et à intercepter les gangs criminels de passeurs », précise Downing Street dans un communiqué.

    L’an dernier, « près de 100 000 migrants ont transité » par les Balkans occidentaux, ce qui en fait une « route importante utilisée par ceux qui se retrouvent illégalement dans l’UE ou au Royaume-Uni », selon Londres.

    « Il existe un empire criminel qui opère sur notre continent, à l’origine d’un terrible bilan humain et qui porte atteinte à notre sécurité nationale », a déclaré le Premier ministre Keir Starmer dans le communiqué. « Le Royaume-Uni sera au cœur des efforts visant à mettre fin au fléau de la criminalité organisée liée à l’immigration, mais nous ne pouvons pas le faire de manière isolée », a-t-il ajouté.
    Accord similaire avec l’Albanie

    Ces accords sont largement inspirés de celui conclu avec l’Albanie fin 2022. Le Premier ministre de l’époque, le conservateur Rishi Sunak, avait détaillé un éventail de mesures destinées, déjà, à lutter contre l’immigration illégale. Parmi elles, l’envoi d’agents de la police aux frontières britanniques à l’aéroport de Tirana, « des contrôles renforcés [...] à tous les points de passage frontaliers à travers le pays, des contrôles accrus sur les citoyens albanais qui se trouvent illégalement sur le territoire du Royaume-Uni et des échanges d’officiers de police de haut niveau dans les deux États », indiquait un communiqué du Home Office, l’équivalent du ministère de l’Intérieur.

    En juin 2023, une campagne sur les réseaux sociaux avait été lancée par ce même gouvernement. Des publications avaient été diffusées sur Facebook et Instagram pour prévenir les exilés qu’ils « risquent d’être détenus et expulsés » s’ils arrivent illégalement au Royaume-Uni.

    À cette époque, les Albanais représentaient un tiers des personnes qui embarquaient sur des canots via la Manche.
    Plus de coopération avec les pays de l’UE

    Dès son élection en juillet dernier, le travailliste Keir Starmer a abandonné le projet controversé des précédents gouvernements conservateurs visant à expulser vers le Rwanda les demandeurs d’asile arrivés de façon irrégulière. Le Premier ministre met l’accent sur la lutte contre les réseaux de passeurs et veut accroître la collaboration avec les pays européens pour faire baisser les arrivées.

    En début de semaine, Keir Starmer a annoncé la création d’un fonds de 90 millions d’euros consacré à la lutte contre les trafiquants opérant dans la Manche. L’argent servira notamment à financer des équipements de surveillance de haute technologie et 100 enquêteurs spécialisés contre les réseaux de passeurs.

    Le travailliste a également appelé à davantage de coopération avec la France, l’Allemagne et l’Italie pour contrer les passeurs, une « menace comparable au terrorisme » selon lui.

    Le Royaume-Uni, en sortant de l’Union européenne, a perdu l’accès à des bases de données, comme Eurodac, qui contient les empreintes digitales des demandeurs d’asile et migrants arrivant dans l’UE, et le Système d’information Schengen (SIS) portant sur des personnes recherchées, disparues ou en situation irrégulière dans cet espace de libre circulation.
    Plus de 31 000 arrivées au Royaume-Uni

    Malgré les plans successifs en matière de lutte contre l’immigration illégale, les arrivées de migrants sur les côtes britanniques ne faiblissent pas. Depuis janvier, plus de 31 500 exilés ont débarqué au Royaume-Uni en traversant la Manche. Un chiffre en hausse par rapport à l’an dernier où près de 30 000 migrants étaient arrivés en Angleterre par « small boats ». Mais on est encore loin du record enregistré en 2022 avec l’arrivée de 45 000 personnes.

    Certaines personnes en revanche n’atteignent jamais les côtes anglaises. Ces dernières semaines, les drames se succèdent dans la Manche. On compte, pour le seul mois d’octobre, neuf décès dans cette zone maritime. Et depuis janvier, plus de 60 exilés au total ont trouvé la mort lors de cette périlleuse traversée. Ce qui fait de 2024 l’année la plus meutrière dans la Manche, depuis l’apparition du phénomène des « small boats » en 2018.

    https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/61064/lutte-contre-limmigration-irreguliere--le-royaumeuni-signe-des-accords
    #Angleterre #GB #route_des_Balkans #accord #coopération #sécurité_nationale #Albanie #migrations #réfugiés

  • A Bruxelles, l’immigration de nouveau au cœur des débats du conseil de rentrée européen
    https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2024/10/16/a-bruxelles-l-immigration-de-nouveau-au-c-ur-des-debats-du-conseil-de-rentre

    A Bruxelles, l’immigration de nouveau au cœur des débats du conseil de rentrée européen
    Par Philippe Jacqué (Bruxelles, bureau européen)
    En Europe, les tabous tombent un à un sur la question migratoire. Alors que les chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement de l’Union européenne (UE) se réunissent, jeudi 17 et vendredi 18 octobre, à Bruxelles, pour leur conseil de rentrée, ce sujet controversé sera de toutes les conversations. Afin de nourrir la discussion, la présidente de la Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, leur a adressé une longue missive, leur promettant, en complément du pacte sur la migration et l’asile adopté au printemps et que certains pays comme l’Espagne veulent appliquer dès 2025, une nouvelle législation européenne pour faciliter les expulsions. Aujourd’hui, les retours sont l’un des points faibles du dispositif européen, avec moins de 20 % des déboutés du droit d’asile qui retournent dans leur pays d’origine.
    Alors que les entrées irrégulières ont baissé de 42 % sur les neuf premiers mois de 2024, avec 166 000 passages enregistrés par l’agence Frontex, la cheffe de l’exécutif européen veut aller bien plus loin. Elle propose d’explorer des « solutions innovantes » pour lutter contre l’immigration clandestine, qu’il s’agisse d’externaliser les procédures d’asile hors d’Europe, comme le fait l’Italie en Albanie, de faciliter les expulsions vers des pays tiers ou de créer des « centres de retour » hors d’Europe dans le cadre de la nouvelle loi sur les expulsions. Après les accords migratoires européens avec la Tunisie, l’Egypte et le Liban, elle propose également de lancer des négociations avec le Sénégal, voire le Mali.
    Si certains Etats membres, à l’image du Danemark, de l’Autriche et de l’Italie, faisaient campagne, ces derniers mois, pour imposer ces « solutions innovantes » dans l’agenda politique européen, Bruxelles n’avait jusqu’ici pas envisagé de les reprendre totalement à son compte. Mais la donne politique a changé et plusieurs digues ont sauté. « Même le Luxembourg, très sceptique concernant les solutions innovantes, ne s’y oppose plus », s’étonnait récemment un diplomate européen.
    Deux ans après l’accession au pouvoir de l’Italienne postfasciste Giorgia Meloni, qui a fait de la lutte contre l’immigration sa priorité, la droite conservatrice et l’extrême droite ont prospéré tant aux élections nationales qu’aux européennes de juin, modifiant les équilibres politiques à Bruxelles.Le Parlement européen penche plus à droite, avec un Parti populaire européen (le groupe conservateur) qui est capable non seulement de créer une majorité avec les forces traditionnelles, libérales et socialistes, mais également, et c’est la nouveauté, avec les groupes d’extrême droite, en mesure désormais de promouvoir leur agenda anti-immigration. Dans le même temps, le Conseil réunit de plus en plus d’Etats gouvernés par des coalitions intégrant l’extrême droite ou étant soutenues par ses forces, comme aux Pays-Bas, en Suède, en Finlande et peut-être, bientôt, en Autriche.
    Enfin, la nouvelle Commission, qui doit commencer ses travaux début décembre, comptera une écrasante majorité de membres issus des rangs conservateurs ou de l’extrême droite. Dans ces conditions, le débat autour de la migration a pris une nouvelle vigueur dans une orientation toujours plus dure, voire radicale.
    Désormais, ce mouvement touche aussi la gauche au pouvoir en Allemagne, quelques années après le Danemark. Le changement de pied de la coalition réunissant à Berlin sociaux-démocrates, écologistes et libéraux a désinhibé l’ensemble du continent, entraînant un changement de paradigme. A la surprise générale, Berlin a réinstauré, en septembre, les contrôles à ses frontières intérieures pour bloquer l’entrée de clandestins, écornant un peu plus l’espace Schengen de libre circulation. Les capitales européennes se sont engouffrées dans la brèche et ont durci leurs déclarations contre l’immigration irrégulière.
    Début octobre, les Pays-Bas et la Hongrie ont demandé une dérogation pour ne pas appliquer le pacte sur la migration et l’asile, si difficilement adopté au printemps. En France, le nouveau gouvernement de Michel Barnier n’est pas en reste. Celui qui disait, en 2021, qu’il fallait « retrouver notre souveraineté juridique » sur la question des migrations, annonce une nouvelle loi en 2025. Son ministre de l’intérieur, Bruno Retailleau, a déclaré son intention de mettre fin au « désordre migratoire », quitte à remettre en cause l’Etat de droit qui, selon lui, « n’est ni intangible ni sacré ».
    Samedi, le premier ministre polonais, Donald Tusk, est allé plus loin en demandant à Bruxelles la possibilité de suspendre partiellement le droit d’asile pour les migrants qui entrent illégalement par la frontière biélorusse. Cette requête fait écho à la loi finlandaise, adoptée en juillet, autorisant le gouvernement d’Helsinki à s’exonérer de l’application de ce droit en cas d’attaque hybride de la part de son voisin russe, en l’occurrence l’envoi de migrants par Moscou en Finlande. Et les trois pays baltes sont prêts à adopter des législations similaires.
    Face à cette tentation de plus en plus forte des dirigeants de s’exonérer du droit européen et des obligations internationales en matière d’immigration, l’exécutif communautaire tente de tenir bon. Embarrassé par la loi finlandaise et les déclarations de Donald Tusk, il entend rappeler les Etats membres à leurs obligations. Il leur propose d’aménager les règles afin de faire face aux offensives russes et biélorusses, toujours dans le respect des principes et des valeurs de l’UE. Reste que Bruxelles est de plus en plus en difficulté. De même, les ONG de défense des droits de l’homme sont totalement inaudibles face à l’offensive actuelle.
    Pendant ces débats qui dessinent une Europe bien plus volontaire sur le contrôle des entrées sur son territoire, l’Italie est passée aux travaux pratiques. Rome a renvoyé, lundi, les 16 premiers migrants interceptés en mer vers un camp installé hors des frontières de l’UE, en Albanie, où ces rescapés devront remplir l’ensemble de la procédure d’asile. Pas moins de 880 places devraient, à terme, y être proposées pour accueillir ces candidats à l’Europe. En un sens, la dirigeante postfasciste a réalisé ce que demande son allié hongrois Viktor Orban : installer hors d’Europe des « hotspots » pour filtrer les arrivées sur le Vieux Continent. Mardi, Mme Meloni a annoncé qu’une réunion informelle se tiendrait en marge du Conseil, à Bruxelles, avec les pays de l’UE les plus intéressés par sa façon d’envisager la question migratoire.
    Ce « hotspot » est réservé aux seules personnes sauvées en mer par l’Italie, mais Ursula von der Leyen entend bien suivre le début des opérations du protocole Italie-Albanie afin de « tirer les leçons de cette expérience dans la pratique ». Si les tribunaux italiens et de l’UE, qui seront appelés à statuer sur le sujet ces prochains mois, valident le schéma imaginé par l’Italie, d’autres centres pourraient fleurir à l’initiative d’autres pays. Mais où ? Alors que les pays du Maghreb ont, à maintes reprises, refusé ce type de dispositifs, les Européens regardent de plus en plus vers les Balkans occidentaux. « Installer ces centres chez des pays candidats a pas mal de mérites, rappelait récemment un diplomate européen. S’ils veulent entrer dans l’Union un jour, ils doivent respecter certaines normes de droits humains, ce qui les qualifierait pour accueillir ces centres. » Autrement dit, s’ils acceptent ce que leur demandent les Vingt-Sept, ils pourront, un jour, rejoindre le club.

    #Covid-19#migration#migrant#UE#albanie#balkans#droit#asile#frontiere#FRONTEX#politiquemigratoire#sante#expulsion

  • Abusi al confine greco-albanese e le omissioni di #Frontex

    La denuncia in un’inchiesta di Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

    Continuano le denunce riguardo alle costanti violazioni dei diritti umani attuate nei confronti delle persone migranti lungo la cosiddetta rotta balcanica. Questa volta al centro dell’attenzione torna il confine fra Grecia e Albania dove non cessano i respingimenti e, fatto ancor più grave, sembrerebbe che alcuni agenti di Frontex – l’Agenzia europea che supporta gli Stati membri dell’UE e dell’area Schengen nel controllo delle frontiere – abbiano ricevuto l’ordine di non segnalare le violazioni dei diritti umani commesse sul confine a danno delle persone in transito.

    A renderlo noto è il Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) che in un’inchiesta, pubblicata lo scorso giugno 2, riporta il contenuto di alcune e-mail risalenti al 2023 (quindi dopo le dimissioni dell’ex capo Fabrice Leggeri, avvenute nell’aprile 2022) in cui si riconferma che il personale di Frontex è a conoscenza dei pushback illegali che sistematicamente avvengono sul confine greco-albanese.

    Respingimenti che gettano le persone in quella che gli agenti stessi definiscono «un’interminabile partita di ping-pong».

    Inoltre, sembrerebbe che qualcuno all’interno di Frontex, non è chiaro chi, avrebbe fornito «istruzioni implicite di non emettere SIR», vale a dire di non redigere rapporti sulle segnalazioni di incidenti gravi che quindi comportano violazioni dei diritti fondamentali ai sensi delle norme UE ed internazionali.

    Frontex, presente in Albania dal 2018 e più volte criticata per il suo operato in vari Paesi poiché accusata di aver svolto attività di respingimento illegali, dispone infatti di un ufficio denominato Fundamental Rights Office (FRO) 3 a cui spetta il compito di gestire le segnalazioni SIR (Serious Incident Report) e di monitorare il rispetto dei diritti nell’ambito delle attività dell’Agenzia. In più, nel 2019, è stata istituita una procedura che consente a chiunque ritiene che i propri diritti siano stati violati di presentare un reclamo all’ufficio preposto.

    A destare preoccupazione sul confine sono soprattutto le modalità con le quali le autorità gestiscono queste operazioni. Nelle e-mail si legge che la polizia greca conduce le persone migranti al confine e la polizia albanese sistematicamente le respinge, in alcuni casi – rileva il FRO – maltrattandole e, segnala la Commissione europea, senza fornire garanzie agli aspiranti richiedenti asilo, di cui non verrebbero raccolte nemmeno le informazioni base.

    Le autorità albanesi negano di aver partecipato ai respingimenti collettivi, in ogni caso, di certo c’è, prosegue l’inchiesta, che le mancate segnalazioni portano, secondo Jonas Grimhede, capo del FRO, a sottovalutare le infrazioni.

    Queste gravi violazioni, confermano fonti di Melting Pot, colpiscono anche persone con disabilità, donne e minori.

    Eppure, l’agenzia continua a rafforzare la propria presenza nella regione: risale infatti a giugno 2024 il nuovo accordo ratificato con la Serbia, il quinto dopo quelli con Moldavia, Macedonia del Nord, Montenegro e Albania, mentre sono in corso negoziati con la Bosnia-Erzegovina.

    Tali accordi si conformano al regolamento adottato da Frontex nel 2019 che estende il proprio operato in qualsiasi Paese terzo, indipendentemente dal confine con l’Unione Europea, dove può dispiegare agenti ai quali spetta più potere esecutivo nel controllo delle persone in transito (tra il resto, la conferma dell’identità all’ingresso, il controllo documenti, l’accettazione o il respingimento dei visti, l’arresto delle persone prive di autorizzazione e la registrazione delle impronte).
    Frontex non può non sapere

    Alla luce di quanto riportato su BIRN ci si può interrogare sull’effettiva capacità di Frontex nel garantire il rispetto dei diritti umani nei Paesi e nelle operazioni di cui fa parte, dal momento che omettendo le segnalazioni si rende complice degli abusi commessi lungo i confini.

    Soltanto un mese fa un’inchiesta della BBC 4 informava che la Guardia costiera greca, anch’essa tristemente nota per i crimini internazionali commessi negli anni, sarebbe responsabile, nell’arco di tre anni, della morte in mare di oltre quaranta persone, lasciate volutamente in acqua o riportate nel Mediterraneo dopo aver raggiunto le isole greche.

    In merito Statewatch 5 riporta alcuni passi dei fascicoli relativi ai SIR contenuti nei report presentati al consiglio di amministrazione di Frontex, in cui si testimonia la responsabilità delle autorità greche: «L’ufficio (il Fundamental Rights Office appunto) considera credibile e plausibile che 7 persone furono respinte da Samos alle acque territoriali turche nell’agosto 2022 e abbandonate in mare dalla Guardia costiera ellenica, il che ha provocato l’annegamento di uno di loro», e ancora «Un migrante arrivò con la sua famiglia come parte di un gruppo di 22 persone a nord di Lesbo, 17 di loro furono presi da quattro uomini armati mascherati, caricati su un furgone e portati su una spiaggia a sud di Lesbo. Da qui furono respinti in Turchia su una barca e lasciati alla deriva su una zattera di salvataggio, in quella che l’Ufficio valuta come un’operazione coordinata che coinvolge ufficiali greci e individui sconosciuti che hanno agito in accordo».

    Via terra non va affatto meglio. È del 3 luglio la rivelazione, da parte di EUobserver 6, di alcuni documenti interni a Frontex in cui si dice che la Bulgaria avrebbe fatto pressione sui funzionari dell’Agenzia affinché ignorassero le violazioni dei diritti umani al confine con la Turchia in cambio del pieno accesso al confine.

    Nel marzo di quest’anno, invece, è stato reso pubblico un documento interno risalente al 2022 che descrive nel dettaglio le pratiche violente e disumane, deliberatamente ignorate sia da Frontex che dall’UE, subite dai richiedenti asilo nel momento in cui vengono respinti con forza verso la Turchia.

    Operando sul campo fra le varie frontiere risulta impossibile che l’Agenzia non sia al corrente di ciò che avviene e dei metodi utilizzati dalle forze dell’ordine per allontanare le persone migranti, tuttavia decide di non agire.

    Anzi, quando non è l’Agenzia stessa, con o senza forza, a praticare i respingimenti, comunque coadiuva gli abusi, come dimostra nuovamente una recente inchiesta dalla quale è emerso che tra il 2021 e il 2023 Frontex ha condiviso con soggetti libici 2.200 e-mail che comunicavano i dati esatti di geolocalizzazione delle imbarcazioni di rifugiati nel Mediterraneo, permettendone l’intercettazione illegale e il ritorno forzato in Libia.

    L’Agenzia, conclude l’inchiesta del BIRN, ha comunque riconosciuto il problema relativo alle omissioni e ne ha discusso, al di là dell’attività in Albania.

    Al momento la realtà resta preoccupante e continuamente da monitorare. Nemmeno l’uscita dell’ex direttore esecutivo di Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, dimessosi per le evidenze di violazioni “di natura grave” dei diritti umani (e appena candidato alle elezioni europee con Rassemblement National), ha portato ad un vero cambio nelle sue politiche, perchè non c’è possibilità di riformarla.

    Frontex va abolita, per liberare tuttə.

    https://www.meltingpot.org/2024/07/abusi-al-confine-greco-albanese-e-le-omissioni-di-frontex

    #abus #Grèce #Albanie #frontières #migrations #réfugiés #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #push-backs #refoulements #SIR #refoulements_collectifs #violence

    • Frontex Officers Failing to Report Migrant Abuses on Albania-Greece Border

      EU border agents are failing to report rights violations committed against migrants and refugees on the Albanian-Greek border, according to an investigation by #BIRN.

      In February last year, Aija Kalnaja, then the acting head of the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, received a strongly-worded email from the person in charge of making sure the agency adheres to EU law and fundamental human rights in policing the bloc’s boundaries.

      To anyone unfamiliar with the bureaucratic language of Brussels, the subject line might look cryptic: “Albania, ping-pong pushbacks, and avoiding SIRs”.

      But the content was clear: a Frontex officer had just returned from deployment to the border between Albania and EU member Greece with a “very troublesome account” of what was happening there, Jonas Grimheden, head of Frontex’s Fundamental Rights Office, FRO, wrote in the email, obtained by BIRN.

      “Apart from stories of Greek police bringing migrants to the border, and Albanian police returning them in an endless ping-pong game,” Grimheden wrote, the officer said he and his colleagues had “implicit instructions not to issue SIRs”.

      A SIR is a Serious Incident Report, which Frontex officers are ‘obliged’ to file as soon as they became aware of a possible violation of the fundamental rights afforded migrants and refugees under international law, whether committed by border guards of countries that Frontex collaborates with or officers deployed directly by the agency.

      It was unclear who issued the ‘instructions’ the officer referred to.

      According to the officer, whose account was also obtained by BIRN in redacted form, so-called ‘pushbacks’ – in which police send would-be asylum seekers back over the border without due process, in violation of international human rights standards – are “a known thing within Frontex” and all the officer’s colleagues were “told not to write a serious incident report because it just went that way there”. Pushbacks, he was saying, were regularly occurring on the Albanian-Greek border.

      Frontex has faced years of criticism for failing to address rights violations committed by member-states in policing the bloc’s borders.

      Now, this BIRN analysis of internal Frontex documents and reporting from the field has unearthed serious indications of systematic pushbacks at the Albanian-Greek border as well as fresh evidence that such unlawful practices are often evading Frontex’s own rights monitoring mechanism.

      Asked whether rights violations were being underreported, a Frontex spokesman told BIRN that such claims were “completely and demonstrably false”.

      At Frontex, every officer is required to report any “suspected violations,” said Chris Borowski.

      Yet Grimheden, the FRO head, said underreporting remains a “highly problematic” issue within the agency. It “undermines the very system we are dependent on,” he told BIRN.
      ‘Sent back badly beaten’

      Three kilometres from Ieropigi, the last Greek village before the border with Albania, stands a Greek army building, disused for decades.

      On the grassy floor are signs of humans having passed through: packets of ready-made food; the ashes of a campfire; words carved in Arabic on the walls.

      Until autumn last year, dozens of migrants and refugees stopped here every day en route to Albania, hoping to then enter Kosovo or Montenegro, then Serbia and eventually Croatia or Hungary, both part of Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone. They would have originally reached Greece from Turkey, either by land or sea, but few see Greece as a final destination.

      When BIRN visited, the weather was wet and fog obscured the hill on the other side of the border, in Albania.

      “I used to meet beaten migrants and ask them if this happened in Albania and they used to reply: ‘They beat us and send us back, they take our money, mobile phones, expensive shoes. Everything they had that was expensive was taken and they were push-backed,” said Spyros Trassias, a local shepherd. “Sometimes they might shout ‘Policia’ and signalled that they were being beaten. Other times smugglers would beat them, take their money and send them back.”

      According to local residents, the number of refugees and migrants trying to cross the border near Ieropigi dropped dramatically after a network of smugglers was dismantled in September last year.

      BIRN did not come across any Greek border patrols, but the head of the Union of Border Guards of Kastoria, Kyriakos Papoutsidis, told BIRN the border is guarded 24-hours a day. Many of those they intercept, he said, have already applied for asylum on the Greek islands or in the capital, Athens. “Any migrant who comes to the area is advised to return to the city where they applied for asylum and must remain there,” Papoutsidis said.
      Warning of ‘collective expulsion’

      Frontex officers have been present on both sides of the border, under a 2019 agreement that launched the agency’s first ever joint operation outside the bloc.

      Just months after deploying, Frontex faced accusations of pushbacks being carried out by Albanian authorities.

      According to documents seen by BIRN, little has changed over the last five years. The FRO has repeatedly raised concerns about Albania’s non-compliance with lawful border management procedures, warning in multiple SIRs that “unlawful collective returns characterised by a lack of safeguards could amount to collective expulsion”.

      In one FRO report from November 2022, in reference to pushbacks, they went as far as to say that the “sum of alleged facts could indicate the existence of a pattern occurring at the border between Albania and Greece”.

      The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, voiced similar concerns in its 2023 report on Albania’s progress towards EU accession, when it referred to “shortcomings identified in its return mechanism for irregular migrants” and cited continued reports of migrants “being returned to Greece without adequate pre-screening”.

      In July 2023, in a ‘due diligence’ assessment of plans for enhanced collaboration between Frontex and Albania, the FRO noted “cases of ill-treatment” and “allegations of irregular returns” of migrants to Greece. Yet it endorsed the new arrangement, which was rubber-stamped by Tirana and the EU two months later.

      Asked about the allegation of migrants and refugees becoming caught in a game of “endless ping-pong” between Greek and Albanian border police, Grimheden told BIRN: “We have seen and in some locations still see migrants being forced back and forth across borders in different locations in Europe. This is certainly problematic and the parts where Frontex can or can try to influence this, we have taken measures. But the issue is typically far from Frontex involvement”.

      “We see a number of concerns in several countries that we are operating in, and Albania is one of those. Some countries are more open about addressing identified problems and others less so, at least Albania belongs to the group that is not ignoring the problems.”
      Albania: ‘No irregular migrant is pushed back’

      Albanian authorities deny engaging in pushbacks. According to Albania’s Law on Aliens, anyone entering irregularly can be expelled, particularly if they intend only to transit across Albania. Data from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, shows that in 2023, only 6.5 per cent of 4,307 apprehended migrants were referred to the asylum procedure.

      According to Serious Incident Reports seen by BIRN, groups of migrants and refugees are regularly apprehended either at the border or deep inside Albanian territory, taken to temporary holding facilities, transferred to nearby border crossing points, and told to cross back into Greece on foot.

      In all but one case, the Albanian authorities responded that the groups had been pre-screened – taking their basic information and making an initial assessment of their need for asylum – and served with removal orders.

      Neither the Greek Ministry of Citizens Protection nor Albania’s Ministry of Interior or General Directorate of Border Police responded to requests for comment.

      However, in exchanges with the FRO reviewed by BIRN, Albanian authorities rejected claims of systematic pushbacks.

      “No irregular migrant is pushed back,” the Albanian Ministry of Interior replied to the FRO in exchanges reviewed by BIRN. There was only one case in which four Albanian officers were found to have “led” a group of migrants back towards Greek territory and the officers were punished, it said.

      However, an investigation by the FRO, circulated in October 2023, said allegations of systematic pushbacks were “corroborated by all interviewed Frontex operational staff”.
      Intense discussions within Frontex about underreported violations

      In contrast to the widespread use of violence documented by the FRO in Frontex operations in Bulgaria or neighbouring Greece, most SIRs analysed by BIRN did not contain evidence of force being used by Albanian border police during alleged pushbacks, nor the direct involvement of Frontex personnel.

      One exception was a letter sent in August 2022 to the FRO by a Frontex officer serving in the Kakavije border region of southern Albania. The officer accused a Frontex colleague of mistreating two migrants by “hanging them” out of his vehicle while driving them.

      The letter states that upon being confronted about the incident, the officer in question laughed and claimed he had the protection of important people at Frontex HQ in Warsaw.

      Following up on the letter, the FRO found that despite the incident being “widely discussed” within the pool of Frontex officers on the ground, “no Serious Incident was reported, and no information was shared with the operational team”.

      The Frontex Press Office told BIRN that the officer involved was dismissed from the Frontex operation and his actions reported to his home country.

      The incident “served as a vital lesson and is now used in briefings for new officers to underscore the high standards expected of them”, the press office said.

      In his February 2023 email to Kalnaja, FRO head Grimheden urged her “send a message in the organisation that SIRs need to be issued when they become aware of possible fundamental rights situations – no excuses”.

      It is not clear from the documentation BIRN obtained whether Kalnaja, as acting Frontex head, responded to Grimheden’s email. She was replaced 12 days later when Hans Leijtens took on the leadership of Frontex as Leggeri’s successor.

      According to internal documents seen by BIRN, the issue of non-reporting of rights violations has been the subject of intense discussions within the Frontex Management Board, the agency’s main decision-making body, since at least September 2023.

      In January this year, the FRO issued a formal opinion on “addressing underreporting” to the Board, essentially flagging it as a serious issue beyond only Frontex operations in Albania.

      https://balkaninsight.com/2024/06/28/frontex-officers-failing-to-report-migrant-abuses-on-albania-greece-b

  • Migrazioni, nuovo accordo UE-Serbia
    https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Serbia/Migrazioni-nuovo-accordo-UE-Serbia-232455

    Nonostante le denunce di cattiva gestione dei flussi migratori e di violazioni dei diritti umani in Serbia, a fine giugno la Commissione europea ha siglato un nuovo accordo con Belgrado per rafforzare la cooperazione nel controllo delle migrazioni

  • Out of sight, out of mind : EU planning to offshore asylum applications ?

    In a letter sent to EU heads of state last month, European Commission president #Ursula_von_der_Leyen named 2024 “a landmark year for EU migration and asylum policy,” but noted that the agreement on new legislation “is not the end.” She went on to refer to the possibility of “tackling asylum applications further from the EU external border,” describing it as an idea “which will certainly deserve our attention.”

    “Safe havens”

    The idea of offshoring asylum applications has come in and out of vogue in Europe over the last two decades. In the early 2000s, a number of states wanted camps established in Albania and Ukraine, with the Blair government’s “safe haven” proposals providing an inspiration to other governments in the EU.

    The idea has come back with a bang in the last few years, with the UK attempting to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda (a plan now shelved), and EU governments noting their approval for similar schemes.

    Austria plays a key role in the externalisation of border and migration controls to the Balkans, and the country’s interior minister has called on the EU to introduce “asylum procedures in safe third countries,” referring to “a model that Denmark and Great Britain are also following.” Denmark adopted their own Rwanda plan, but that was suspended last year.

    “Innovative strategies”

    Now the idea has made it to the top of the EU’s political pyramid.

    “Many Member States are looking at innovative strategies to prevent irregular migration by tackling asylum applications further from the EU external border,” says von der Leyen’s letter (pdf).

    “There are ongoing reflections on ideas which will certainly deserve our attention when our next institutional cycle is under way,” it continues, suggesting that the intention is to get working on plans quickly from September onwards.

    The news comes just as almost 100 organisations, including Statewatch, have published a statement calling on EU institutions and member states to uphold the right to asylum in Europe, underlining that attempts to outsource asylum processing have caused “immeasurable human suffering and rights violations.”

    Von der Leyen goes on to indicate that the offshoring of asylum applications may be tacked onto existing migration control initiatives: “Building on experience with the emergency transit mechanisms or the 1:1, we can work upstream on migratory routes and ways of developing these models further.”

    The phrase “the 1:1” refers to the intended human trading scheme introduced by the 2016 EU-Turkey deal: “For every Syrian being returned to Turkey from Greek islands, another Syrian will be resettled from Turkey to the EU.” In a seven-year period, up to May 2023, fewer than 40,000 people were resettled under the scheme, while tens of thousands of people remained trapped in Greek camps awaiting their intended removal to Turkey.

    The current Commission president, who is soon likely to be elected for a second five-year term, goes on to say that the EU can “draw on the route-based approach being developed by UNHCR and IOM,” allowing the EU to “support the setting up of functioning national asylum systems in partner countries while strengthening our cooperation on returns to countries of origin.” In short: someone else should take care of the problem.

    These efforts will be bolstered by the new Asylum Procedure Regulation, says the letter, with the Commission considering “how to better work in synergy with future designated safe third countries.”

    “Hybrid attacks”

    The letter closes with a consideration of the use of so-called “hybrid attacks” by the EU’s geopolitical enemies.

    “When I was in Lappeenranta [in Finland] in April, it was clear that Russia’s actions at the border with Finland, or those of Belarus at the border with Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, are hybrid attacks aimed at undermining the security of our external borders, as well as that of the border regions and our citizens,” von der Leyen writes.

    The Commission president goes on to suggest that more legislation may be forthcoming on the topic, further reinforcing the security approach to migration, despite the EU having only just approved rules on the issue, where the term used is “instrumentalisation of migrants.”

    “We will therefore need to continue reflecting on strengthening the EU’s legal framework to provide for an appropriate response not only from a migration but also from a security perspective in line with the Treaties,” says the letter.

    The need for new legislation is also hinted at in the “strategic agenda” adopted by the European Council at the end of June, the same meeting to which von der Leyen’s letter was addressed.

    That document states the European Council’s intention to “find joint solutions to the security threat of instrumentalised migration.”

    As for the people targeted by all these initiatives, they are barely mentioned in the letter – but von der Leyen notes that the Commission is “conscious of the need… to enable durable solutions to be found for the migrants themselves.”

    It might be remarked, however, that “solutions” will likely only be considered “durable” to the EU if they are outside its territory.

    https://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/july/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-eu-planning-to-offshore-asylum-applications
    #lettre #migrations #asile #réfugiés #externalisation #frontières #safe_havens #ports_sûrs #Tony_Blair #Albanie #Rwanda #pays_tiers #pays_tiers_sûrs #Autriche #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #Danemark #innovations #accord_UE-Turquie #1:1 #IOM #OIM #HCR #hybrid_attacks #attaques_hybrides #géopolitique #Russie #Biélorussie #frontières_extérieures #instrumentalisation #menaces_sécuritaires

  • Bulgaria : Road to Schengen. Part One : the EU’s external border.

    On the 31st of March, Bulgaria - alongside Romania - joined Schengen as a partial member by air & sea. The inclusion of land crossings for full accession of these countries was blocked by an Austrian veto over concerns(1) that it would lead to an increase in people wanting to claim asylum in the EU.

    What is significant about Bulgaria becoming a Schengen member is that, what has been seen in the lead up, and what we will see following accession, is a new precedent of aggressively fortified borders set for the EU’s external Schengen borders. Which in turn may shape EU wide standards for border management.

    The EU’s external border between Bulgaria and Turkey has become infamous for a myriad of human rights violations and violence towards people who are forced to cross this border ‘illegally’. People continually face the violence of these crossings due to the lack of safe and legal routes allowing people to fulfill their right to seek asylum in Europe.

    In 2022 it was along this border that live ammunition(2) was first used against people seeking asylum in the EU. Shot by the Bulgarian authorities. In the same year it was reported(3) that people were illegally detained for up to 3 days in a cage-like structure attached to the police station in the border town of Sredets. It was also known that vehicles belonging to the European border force Frontex - who are responsible for border management and supposedly upholding fundamental rights - were present in the vicinity of the cages holding detained people.

    The EU’s illegal border management strategy of pushbacks are also well documented and commonplace along this border. Testimonies of pushbacks in this region are frequent and often violent. Within the past year Collective Aid has collected numerous testimonies from survivors of these actions of the state who describe(4) being stripped down to their underwear, beaten with batons and the butts of guns, robbed, and set on by dogs. Violence is clearly the systematic deterrence strategy of the EU.

    Similar violence occurs and is documented along Bulgaria’s northern border with Serbia. During an assessment of the camps in Sofia in March, outside of the Voenna Rampa facility, our team spoke to an Afghan man who, 6 months prior, was beaten so badly during a pushback that his leg was broken. Half a year later he was still using a crutch and was supported by his friends. Due to the ordeal, he had decided to try and claim asylum in Bulgaria instead of risking another border crossing.

    Despite the widespread and well documented violations of European and international law by an EU member state, at the beginning of March Bulgaria was rewarded(5) with its share of an 85 million Euro fund within a ‘cooperation framework on border and migration management’. The money within this framework specifically comes under the Border Management and Visa Instrument (BMVI) 2021 – 2027, designed to ‘enhance national capabilities at the EU external borders’. Within the instrument Bulgaria is able to apply for additional funding to extend or upgrade technology along its borders. This includes purchasing, developing, or upgrading equipment such as movement detection and thermo-vision cameras and vehicles with thermo-vision capabilities. It is the use of this border tech which enables and facilitates the illegal and violent practices which are well documented in Bulgaria.

    Close to the town of Dragoman along the northern border with Serbia, we came across an example of the kind of technology which used a controlled mounted camera that tracked the movement of our team. This piece of equipment was also purchased by the EU, and is used to track movement at the internal border.

    The cooperation framework also outlines(6) a roadmap where Frontex will increase its support of policing at Bulgaria’s border with Turkey. In late February, in the run up to Bulgaria becoming a Schengen member, on a visit to the border with Turkey, Hans Leijtens - Frontex’s executive director - announced(7) an additional 500 - 600 additional Frontex personnel would be sent to the border. Tripling the numbers already operational there.

    Meanwhile Frontex - who have been known(8) to conceal evidence of human rights violations - are again under scrutiny(9) for their lack of accountability in regards to the upholding of fundamental rights. Two days prior to the announcement of additional Frontex staff an investigation(10) by BIRN produced a report from a Frontex whistleblower further highlighting the common kinds of violence and rights violations which occur during pushbacks at this border. As well as the fact that Frontex officers were intentionally kept away from ‘hot spots’ where pushbacks are most frequent. The investigation underlines Frontex’s inability to address, or be held accountable for, human rights violations that occur on the EU’s external borders.

    The awarded money is the next step following a ‘successful’ pilot project for fast-track asylum and returns procedures which was started in March of the previous year. The project was implemented in the Pastrogor camp some 13km from the Turkish border which mostly houses people from the Maghreb region of northwest Africa. A 6 month project report(11) boasts a 60% rejection rate from around 2000 applicants. In line with the EU’s new migration pact, the project has a focus on returns whereby an amendment to national legislation has been prepared to allow a return decision to be made and delivered at the same time as an asylum rejection. As well as the launch of a voluntary return programme supported by the 2021-2027 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF). Through which cash incentives for voluntary returns will be increased across the board. These cash incentives are essentially an EU funded gaslighting project, questioning the decisions of people to leave their home countries based on their own survival and safety.

    Our team visited the former prison of the Pastrogor camp in March. Which at the time held only 16 people - some 5% of its 320 capacity.

    The implementation of this pilot project and the fortification of the border with Turkey have been deemed a success by the EU commision(12) who have praised both as indicators of Bulgaria’s readiness to join the Schengen area.

    Unsurprisingly, what we learn from Bulgaria’s accession to becoming a Schengen member is that the EU is not only deliberately ignoring Bulgaria’s dire human rights history in migration and border management. But, alongside the political and economic strengthening brought with Schengen accession, they are actively rewarding the results of such rights violations with exceptional funding that can sustain the state’s human rights infringements. All while the presence of Frontex validates the impunity enjoyed by Bulgaria’s violent border forces who show no respect for human rights law. In early April the European Commision gave a positive report(13) on the results from EU funding which support this border rife with fundamental rights abuses. In a hollow statement Bulgaria’s chief of border police stated: “we are showing zero tolerance to the violation of fundamental rights”.

    What the changes in border management strategies at the EU’s external border to Turkey- in light of Bulgaria’s entry to the Schengen - mean in reality is that people who are still forced to make the crossing do so at greater risk to themselves as they are forced deeper into both the hands of smuggling networks and into the dangerous Strandzha national park.

    The Strandzha national park straddles the Bulgarian-Turkish border. It is in this densely forested and mountainous area of land where people are known to often make the border crossing by foot. A treacherous journey often taking many days, and also known to have taken many lives - lighthouse reports identified 82 bodies of people on the move that have passed through three morgues in Bulgaria. Many of whom will have died on the Strandzha crossing.

    It is reported(14) that morgues in the towns of Burgas and Yambol - on the outskirts of the Strandzha national park - are having difficulty finding space due to the amount of deaths occurring in this area. So much so that a public prosecutor from Yambol explained this as the reason why people are being buried without identification in nameless graves, sometimes after only 4 days of storage. It is also reported that families who tried to find and identify the bodies of their deceased loved ones were forced to pay cash bribes to the Burgas morgue in order to do so.

    Through networks with families in home countries, NGOs based nearby make efforts to alert authorities and to respond to distress calls from people in danger within the Strandzha national park. However, the Bulgarian state makes these attempts nearly impossible through heavy militarisation and the associated criminalisation of being active in the area. It is the same militarisation that is supported with money from the EU’s ‘cooperation framework’. Due to these limitations even the bodies that make it to morgues in Bulgaria are likely to be only a percentage of the total death toll that is effectively sponsored by the EU.

    Local NGO Mission Wings stated(15) that in 2022 they received at most 12 distress calls, whereas in 2023 the NGO stopped counting at 70. This gives a clear correlation between increased funding to the fortification of the EU’s external border and the amount of lives put in danger.

    People are also forced to rely more on smuggling networks. Thus making the cost of seeking asylum greater, and the routes more hidden. When routes become more hidden and reliant on smuggling networks, it limits the interaction between people on the move and NGOs. In turn, testimonies of state violence and illegal practices cannot be collected and violations occur unchallenged. Smuggling networks rely on the use of vehicles, often driving packed cars, vans, and lorries at high speed through the country. Injuries and fatalities of people on the move from car crashes and suffocating are not infrequent in Bulgaria. Sadly, tragic incidents(16) like the deaths of 18 innocent people from Afghanistan in the back of an abandoned truck in February last year are likely only to increase.

    https://www.collectiveaidngo.org/blog/2024/5/3/bulgaria-road-to-schengen-part-one-the-eus-external-border
    #Bulgarie #frontières #Schengen #migrations #frontières_extérieures #asile #réfugiés #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #violence #Turquie #Sredets #encampement #Frontex #droits_humains #Serbie #Sofia #Voenna_Rampa #Border_Management_and_Visa_Instrument (#BMVI) #aide_financière #technologie #Dragoman #Pastrogor #camps_de_réfugiés #renvois #expulsions #retour_volontaire #Asylum_Migration_and_Integration_Fund (#AMIF) #Strandzha #Strandzha_national_park #forêt #montagne #Burgas #Yambol #mourir_aux_frontières #décès #morts_aux_frontières #identification #tombes #criminalisation_de_la_solidarité #morgue

    –-

    ajouté à ce fil de discussion :
    Europe’s Nameless Dead
    https://seenthis.net/messages/1029609

  • #Route_des_Balkans : les migrants noyés dans la Drina

    Des dizaines de migrants en route vers l’Union européenne meurent noyés chaque année dans les eaux froides de la #rivière #Drina entre la #Serbie et la #Bosnie et sont enterrés anonymement dans les cimetières voisins, où des activistes bénévoles tentent de leur donner une sépulture digne et de retrouver leurs proches sans nouvelles.

    https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/119298-000-A/route-des-balkans-les-migrants-noyes-dans-la-drina
    #Bosnie-Herzégovine #cimetière #mourir_aux_frontières #vidéo #reportage #morts_aux_frontières #Balkans #noyade #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #cimetière #Nihad_Suljic #Vidak_Simic #Bijeljina #anonymat #identification #autopsie #ADN #DNA

  • Slovenia, carceri sovraffollate di passeur della Rotta Balcanica. Sono quasi la metà

    Gli arresti compiuti nei confronti dei trafficanti di esseri umani, colloquialmente noti come passeur, sta generando un sovraffollamento delle carceri della Slovenia. La Rotta Balcanica e in generale l’immigrazione clandestina si ripercuote pertanto anche sul sistema carcerario sloveno; un problema noto a Trieste e in Friuli Venezia Giulia dove la mancanza di spazi e di condizioni adeguate per i detenuti costituiscono una problematica sollevata più volte dalle istituzioni attive nell’ambito.
    Le centinaia di arresti compiuti negli ultimi anni hanno portato a una saturazione delle carceri della Slovenia. Vi sono 1808 persone detenute in totale; in particolare “tutte le sezioni maschili sono sovraffollate” ha comunicato l’amministrazione slovena alla STA – Slovenian Press Agency.
    La situazione maggiormente grave è, qual è naturale, a Lubiana dove l’occupazione sfonda il 200%; a Maribor è del 171%, a Celje del 165%; il carcere di maggiori dimensioni in Slovenia, a Dob, ha un’occupazione pari al 128%.
    Sugli odierni 1808 carcerati, 850 figurano come cittadini stranieri implicati nella tratta di esseri umani.

    Vi è attualmente un nuovo carcere in via di costruzione a Dobrunje, a est di Lubiana, il cui completamento è previsto entro il 2025. Tuttavia, anche se venisse inaugurato in questi giorni, non risolverebbe il sovraffollamento odierno. In mancanza di alternative, similmente a quanto avviene in Italia, ci si limita a spostare i condannati di carcere in carcere; si sta inoltre valutando se ridurre o meno la durata della pena. Non migliora la situazione la carenza di personale addetto al sistema penitenziario; appena 550 addetti per gestire quasi duemila detenuti. Parte del personale penitenziario è inoltre prossimo alla pensione.
    Man mano che la Rotta Balcanica, col giungere della primavera -estate 2024, ritornerà a essere attiva il problema si ripresenterà tanto in Slovenia, quanto in Friuli Venezia Giulia, dove le difficoltà di gestione delle carceri costituiscono un argomento ricorrente.

    https://www.triesteallnews.it/2024/03/slovenia-carceri-sovraffollate-di-passeur-della-rotta-balcanica-sono-
    #Slovénie #criminalisation_de_la_migration #trafiquants #passeurs #asile #migrations #réfugiés #emprisonnement #prisons #frontière_sud-alpine #Balkans #route_des_Balkans

  • N.N. – No Name, No Nation, Not Necessary, No Noise
    https://www.meltingpot.org/2024/03/n-n-no-name-no-nation-not-necessary-no-noise

    di Diego Saccora, Lungo la rotta balcanica APS e Andrea Rizza Goldstein, Arci Bolzano-Bozen É a partire dalla fine del 2017 che il flusso delle persone in movimento per le rotte dei Balcani ha cominciato a interessare in maniera sempre più consistente la Bosnia-Erzegovina. Se all’inizio del 2018 la via di accesso principale passava dal Montenegro e prima ancora dalla Grecia e dall’Albania, già qualche segnale di quella che sarebbe poi diventata la via più utilizzata dal 2019 lo si registrava lungo le rive del fiume Drina, al confine tra Serbia e Bosnia-Erzegovina. Uno degli indicatori di questi attraversamenti, (...)

    #Notizie #Confini_e_frontiere #Redazione

  • Migration : à la frontière bosno-croate, le rêve européen brisé par les #violences_policières

    A la frontière bosno-croate, porte d’entrée vers l’Union européenne, les violences des garde-frontières croates sur les personnes tentant de traverser se multiplient et s’intensifient. Des violences physiques qui marquent les corps et les esprits des migrants qui les subissent et qui transforment le rêve européen de ces hommes, femmes et enfants en cauchemar continu dans l’attente d’une vie meilleure à l’ouest. Notre collègue Ugo Santkin, journaliste au pôle international $s’est rendu sur place, sur cette frontière bosno-croate qui cristallise la politique migratoire sécuritaire de l’Union européenne. Il revient avec nous sur la situation et sur les témoignages qu’il a recueillis.

    https://www.lesoir.be/571804/article/2024-03-01/migration-la-frontiere-bosno-croate-le-reve-europeen-brise-par-les-violences

    Pour écouter le podcast :
    https://podcasts.lesoir.be/main/pub/podcast/539480

    #migrations #frontières #Bosnie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Croatie #violence #réfugiés #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #gardes-frontières #podcast #audio

  • Rotta balcanica: i sogni spezzati nella Drina
    https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Bosnia-Erzegovina/Rotta-balcanica-i-sogni-spezzati-nella-Drina-229948

    Nelle acque del fiume Drina, in Bosnia Erzegovina, decine di migranti sono morti nel tentativo di avvicinarsi al sogno di una vita migliore in quell’Europa che li respinge. Volontari del Soccorso alpino di Bijeljina e attivisti sono impegnati nel difficile recupero dei corpi

    • Rotta balcanica : i sogni spezzati nella Drina

      Nelle acque del fiume Drina, in Bosnia Erzegovina, decine di migranti sono morti nel tentativo di avvicinarsi al sogno di una vita migliore in quell’Europa che li respinge. Volontari del Soccorso alpino di Bijeljina e attivisti sono impegnati nel difficile recupero dei corpi.

      “Finora non mi è mai capitato di sognare uno dei corpi ritrovati, non ho mai avuto incubi. Proprio mai. Credo sia una questione di approccio. Soltanto chi non ha la coscienza pulita fa incubi”, afferma Nenad Jovanović, 37 anni, membro della squadra del Soccorso alpino di Bijeljina.

      Negli ultimi sei anni, Jovanović ha partecipato alle operazioni di recupero di oltre cinquanta corpi di migranti nell’area che si estende dal villaggio di Branjevo alla foce del fiume Drina [nella Bosnia orientale], tutti di età inferiore ai quarant’anni, annegati nel tentativo di entrare in Bosnia Erzegovina dalla Serbia, per poi proseguire il loro viaggio verso altri paesi europei, in cerca di un posto sicuro per sé e per i propri familiari.

      “Ogni volta che scoppia un nuovo conflitto in Medio Oriente, in Afghanistan, Iraq o altrove, assistiamo ad un aumento degli arrivi di migranti in cerca di salvezza nei paesi dell’Unione europea. Purtroppo, per alcuni di loro la Drina si rivela un ostacolo insormontabile. Il loro è un destino doloroso che può capitare a chiunque”, spiega Nenad Jovanović.

      Durante le operazioni di recupero dei corpi, Jovanović più volte è stato costretto a gettarsi nel fiume in piena, rischiando la propria vita.

      “Recentemente abbiamo recuperato il corpo di un uomo proveniente dall’Afghanistan. Era in acqua da circa un anno. I pescatori che per primi lo avevano notato non erano nemmeno sicuri che si trattasse di un corpo umano. Potete immaginare lo stato in cui si trovava”, afferma Jovanović.

      Un suo collega, Miroslav Vujanović, si sofferma sull’aspetto umano del lavoro del soccorritore. “A prescindere dallo stato di decomposizione, cerchiamo in tutti in modi possibili di recuperare il corpo nelle condizioni in cui lo troviamo. Nulla deve essere perso, nemmeno i vestiti. Perché siamo tutti esseri umani. Nel momento del recupero di un corpo magari non pensi alla sua identità, cerchi di fare il tuo lavoro in modo professionale e basta. Poi però quando torni a casa e vedi tua moglie e i figli, inizi a chiederti chi fosse quell’uomo e se anche lui avesse una famiglia. È del tutto normale riflettere su queste cose. Sono però pensieri intimi, che tendiamo a tenere dentro”.

      I volontari del Soccorso alpino di Bijeljina hanno partecipato anche alle operazioni di ricerca e assistenza alle popolazioni colpite dal terremoto nella regione di Banovina (in Croazia) nel 2020 e alle vittime del terremoto che l’anno scorso ha devastato la Turchia. In tutte queste operazioni sono stati costretti ad utilizzare le attrezzature prese in prestito o noleggiate, perché le autorità locali non rispettano gli accordi di cooperazione stipulati con altri paesi. Del resto, la Bosnia Erzegovina è il paese delle assurdità. Lo confermano anche i nostri interlocutori, aggiungendo che a volte si sentono incompresi anche dai loro familiari.

      “Mia moglie spesso si chiede come io possa fare questo lavoro. Oppure invito ospiti a casa per la celebrazione del santo della famiglia, e proprio quando stiamo per tagliare il pane tradizionale, mi chiama la polizia dicendo di aver trovato un cadavere nella Drina. Quindi, mi scuso con gli ospiti, chiedo loro di rimanere e vado a fare il mio lavoro. Non è un lavoro facile, ma per me la più grande soddisfazione è sapere che quel corpo recuperato sarà sepolto degnamente e che la famiglia della vittima, straziata dalla sofferenza, finalmente troverà pace”, spiega Nenad Jovanović.

      Recentemente, Jovanović, insieme ai suoi colleghi Miroslav Vujanović e Safet Omerbegić, ha partecipato ad una cerimonia di commemorazione in memoria dei migranti scomparsi e morti ai confini d’Europa. In quell’occasione sono state inaugurate le lapidi delle tombe dei sedici migranti sepolti nel nuovo cimitero di Bijeljina, situato nel quartiere di Hase. Trattandosi di corpi non identificati, ciascuna delle lastre in marmo nero reca incise, a caratteri dorati, la sigla N.N e l’anno della morte.

      Nel cimitero è stato piantato anche un filare di alberi in memoria delle vittime e sono state collocate due targhe commemorative con la scritta: “Non dimenticheremo mai voi e i vostri sogni spezzati nella Drina”. L’iniziativa è stata realizzata grazie al sostegno dell’associazione austriaca «SOS Balkanroute» e di Nihad Suljić, attivista di Tuzla, che da anni fornisce assistenza concreta ai rifugiati e partecipa alle procedure di identificazione e sepoltura dei morti.

      “Per noi è un grande onore e privilegio sostenere simili progetti. Si tratta di un’iniziativa pionieristica che può fungere da modello per l’intera regione. Per quanto possa sembrare paradossale, siamo contenti che queste persone, a differenza di tante altre, abbiano almeno una tomba. Abbiamo voluto che le loro tombe fossero dignitose e che non venissero lasciate al degrado, come accaduto recentemente a Zvornik”, sottolinea Petar Rosandić dell’associazione SOS Balkanroute.

      Rosandić spiega che la sistemazione delle tombe dei migranti nei cimiteri di Bijeljina e Zvornik è frutto di un’iniziativa di cooperazione transfrontaliera a cui hanno partecipato anche le comunità religiose di Vienna. Queste comunità, che durante la Seconda guerra mondiale erano impegnate nel salvataggio degli ebrei, oggi partecipano a diversi progetti a sostegno dei migranti lungo le frontiere esterne dell’UE.

      “Sulle lastre c’è scritto che si tratta di persone non identificate, ma noi sappiano che in ogni tomba giace il corpo di un giovane uomo i cui sogni si sono spezzati nella Drina. Ognuno di loro aveva una famiglia, un passato, i propri desideri e le proprie aspirazioni. Il loro unico peccato, secondo gli standard europei, era quello di avere un passaporto sbagliato, quindi sono stati costretti a intraprendere strade pericolose per raggiungere i luoghi dove speravano di trovare serenità e un futuro migliore”, afferma l’attivista Nihad Suljić.

      Suljić poi spiega che nel prossimo periodo i ricercatori e gli attivisti si impegneranno al massimo per instaurare una collaborazione con diverse istituzioni e organizzazioni. L’obiettivo è quello di identificare le persone sepolte in modo da restituire loro un’identità e permettere alle loro famiglie di avviare un processo di lutto.

      “Questi monumenti neri sono le colonne della vergogna dell’Unione europea – commenta Suljić - non è stata la Drina a uccidere queste persone, bensì la politica delle frontiere chiuse. Se avessero avuto un altro modo per raggiungere un posto sicuro dove costruire una vita migliore, sicuramente non sarebbero andati in cerca di pace attraversando mari, fiumi e fili spinati. Le loro tombe testimonieranno per sempre la vergogna e il regime criminale dell’UE”.

      Suljić ha invitato i cittadini dell’UE che hanno partecipato alla cerimonia di commemorazione a Bijeljina a chiamare i governi dei loro paesi ad assumersi la propria responsabilità.

      “Non abbiamo bisogno di donazioni né di corone di fiori. Vi invito però a inviare un messaggio ai vostri governi, a tutti i responsabili dell’attuazione di queste politiche, per spiegare loro le conseguenze delle frontiere chiuse, frontiere che uccidono gli esseri umani, ma anche i valori europei”.

      Dalla chiusura del corridoio sicuro lungo la rotta balcanica [nel 2015], nell’area di Bijeljina, Zvornik e Bratunac sono stati ritrovati circa sessanta corpi di migranti annegati nel fiume Drina. Stando ai dati raccolti da un gruppo di attivisti e ricercatori, nel periodo compreso tra gennaio 2014 e dicembre 2023 lungo il tratto della rotta balcanica che include sei paesi (Macedonia del Nord, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia Erzegovina, Croazia e Slovenia) hanno perso la vita 346 persone in movimento. Trattandosi di dati reperiti da fonti pubbliche, i ricercatori sottolineano che il numero effettivo di vittime con ogni probabilità è molto più alto. In molti casi, la tragica sorte dei migranti è direttamente legata ai respingimenti effettuati dalle autorità locali e dai membri dell’agenzia Frontex.

      “La morte alle frontiere è ormai parte integrante di un regime di controllo che alcuni autori definiscono un crimine in tempo di pace, una forma di violenza amministrativa e istituzionale finalizzata a mantenere in vita un determinato ordine sociale. Molte persone morte ai confini restano invisibili, come sono invisibili anche le persone scomparse. I decessi e le sparizioni spesso non vengono denunciati, e alcuni corpi non vengono mai ritrovati”, spiega Marijana Hameršak, ricercatrice dell’Istituto di etnologia e studi sul folklore di Zagabria, responsabile di un progetto sui meccanismi di gestione dei flussi migratori alle periferie dell’UE.

      In assenza di un database regionale e di iniziative di cooperazione transfrontaliera, sono i volontari e gli attivisti a portare avanti le azioni di ricerca di persone scomparse e i tentativi di identificazione dei corpi. Al termine della cerimonia di commemorazione, a Bijeljina si è tenuta una conferenza per discutere di questo tema.

      “Molte famiglie non sanno a chi rivolgersi, non hanno mai ricevuto indicazioni chiare. Finora le istituzioni non hanno mai voluto impegnarsi su questo fronte. Spero che a breve ognuno si assuma la propria responsabilità e faccia il proprio lavoro, perché non è normale che noi, attivisti e volontari, portiamo avanti questo processo”, denuncia Nihad Suljić.

      A dare un contributo fondamentale è anche Vidak Simić, patologo ed esperto forense di Bijeljina. Dal 2016 Simić ha eseguito l’autopsia e prelevato un campione di DNA di circa quaranta corpi di migranti, per la maggior parte rinvenuti nel fiume Drina.

      “Questa vicenda mi opprime, non mi sento bene perché non riesco a portare a termine il mio lavoro. Credo profondamente nel giuramento di Ippocrate e lo rispetto. Le leggi e altre norme mi obbligano a conservare i campioni per sei mesi, ho deciso però di conservarli per tutto il tempo necessario, in attesa che il sistema venga cambiato. La mia idea è di raccogliere tutti questi campioni, creare profili genetici individuali, pubblicarli su un sito appositamente creato in modo da aiutare le famiglie – in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Algeria, Marocco e in altri paesi – che cercano i loro cari scomparsi.

      Lo auspicano anche il padre, la madre, la sorella e i fratelli di Aziz Alimi, vent’anni, proveniente dall’Afghanistan, che nel settembre dello scorso anno, nel tentativo di raggiungere la Bosnia Erzegovina dalla Serbia, aveva deciso di attraversare la Drina a nuoto con altri tre ragazzi. Poco dopo la sua scomparsa, nello stesso luogo da dove Aziz per l’ultima volta aveva contattato uno dei suoi fratelli, è stato ritrovato un corpo.

      Dal momento che non è stato possibile identificare il corpo per via del pessimo stato in cui si trovava, i familiari di Aziz, che nel frattempo hanno trovato rifugio in Iran, hanno inviato un campione del suo DNA in Bosnia Erzegovina. Ripongono fiducia nelle istituzioni e nei cittadini bosniaco-erzegovesi per garantire ad Aziz almeno una sepoltura dignitosa.

      Ai presenti alla conferenza di Bijeljina si è rivolta anche la sorella di Aziz, Zahra Alimi, intervenuta con un videomessaggio. “Non abbiamo parenti in Europa che possano aiutarci e davvero non sappiamo cosa fare. Per favore aiutateci, nostro padre è affetto da un tumore e nostra madre ha sofferto molto dopo aver appreso la triste notizia [della scomparsa di Aziz]. Possiamo contare solo su di voi”.

      https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/aree/Bosnia-Erzegovina/Rotta-balcanica-i-sogni-spezzati-nella-Drina-229948
      #route_des_Balkans #Balkans #rivière #Bosnie-Hezégovine #migrations #réfugiés #mourir_aux_frontières #morts_aux_frontières #Bijeljina #Branjevo #Nenad_Jovanović #Nenad_Jovanovic #Serbie #frontières #commémoration #mémoire #cimetière #tombes #SOS_Balkanroute #Nihad_Suljić #Nihad_Suljic #dignité #monument #responsabilité

  • En Serbie, rendre invisibles les exilés

    La Serbie est le dernier pays non-membre de l’Union européenne de la route des Balkans. Traversée depuis des siècles, elle l’est aujourd’hui encore par de nombreux étrangers venus de Syrie, d’Afghanistan, de Turquie, même du Maroc… Car la Serbie reste le dernier rempart de la forteresse Europe. Ce petit pays de presque 7 millions d’habitants, entouré de huit frontières dont quatre avec l’Union européenne, applique une politique migratoire orchestrée par celle-ci.

    En effet, la Serbie demande son adhésion depuis plus de dix ans.

    Depuis le mois de décembre, après un contexte politique tendu, ce pays de transit tente de rendre invisibles les exilés, déjà soumis aux passeurs et aux lois en matière d’asile et d’immigration. En plein cœur de l’hiver, reportage entre Belgrade et la frontière croate de l’Europe.

    https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/grand-reportage/20240219-en-serbie-rendre-invisibles-les-exil%C3%A9s

    #emprisonnement #Serbie #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Belgrade #route_des_Balkans #Balkans #squat #opération_policière #peur #sécurité #insécurité #Sid #Šid #frontières #Croatie #transit #invisibilisation #Frontex #passeurs #frontières_extérieures #externalisation #visas #camps #solidarité #camps_de_réfugiés #refoulements #push-backs #migration_circulaire #game #the_game
    #audio #podcast

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina opened Negotiations on the Cooperation Agreement with FRONTEX

    By starting the negotiations on the Agreement with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina fulfilled another of their obligations on the European road today.

    Along with the representatives of the BiH team for negotiations on the cooperation agreement with FRONTEX, the meeting that officially started this process was attended by the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina Nenad Nešić and the Deputy Director General for Internal Affairs at the European Commission Oliver Onidi.

    After the establishment of operational cooperation with EUROPOL, this agreement is the next important step for BiH in the integration into the common European security area, the Ministry of Security of BiH announced.

    “Today we will start a process that will not mean cooperation with a single European institution for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but a confirmation that we are part of common and collective European security. I want to emphasize that our activities are aimed at eliminating threats and risks, primarily from organized crime that threatens development and economic stability of BiH, and increasing security for the citizens of BiH. FRONTEX will add a new dimension in this regard, strengthening our borders and their impermeability to security threats and organized crime in this dynamic time of migration as a serious source of all kinds of risks,” said Nešić.

    He emphasized that FRONTEX is a confirmation that BiH is a complicated country only when it needs an excuse not to do something, and that it is very functional and possible within its constitutional framework and the framework of the Dayton Agreement when they want to move things forward.

    Nešić wished the negotiating teams to effectively bring this work to an end, so that BiH would cease to be the only country in the Western Balkans that does not cooperate with FRONTEX.

    The Deputy General Director for Internal Affairs at the European Commission, Oliver Onidi, reminded that last year BiH made a big step by establishing full operational cooperation with EUROPOL, and that negotiations on cooperation with FRONTEX are also ahead of us.

    He emphasized that in a situation where there is an exceptional pressure of illegal migration, police cooperation and joint action in guarding and controlling borders is extremely important.

    https://sarajevotimes.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina-opened-negotiations-on-the-cooperation-agreeme

    #Bosnie #Bosnie-Hezégovine #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Frontex #accord #EUROPOL #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #frontières #contrôles_frontaliers

  • Bosnian refugee camp #Lipa: Dispute over “Austrian Guantanamo”

    20 governments participate in the Vienna #ICMPD and finance or receive its activities. The ÖVP-affiliated organisation handles migration control for the EU.

    Every year, the EU spends hundreds of millions of euros to manage and counter migration in third countries. Every year, the EU spends hundreds of millions of euros to manage and fight migration to third countries. Most of the money comes from three different funds and goes to the countries themselves or to EU members who award contracts to companies or institutes for implementing the measures. The International Organisation for Migration (#IOM) also receives such EU funding for migration control.

    One of the private organisations contracted to deliver EU measures is the #International_Centre_for_Migration_Policy_Development (ICMPD), founded in 1993 and based in Vienna. It is headed by the conservative Austrian ex-vice chancellor and former Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) leader Michael Spindelegger. The 20 members include states such as Turkey, Serbia or Bosnia-Herzegovina and, since 2020, also Germany. Many of the ICMPD’s measures are funded from Austria, a parliamentary question by the Greens revealed.

    Now the centre is to draft proposals for “EU migration partnerships”, in which third countries receive benefits if they take back deportees from EU states. With a similar aim, the ICMPD is implementing a “regional return mechanism for the Western Balkans”. The states are supported in carrying out deportations themselves. The German government has funded this initiative with €3.2 million in 2020 and calls it “migration management”.

    On behalf of the Ministry of the Interior, the ICMPD is also involved in the construction of a “Temporary Detention Centre” in the newly built Bosnian refugee camp Lipa and received €500,000 from the EU Commission for this purpose. This is documented in an EU document published on Friday by the German organisation Frag den Staat as part of a research on the ICMPD. The camp is run by the IOM, and Germany is supporting its construction through the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) with €1 million for a canteen.

    The purpose of the camp in Lipa had been unequivocally explained by Oliver Várhelyi, the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, who comes from Hungary. “We need to keep our detention facilities in Lipa and the region under control, meaning that the fake asylum-seekers must be detained until they return to their countries of origin. Again, we will replicate this project in other countries of the region”, said the EU Commissioner.

    “A high fence, cameras at every step, windows with prison bars and almost no daylight in the cells,” is how the organisation SOS-Balkanroute, which is active in Austria, described everyday life there and titled it in a press release “This is what the Austrian Guantanamo in Bosnia looks like”.

    The ICMPD feels attacked by this. The organisation was “of course not involved in the construction of detention cells or similar”, a spokesperson initially claimed in response to an enquiry by the APA agency. However, ICMPD head Spindelegger rowed back shortly afterwards and explained in the programme “Zeit im Bild” that his organisation was responsible for the construction of a “secured area for a maximum of twelve persons”. According to Bosnia’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, this was a “room for the short-term internment of migrants”.

    Despite its denial, the ICMPD is now taking action against SOS Balkanroute and its founder Petar Rosandić and has filed a lawsuit for “credit damage” at the Vienna Commercial Court because of the designation “Austrian Guantanamo”. “Our only concern is to stop the continued false allegations,” an ICMPD spokesperson explained, including that the organisation was pushing the suffering of people.

    This is an attempt at political intimidation, “the kind of which we are used to seeing in Hungary, Russia or Serbia”, said Rosandić, the NGO’s founder, commenting on the complaint. The Green member of the National Council Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic feels reminded of “conditions under Orban in Hungary” and expects “the necessary consequences” from other ICMPD signatory states. Germany does not want to hear about this. The Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Berlin let a deadline of several days set by “nd” for comment pass without response.

    https://digit.site36.net/2023/05/22/bosnian-refugee-camp-lipa-dispute-over-austrian-guantanamo

    #OIM #asile #migrations #réfugiés #camps #encampement #Bosnie #Balkans #route_des_Balkans #Bosnie-Herzégovine #camps_de_réfugiés

  • Dr Ivan Balev (1900-1981)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/dr-ivan-balev-1900-1981

    Né à Pavel-Bania, le 27 mars 1900, d’une famille paysanne modeste, Ivan Balev fit ses études secondaires à Kazanlik, chef-lieu d’un district où l’influence libertaire était particulièrement forte, et il adhéra au mouvement anarchiste. Ensuite, il se rendit à Vienne (Autriche) pour étudier la médecine, et se spécialisa à Paris de 1926 à 1931. D’une excellente santé, doué d’une grande capacité de travail et d’assimilation rapide des idées, il acquit une large culture générale. Comme (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en #Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / Dr Ivan Balev , Paraskev Stoyanov , #FACB, Bulgarie, Volonté (...)

    #Balkanski #Dr_Ivan_Balev_ #Paraskev_Stoyanov_ #Volonté_Anarchiste

  • Boris Yanev (1900-1957)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/boris-yanev-1900-1957

    Abordant l’une des dernières de ces esquisses biographiques, la main de l’auteur tremble d’émotion en pensant que vingt-trois ans se sont écoulés depuis la mort de ce militant, sans annoncer cette grande perte pour le mouvement, afin de préserver la sécurité de ses proches. C’était une nécessité qui nous imposait ce silence. Né à Pazardjik, en novembre 1900, Boris Yanev fréquenta l’école primaire et le lycée de sa ville natale et fit, par la suite, ses études supérieures d’ingénieur (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en #Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / #Vassil_Ikonomov, #UAB, #Volonté_Anarchiste, (...)

    #Balkanski

  • Dimitar Panov (1906-1948)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/dimitar-panov-1906-1948

    Le seul critique littéraire de grande valeur du mouvement libertaire bulgare : disparu, malheureusement, très jeune. Né en 1906 en #Bulgarie du Nord, dans une région où les souvenirs de Varban Kilifarski demeuraient encore vifs. #Dimitar_Panov_adhéra au mouvement libertaire de bonne heure. Comme étudiant à Sofia, il collabora très régulièrement à l’hebdomadaire littéraire Pensée et Volonté dans lequel ses articles se firent remarquer, attirant l’attention de tous les écrivains qui (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / Dimitar Panov , #Volonté_Anarchiste, Bulgarie

    #Balkanski

  • #Pano_Vassilev (1901-1933)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/pano-vassilev-1901-1933

    Si le nom et l’oeuvre de Manol Vassev incarnent le militant syndicaliste de l’anarcho-syndicalisme bulgare, c’est Pano Vassilev qui représente l’anarcho-syndicalisme comme tendance de l’anarchisme en #Bulgarie, introduite par lui, vers les années 1926. Né le 17 octobre 1901, à Lovetch, d’une famille de petits artisans (son père était courroyeur-sellier). Il embrassa les idées libertaires au lycée de sa ville natale. Cherchant des aventures, comme beaucoup de jeunes, après la Première (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / #Volonté_Anarchiste, Bulgarie, Pano (...)

    #Balkanski
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/IMG/pdf/idee-soviet-sn-2.pdf

  • #Todor_Baklarov (1899-1969)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/todor-baklarov-1899-1969

    Un cas particulier, unique par ses dimensions, dans le mouvement libertaire bulgare. Si de terroriste, au début, Georges Cheïtanov, finit son évolution spirituelle par sous-estimer, sinon par réfuter catégoriquement le terrorisme en tant que moyen de rapprochement vers la transformation radicale de la société, en le remplaçant par une vaste activité sociale des masses populaires (et non par seulement ouvrières), l’unique voie aboutissant à l’entière libération sociale, ce fut le résultat (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en #Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / Todor Baklarov, Bulgarie, Volonté (...)

    #Balkanski #Volonté_Anarchiste

  • Manol Vassev (1898-1958)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/manol-vassev-1898-1958

    Biographiquement, un cas exceptionnel se présente ici, unique en #Bulgarie et peut-être dans le monde. Il s’agit d’un militant ouvrier très actif, connu également sous deux noms différents, comme s’il s’agissait de deux personnes distinctes : Jordan Sotirov, le vrai nom de naissance et Manol Vassev, nom d’emprunt d’un réfugié de la Thrace. Et dans les deux cas, c’est une grande figure de militant ouvrier syndicaliste et de remarquable tribun populaire. Jordan Sotirov est né à Kustendil, (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski


    / Manol Vassev , #Volonté_Anarchiste, (...)

    #Balkanski #Manol_Vassev_

  • Decoding #Balkandac : Navigating the EU’s Biometric Blueprint

    This report, authored by the Border Violence Monitoring Network with support from Privacy International, investigates the development of interoperable biometric databases, akin to Eurodac, in the Western Balkans, referred to as the “Balkandac” system. It highlights a lack of transparency in current regional data-sharing systems and underscores the significant role of EU institutions in their creation.

    The report employs a comprehensive methodology, combining grassroots observations, open-source research, and Freedom of Information Requests (FOI) submissions to address human rights violations.

    This report aims to contextualise recent developments towards the digitalisation of biometric data collection in the Western Balkans into wider shifts in migration policy and data-sharing frameworks at the EU level. In order to achieve this, the report first unpacks the key regulations envisioned under the EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum and how these are envisioned to operate within EU Member States. Collectively, they establish a system whereby people on the move are prevented from entering the territory of Member States, subjected to expedited procedures, and returned directly to “safe third countries”. This manifests as a legalisation of the pushback process; individual claims will undergo insufficient scrutiny within compressed timeframes and procedural rights, such as access to free legal aid and the suspensive effect of appeals against inadmissabiliy decisions, are not yet guaranteed at the time of writing. These legal shifts unequivocally obstruct access to the right to asylum within the new regulatory framework.

    A key ongoing development in this line is the development of biometric data collection systems that are modelled off the EURODAC system, allowing for seamless interoperability in the future. Funding from the EU’s Instruments for Pre-Accession Assistance and bilateral agreements with Member States have supported these data systems in the Western Balkans, mirroring Eurodac. Critiques arise from increased interoperability of EU databases, which blur immigration and criminal law purposes, lack anti-discrimination safeguards, and bypass key data protection principles.

    The core issue lies in the balance between personal data protection and fundamental rights, contrasted with the use of biometric systems for mass surveillance and data analysis. The report emphasizes the merging of migration and security discourses, underscoring the potential for unjust criminalisation of migrants, making it harder for them to seek asylum and international protection.

    https://borderviolence.eu/reports/balkandac
    #biométrie #Balkans #rapport #Border_Violence_Monitoring_Network (#BVMN) #interopérabilité #données #base_de_données #Balkans_occidentaux #données_biométriques #pacte_européen_sur_la_migration_et_l’asile #migrations #asile #réfugiés #frontières #pays-tiers_sûrs #accès_à_l'asile #eurodac #Instruments_for_Pre-Accession_Assistance #droits_fondamentaux

  • Georges Getchev (1897-1965)
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/georges-getchev-1897-1965

    Poète révolutionnaire, écrivain et publiciste, #Georges_Getchev_fut l’un des meilleurs traducteurs de littérature d’art de russe et de français. Par son oeuvre remarquable de traducteur et de publiciste, il contribua grandement à l’enrichissement de la culture du pays, en dehors de son apport à la propagande anarchiste. Getchev est né le 20 avril 1897 à Haskovo, d’une famille de petits artisans. Il fit ses études primaires et secondaires dans sa ville natale et ses études supérieures à (...) 16-17 - Histoire du mouvement libertaire en #Bulgarie (Esquisse) - G. Balkanski

    / #FACB, Georges Getchev , Bulgarie, Volonté (...)

    #Balkanski #Volonté_Anarchiste
    https://www.partage-noir.fr/IMG/pdf/cc_128.pdf