According to an EU human rights body, authorities in EU member states are not doing enough in looking into reliable reports of human rights violations, including deaths, occurring at their borders – The Guardian writes.
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said human rights agencies and NGOs were reporting “serious, recurrent and widespread rights violations and mistreatment against migrants and refugees during border management”. The FRA report, which published on Tuesday, July 30, also charges EU members with neglecting these accusations. The European Court of Human Rights is receiving an increasing number of cases that raise concerns about border management in at least three nations.
Greece, Croatia and Hungary were Among the Worst Performers
“National authorities in Greece, Croatia and Hungary did not effectively investigate incidents of ill treatment and loss of life during border management. The report found that: “examples include insufficient efforts to locate and hear victims and witnesses, hindering lawyers in their work and not having access to key evidence (eg footage from border surveillance).”
Greece’s immigration policies have come under scrutiny since the overcrowded fishing vessel Adriana sank in June of last year, killing between 500 – 650 people. Only a hundred people survived in one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea.
The FRA gave five examples to illustrate what it saw as an inadequate response to reports of violence and fatalities throughout Europe’s frontier states. One of the worst examples was when volunteers in France discovered an unconscious unaccompanied child with a fractured skull and swollen lip.
The child had hidden in a truck headed for the UK before being found by police. The Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor was notified of the case and the possible police involvement, but the child was never found.
Assaulted, Abandoned at Sea
In 2020, the Croatian police were apprehended four Afghans who entered the country irregularly. The police detained the migrants for two days, allegedly beating them and sexually assaulting one of them. In April 2020, Maltese authorities instructed a fishing vessel to take a boat in distress back to Libya. In six days at sea 12 people died or went missing. A magistrate concluded there was no prima facie evidence for criminal charges, the FRA said.
A visibly pregnant woman and her family from Syria arrived in Cyprus by see in September 2021. She was allowed to disembark, but her husband and to young children were sent back to Lebanon. After seen by a doctor, she was left alone on pier, the next day – after her waters broke out – she was carried to a hospital, where she successfully gave birth. No authority found any error in her treatment. In June 2022, two Palestinians recognised by Greece as refugees were allegedly subjected to physical and sexual abuse and abandoned on a life raft at sea after being stopped by police in Kos. The Turkish coastguard rescued them and an official complaint is still pending before the Greek public prosecutor.
The FRA director, Sirpa Rautio, said: “There are too many allegations of human rights violations at the EU’s borders. Europe has a duty to treat everyone at the borders fairly, respectfully and in full compliance with human rights law.”
The organization has created a 10-point plan that includes regular training and guidance for local investigators and prosecutors on how to protect victims and how to gather and store evidence, including data from mobile phones.