German NGO Rigardu said it has documented the alleged beating and mistreatment of refugees by Croatian police officers on the border with Serbia and on the border with Slovenia in June. […]
After the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Doctors without Borders and Doctors of the World recorded an increase in violence against refugees in late May, Croatian NGOs told BIRN that such attacks had decreased and that the police had taken action after these reports were published. However, they also said that attacks usually resumed after some time passed following the publication of the reports by the international organisations. The Interior Ministry told BIRN in May that it rejected the allegations of violence by officers. Various other reports of alleged police violence and the unlawful treatment of refugees were made earlier this year. In January, the Jesuit Refugee Service reported the Croatian Interior Ministry to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and to the Croatian ombudsman’s office for illegally deporting refugees to Serbia. The same month, Human Rights Watch warned that Croatian police were not respecting the rights of asylum-seekers arriving in the country and had been pushing them back across the border to neighbouring Serbia.
