Numerous rights groups have reported on violent pushbacks of migrants, but Croatia denies the allegations. The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights has called on Croatia to launch prompt and independent investigations regarding allegations of police violence and theft against refugees and migrants as well as collective expulsions. In a letter published Friday addressed to Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic wrote that she was “worried” by reports from “expert refugee and migrant organisations that provide consistent and substantiated information about a large number of collective expulsions from Croatia to Serbia and to Bosnia and Herzegovina of irregular migrants, including potential asylum seekers”. Particularly worrisome, Mijatovic wrote, were the allegations of systematic violence by Croatian law enforcement officials against those people, including pregnant women and children. UNHCR has received reports of some 2,500 migrants being pushed back from Croatia since the beginning of 2018, with 1,500 people being denied access to asylum procedures, including over 100 children.
