#birn

Comment les #passeurs profitent des politiques migratoires restrictives dans les #Balkans

Les #réseaux_criminels étendent leur mainmise sur la route migratoire des Balkans. De plus en plus de passeurs parviennent à exploiter les politiques frontalières de l’Union européenne.

Dans les zones frontalières de la #Serbie, de la #Bosnie et de la #Hongrie, la dynamique migratoire est en constante évolution. Alors que les camps de détention aux frontières ont été fermés et que les politiques frontalières de l’Union européenne (UE) deviennent de plus en plus restrictives, les migrants empruntent des itinéraires toujours plus dangereux, contrôlés par des réseaux de trafic toujours plus sophistiqués.

C’est le constat fait par de nombreuses ONG qui travaillent avec les migrants le long de ces itinéraires.

Milica Svabic, de l’organisation KlikAktiv, une ONG serbe qui développe des politiques sociales, explique que « malheureusement, de plus en plus de migrants ont fait état d’#enlèvements, d’#extorsions et d’autres formes d’#abus de la part de passeurs et de groupes criminels ces derniers mois. »

Selon elle, des groupes de passeurs afghans opèrent actuellement aux frontières de la Serbie avec la Bosnie et la Hongrie. #KlikAktiv a ainsi recueilli des témoignages d’abus commis aux deux frontières.

Le paysage changeant des réseaux de passeurs

En Serbie, ces changements sont frappants. Les camps de fortune ont disparu des zones frontalières. Désormais, les personnes migrantes se retrouvent cachées dans des #appartements_privés dans les centres urbains et ne se déplacent plus que la nuit.

Les bandes criminelles afghanes et des réseaux locaux ont pris le contrôle à travers une #logistique complexe, clandestine et dangereuse.

Milica Svabic a expliqué à InfoMigrants que son organisation a également documenté « des cas de migrants enlevés et retenus dans des lieux isolés (généralement des logements privés) jusqu’à ce que leur famille paie une #rançon pour leur libération ». Elle précise que cette rançon s’élève souvent à plusieurs milliers d’euros.

La plateforme d’investigation Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, le #BIRN, a récemment documenté comment des membres du #BWK, un gang afghan notoire opérant en Bosnie, ont retenu des demandeurs d’asile en otage dans des camps en pleine #forêt, en exigeant des rançons de leurs proches, tout en les soumettant à d’horribles #sévices, y compris des #viols et de la #torture. Ces #agressions sont parfois filmées et envoyées aux familles comme preuve de vie et moyen de pression.

Rados Djurovic, directeur de l’ONG serbe #Asylum_Protection_Center, confirme que les passeurs ont recours à des #appartements et d’autres lieux tenus secrets dans les grandes #villes pour y cacher des migrants, les maltraiter et organiser le passage des frontières.

« Ces opérations sont devenues de plus en plus violentes, les passeurs ayant recours à la force pour imposer leur contrôle et obtenir des #pots-de-vin. Ils enlèvent des personnes, les retiennent dans ces appartements et extorquent de l’argent à leurs familles à l’étranger », ajoute-t-il.

D’autres groupes de défense des droits humains et des experts en migration rapportent des cas similaires.

Un rapport du #Mixed_Migration_Center (MMC) relate des témoignages de #vol, de #violence_physique et d’extorsion. Roberto Forin, du MMC, souligne toutefois que « le rapport n’identifie pas spécifiquement les groupes armés d’origine afghane comme étant les auteurs de ces actes ».

L’impact des politiques frontalières et des #refoulements

Le renforcement des mesures de sécurité le long des frontières expliquerait en partie cette évolution.

Un porte-parole du Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) explique que « l’apparition de ces groupes est simplement la conséquence de la sécurisation croissante des régions frontalières dans toute l’Europe. Alors que les politiques frontalières européennes déploient des méthodes de plus en plus violentes pour empêcher la migration, les migrants n’ont d’autre choix que de recourir à des méthodes informelles pour franchir les frontières ».

Ce point de vue est partage par le Mixed Migration Center.

Le réseau BVMN ajoute qu’en fin de compte, « ce sont les personnes en déplacement qui sont les plus touchées par la violence que ce soit de la part des autorités publiques ou des groupes qui prétendent les aider dans leur périple ».

Roberto Forin du MMC prévient que « la violence et les restrictions aux frontières exacerbent la #vulnérabilité des migrants à l’#exploitation et aux abus ».

Rados Djurovic du Asylum Protection Center souligne également le « lien direct entre les pratiques de refoulement à la frontière hongroise et l’augmentation du trafic de migrants, tant en termes d’ampleur que de violence ».

« Par peur des refoulements et de la violence, les migrants évitent les institutions et les autorités de l’État et font confiance aux passeurs, qui exploitent souvent cette confiance », ajoute Milica Svabic, de KlikAktiv.

Les Etats concernés dans une forme de #déni

Le rapport du BIRN montre que des membres du #gang afghan BWK possèdent des documents d’identité délivrés par l’UE sur la base du statut de protection qui leur aurait été accordé par l’Italie.

Selon le BIRN, certains membres du gang pourraient avoir utilisé ces documents pour franchir sans encombres les frontières dans les Balkans et échapper aux autorités. Contacté par InfoMigrants, les autorités italiennes ont refusé de commenter ces allégations.

Plus largement, les Etats concernés par des accusations de refoulement ou de négligence le long de leurs frontières nient avec véhémence toute #responsabilité. Cette posture pourrait encourager un sentiment d’#impunité chez les passeurs.

Les migrants se retrouvent ainsi dans un cercle vicieux. Des demandeurs d’asile déclarent avoir été battus par des forces de l’ordre. Ils se retrouvent ensuite aux mains de #bandes_criminelles qui les soumettent à d’autres #traitements_inhumains.

Lawrence Jabs, chercheur à l’université de Bologne, affirme dans l’enquête du BIRN qu’il existe « un lien certain entre les refoulements et les prises d’otages ».

Les conclusions du BIRN mettent en lumière un problème plus général dans les Balkans : le #crime_organisé prospère dans les régions où l’application de la loi est violente et où l’obligation de rendre des comptes semble absente. Dans certains cas, des membres du BWK se seraient infiltrés dans des #camps_de_réfugiés gérés par l’État via l’intermédiaire d’informateurs locaux, qui auraient informé le gang des passages de frontière à venir.

En octobre 2024, plusieurs membres présumés du BWK ont été arrêtés pour avoir enlevé des migrants turcs et filmé leur torture.

La police bosniaque décrit les opérations du BWK comme « bien établies et très rentables », certains individus associés au réseau détenant des comptes bancaires avec plus de 70 000 euros de dépôts.

L’enquête du BIRN décrit comment un gang dirigé par des migrants afghans bénéficie d’une certaine protection en Italie. De nombreux experts en matière de migration soulignent également que la nature de ces gangs est par définition transnationale.

Selon Rados Djurovic du Asylum Protection Center, « ces réseaux ne sont pas uniquement constitués de ressortissants étrangers. Ils sont souvent liés à des groupes criminels locaux. Il arrive même que des migrants fassent passer de la #drogue pour d’autres, toujours avec le soutien de la population locale ».

Les bandes criminelles s’appuient aussi sur des chauffeurs et des fixeurs locaux pour faciliter le passage des frontières.

Rados Djurovic explique à InfoMigrants que ces groupes « impliquent à la fois des populations locales et des réfugiés. Chaque personne a son rôle ». Aussi, son organisation a « documenté des cas de personnes réfugiées voyageant légalement au sein de l’UE pour rejoindre ces groupes en vue d’un gain matériel. »

Réponse de la police

Le 14 avril, deux corps de migrants ont été retrouvés près d’un cimetière à Obrenovac, dans la banlieue de Belgrade, la capitale serbe.

La forêt qui entoure le cimetière est devenue un campement informel exploité par des #passeurs_afghans. Les victimes seraient des ressortissants afghans poignardés à mort. Deux autres migrants ont été blessés, l’un au cou et l’autre au nez.

Milica Svabic précise que « des incidents similaires se sont produits par le passé, généralement entre des groupes de passeurs rivaux qui se disputent le territoire et les clients ».

Selon Rados Djurovic, bien qu’il y ait une volonté politique de lutter contre les réseaux criminels et la migration irrégulière, le souci de préserver une bonne image empêche un véritable engagement pour s’attaquer aux causes profondes.

Il explique que la nature lucrative de l’activité et l’implication de la population locale rendent « presque impossible le démantèlement de ces réseaux ».

La #dissuasion plutôt que la #protection

Malgré les efforts des ONG, le soutien institutionnel reste inadapté. « Au lieu de se concentrer uniquement sur la lutte contre la migration irrégulière et le trafic de migrants, les institutions devraient développer des mécanismes pour soutenir ceux qui ont besoin de protection », estime Rados Djurovic.

Il rappelle que « les routes migratoires ont changé. Elles ne sont plus visibles pour les médias, le public, les institutions et dans les camps. Mais cela ne signifie pas que les gens ne continuent pas à traverser (les frontières) ».

Cette évolution coïncide avec la fermeture de camps d’accueil de migrants situés le long des principales routes de transit. « Sur 17 camps, seuls cinq fonctionnent encore, et aucun n’est situé sur les principaux axes de transit. Il n’existe plus de camp opérationnel dans toute la région de Voïvodine, dans le nord de la Serbie, à la frontière de l’UE ».

Or, sans accès à un logement et confrontés à des expulsions régulières, les migrants n’ont que peu d’options. « Cela renforce les passeurs. Ces derniers comblent alors le vide en proposant des logements comme un service payant », observe Rados Djurovic.

Et les ONG ne peuvent combler l’absence de structures étatiques. Roberto Forin, du Mixed Migration Center, constate que « si certaines ONG fournissent un soutien juridique et psychosocial, la couverture n’est pas permanente et de nombreux migrants ne sont pas au courant des services disponibles ». De plus, les travailleurs humanitaires s’exposent aux dangers des bandes criminelles, limitant ainsi leur champ d’action.

Enfin, la Serbie a pour objectif de rejoindre l’UE et cherche à s’aligner sur les politiques migratoires européennes. En ce sens, montrer que la frontière serbe est forte est devenu une priorité.

Selon Rados Djurovic, le Serbie veut « marquer des points sur la question de la migration ». Ainsi « ils peuvent prétendre que le recours à la violence, à la police des frontières et aux opérations conjointes stoppe la migration, même si ce n’est pas vrai. Tout le monde y gagne : les personnes qualifiées d’ »étrangères" sont ciblées et la lutte contre l’immigration devient à la fois politiquement et financièrement lucrative".

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/64299/comment-les-passeurs-profitent-des-politiques-migratoires-restrictives
#route_des_Balkans #politiques_migratoires #responsabilité #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #fermeture_des_frontières #criminalité

ping @karine4

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

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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».

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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

Schengen in Sights, EU and #Frontex Overlook Violent Bulgarian Pushbacks

Internal documents show Frontex and the European Commission are well aware of Bulgaria’s dire human rights record on its border with Turkey, but the EU’s executive arm had other priorities – expanding Schengen.

n August 2022, a report landed on the desk of the Fundamental Rights Office, FRO, the internal human rights watchdog of the European Union’s border agency, Frontex.

Written by an unnamed Frontex officer posted to Bulgaria’s border with Turkey, the report recounted a mission undertaken by the officer at their own initiative to document the treatment of migrants and refugees at the hands of Bulgarian border officers.

The report, obtained by BIRN, makes for grim reading.

“It has been suggested that, allegedly … they leave them naked and take all of their belongings,” reads one line of the report. Another spoke of asylum seekers being “forced to swim back to Turkey, even if they do not have the skills or strength to do it”.

Migrants and refugees, mainly from the Middle East, North Africa or Asia, are routinely referred to as “Taliban” and sometimes reportedly bitten by police dogs or shot at, the report said.

But despite the prevalence of such practices, the author said that migrants are not fingerprinted or asked for their basic info, nor are there recordings or reports, “no traces” of these “interventions”. The author sourced the information in the report to conversations with 10 Bulgarian border officers.

Frontex border guards, the officer wrote, are intentionally kept away from “’hot’ points’ where such pushbacks usually occur. “They [Bulgarian border officers] have instructions not to allow FRONTEX to see anything or they would have to do an official report.”

In a written response, also seen by BIRN, the Bulgarian Chief Directorate of the Border Police said it had found no information concerning “unethical behaviour” by its border officers.

The report, however, joined a pile of evidence that leaves Frontex once more vulnerable to accusations it has been overlooking systematic abuses of human rights on Europe’s borders.

Dozens of internal Frontex and European Commission documents, given to BIRN under EU Freedom of Information rules, point to serious neglect on the part of not just Bulgarian authorities but EU officials as well when it comes to addressing evidence of grave and persistent human rights violations on Bulgaria’s borders, evidence that appears to have been swept under the carpet in the process of bringing the country into Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone.

Previously blocked by the Netherlands and Austria due to concerns over “irregular” immigration and corruption, Bulgaria and Romania were granted partial accession, via air and sea borders, late last year, with the decision due to enter into force at the end of March.

Despite already being implicated in pushbacks in Greece, BIRN’s investigation poses fresh questions of Frontex’s ability to guarantee human rights in operations it is part of, even after new executive director Hans Leijtens reportedly promised to “restore trust” in the agency when his appointment was announced in January 2023.

“It is astonishing that an EU Agency is still unable to uphold EU law after so many institutional investigations, reports, recommendations and warnings,” said Tineke Strik, a Dutch MEP and member of a European parliamentary group tasked with scrutinising the work of Frontex.

Decrying what she called “systematic shortcomings”, Strik told BIRN: “This shows that even though the Agency has a new director, problems are far from being solved.”

Bulgaria had “an order” in terms of what it needed to do to clinch Schengen membership, said Diana Radoslavova, director of the Sofia-based non-profit Centre for Legal Aid “Voice in Bulgaria”.

“It is the border which has to be effectively closed,” she said. “In order to fulfil this order we do whatever it takes, in extreme violation of human rights.”
‘Public secret’

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Leijtens replaced Fabrice Leggeri, who resigned in April 2022 over the findings of the EU’s anti-fraud watchdog, OLAF, that Frontex had violated internal rules intended to protect human rights by its involvement in pushbacks in Greece and Malta, and that senior leadership knew.

The new leadership promised change, but a trove of documents obtained by BIRN points to multiple ‘serious incident reports’ registered by the FRO up to mid-2023; they contain graphic details of alleged brutality inflicted by Bulgarian border officers involved in Frontex operations, including individuals being beaten with sticks, forced to strip naked, robbed of their belongings, verbally abused, and harmed by police dogs. And then they are forced to cross back into Turkey.

The evidence was so compelling that, in an ‘overview’ of serious incident reports, or SIRs, covering 2022 and part of 2023, the FRO, headed by Jonas Grimheden, wrote that “so-called pushbacks, often involving high levels of violence and other inhuman or degrading treatment, are a regular practice by the Bulgarian border police.”

Frontex increased its presence on the ground in Bulgaria under Joint Operation Terra, which was launched in early 2022. By the end of that year, Bulgaria’s interior minister at the time, Ivan Demerdzhiev, said Bulgaria had prevented 160,000 migrants from entering EU territory; another 165,000 “illegal entry attempts” were thwarted between January and October 2023, current minister Kalin Stoyanov was reported as saying.

Iliana Savova, director of the Refugees and Migrants Programme at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, said this was untrue.

“We claim, according to our sources and our regular analysis, that those people have been intercepted inside the country. So we are not talking about prevented entry, but about return, an informal one” she told BIRN. “We all know what the term is: ‘pushback.’”

According to data produced by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee under a tripartite asylum monitoring and support agreement with the United Nations refugee agency and the Bulgarian border police, in 2022 alone there were 5,268 alleged pushbacks involving 87,647 persons.

“It is a public secret that people are being pushed back,” a senior government official told BIRN on condition of anonymity. “There are orders.”

The interior ministry, however, said that only “isolated cases” of pushbacks had been confirmed and each one investigated. Most allegations are “unfounded”, it told BIRN.

“The smugglers tell migrants to file alerts in order to compromise the reception system, driven by their willingness to continue their journey to Western Europe – their desired destination,” the ministry said.
Child vanished

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In the wake of the pushback scandal in Greece and Leggeri’s departure, FRO’s Grimheden grew increasingly concerned that Frontex could also be “indirectly implicated” in rights violations in Bulgaria, according to a FRO report to Frontex management.

According to internal emails seen by BIRN, in early December 2022, three months before Leijtens took over, Grimheden’s office circulated a report among senior Frontex officials at its Warsaw headquarters concerning the alleged disappearance of a boy detained by two Frontex officers in a forest along Bulgaria’s border. The officers had “handed over” the boy to Bulgarian border guards, and he vanished without a trace, the report stated.

FRO warned that the boy, a minor, “might have been unlawfully removed and expelled from Bulgarian territory by Bulgarian officers”. The child’s fate remains unknown, Grimheden told BIRN in January.

Asked for a response, Bulgaria’s interior ministry told FRO in October 2022 that it had no record of an “illegal migrant detained” in the reported area. FRO took its concerns to Aija Kalnaja, who at the time was Frontex’s acting director after Leggeri had left.

In an email, Kalnaja, a Latvian former police officer, replied: “Shame I missed it earlier, met in the Council the minister and I could have raised it. Oh well, it is what it is.” The Council Kalnaja referred to was attended by Bulgaria’s then interior minister, Demerdzhiev.

In mid-February 2023, still officially the Frontex acting director, Kalnaja raised the FRO’s concerns with the then head of Bulgaria’s border directorate, Rositsa Dimitrova.

Kalnaja “encouraged” Dimitrova to grant Frontex officers access to “first line checks and border surveillance activities”, and noted there are “serious concerns regarding allegations of fundamental rights violations that need to be proactively addressed”.

Dimitrova brushed aside the worries, insisting that “respect of the fundamental rights of third-country nationals is a top priority” for her directorate.

In a response to BIRN, Bulgaria’s interior ministry said the border police and its new leadership “do not tolerate cases of abuse and violence against persons crossing the border illegally” and that all allegations with sufficient information to be verified are investigated.

In the first 10 months of 2023, five border guards were punished for ethics violations, the ministry said in an answer to an FOI request.

Some experts, however, doubt the ministry’s rigour in investigating its own.

“All reports drown and all answers are: this never happened,” said Savova. “We have been facing this phenomenon for 20 years.”
‘They threw me in the canal’

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A 16-year-old asylum seeker from Syria, speaking via a translator on condition of anonymity, described to BIRN his own experience of unlawful detention and pushback.

In late spring 2022, more than a decade into a devastating civil war in Syria, the then 15-year-old entered Bulgaria irregularly and went to an open reception centre for refugees and migrants in the capital, Sofia, to submit a claim for asylum. Instead of being registered and provided with information regarding his rights, the boy said he was taken to a building that resembled a “prison”.

That night, he said he was driven with dozens of other people in border police cars to the border with Turkey, 300 kilometres away.

“They made us walk to the fence that had cameras on it,” he said. “After we passed the fence, there was something like a canal … and we had to crawl through it. While we were crawling, they were hitting the people. Everyone.”

“I had 20 lev [some 10 euros] with me and I told them, ‘Take it, take whatever I have, just don’t beat me.’ They took everything and hit me on the back, on the head.”

Two days after Leijtens took over from Kalnaja at the start of March 2023, the FRO drafted a letter that it suggested Leijtens send “in whole or part” to Dimitrova.

The FRO did not hold back. In its letter, the office highlighted “persisting allegations of irregular returns (so-called ‘pushbacks’), accompanied by serious allegations of mistreatment and excessive use of force by national border police against migrants”. It demanded Frontex officers to “be more effectively used” in the areas “where allegations of fundamental rights are reported”, better cooperation with the FRO, and independent investigations of rights violations.

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But the letter was never sent, BIRN has found based on FOI requests and communication with the Frontex press office.

Instead, the documents obtained by BIRN indicate that concerns about large-scale mistreatment of migrants in Bulgaria have been brushed aside in the process of bringing Bulgaria into the Schengen zone, something the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has long wanted.
‘Repeated’ pushbacks

Early last year, Bulgaria and Romania, both of which have been seeking to join the Schengen zone for the more than a decade, were “volunteering” countries to pilot a scheme to prevent “irregular arrivals” and strengthen “border and migration management” via “accelerated asylum procedures” and the speedy deportation of those rejected.

Bulgaria received a total of 69.5 million euros in additional EU funds to implement the project, and Frontex deployed additional border guards and surveillance equipment.

“All activities under this pilot,” the Commission stressed in a June 2023 annex to the agreement, “are to be conducted in full respect of EU law and fundamental rights, in particular the principle of non-refoulement”.

But even then, both Frontex and the Commission were well aware of the dire human rights record of the Bulgarian border police.

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Some two months before the pilot was launched, senior European Commission officials, including the then director for Border, Schengen and Visa affairs under Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, met with Dimitrova “to discuss the FRO’s concerns as regards allegations of fundamental rights violations”, according to a so-called ‘flash report’ from a January 2023 Frontex Management Board meeting. The discussion happened on the margins of the board meeting.

Towards the end of the pilot, and despite progress in terms of Frontex participation in “front-line land patrolling activities”, Grimheden once again alerted Frontex top brass to “repeated allegations of” pushbacks and excessive use of force by Bulgaria’s border police.

“Yes, we remain concerned and keep stressing this in various ways,” Grimheden told BIRN in January.

When asked whether the FRO had communicated ongoing concerns about violent pushbacks directly to the Commission, he said FRO “raises concerns on a regular basis” to the Frontex Management Board “where the European Commission is participating” and that “in addition, there are regular exchanges of information”

Asked whether Leijtens had raised any of the FRO’s findings regarding pushbacks with Bulgarian authorities, Frontex’s press office told BIRN that in cases of reported violations “the matter is escalated to the Executive Director and, when necessary” discussed in Frontex board meetings with state representatives. The press office, however, did not provide any information about Leijtens personally raising these concerns with Bulgarian officials. .

Despite Grimheden’s repeated warnings about human rights violations, in public the Commission was delighted with Bulgaria’s performance in the pilot.

“The results are excellent,” Johansson said in October last year, hailing the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities’ efforts at preventing “irregular” migrants from entering EU territory in support of the “absolutely necessary decision” to bring Bulgaria into the Schengen zone.

A few weeks earlier, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed Romania and Bulgaria’s role in “leading the way – showcasing best practices on both asylum and returns”.

“So let us finally bring them in – without any further delay,” she said.

Austria was the last holdout, blocking Bulgaria and Romania’s Schengen accession over concerns about “irregular” migration.

Strik, the Dutch MEP, said it was clear that the Commission’s “sole purpose” was to “prevent irregular entrance into the EU, and it is willing to do so at any costs, sacrificing fundamental rights and EU values along the ride.”

“But as long as Bulgaria will cooperate on good terms with the protection of borders and implementation of the pilot project, the Commission is happy to sweep allegations under the carpet or look into the other direction.”

Asked whether the pilot project was conducted in “full respect” of EU law, a Commission spokesperson stated that the Commission will work with Bulgarian authorities to “further strengthen the existing national independent mechanism to monitor fundamental rights compliance”.

▻https://balkaninsight.com/2024/02/26/schengen-in-sights-eu-and-frontex-overlook-violent-bulgarian-pushback
#push-backs #refoulements #Bulgarie #violence #migrations #réfugiés #frontières #Turquie #BIRN

Raport: Balkan Jihadists
The Radicalisation and Recruitment of Fighters in Syria and Iraq

▻http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/file/show/Balkan-Jihadists.pdf
#2016 #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Macédoine #Kosovo #Serbie #Albanie #montenegro #BIRN #jihad #jihadisme #Isis #Syrie #Iraq

Si vous voulez savoir ce qu’une partie de l’équipe de @wereport est en train de faire en #Bosnie-Herzégovine... soit @albertocampiphoto @daphne et @marty...

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Suivez ce site web :
▻http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr

Sarajevo, Jour 1

Arrivés hier en soirée, nous avons vu la ville à travers les vitres de notre bus. Très vite, #Sarajevo nous a imposé son histoire. Sur la plupart des bâtiments d’habitation, on a pu constater des impacts de balle, pour une majorité, recouvert d’un ciment faussant la réalité.

http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_6850-1-e1501622851505.jpg http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_6861-1-e1501622814404.jpg http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170801_195014.jpg http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170801_194947.jpg http://www.sur-les-pas-d-albert-londres.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170801_181602.jpg

Le carnet de l’itinérance – Chapitre 1

Emdé nous gratifie de ses talents de croqueur sur le vif tout au long de notre séjour en Bosnie Herzégovine. Voici une première salve de dessins inspirée de l’instant présent.

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cc @fil @reka @odilon

Les armes des Balkans font un carton en #Irak et en #Syrie
▻https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/280716/les-armes-des-balkans-font-un-carton-en-irak-et-en-syrie

Des contrats d’armement d’une valeur de 1,2 milliard d’euros auraient été conclus, depuis 2012, par certains pays d’Europe centrale et des Balkans avec l’Arabie saoudite, les Émirats arabes unis, la Jordanie et la Turquie. Du matériel qui se retrouve souvent entre les mains des combattants de l’organisation de l’État islamique (EI).

#International #BIRN #Bosnie_Herzégovine #croatie #Etats-Unis #OCCRP #Serbie #trafic_d'armes