region:balkans

Suite de l’offensive, toujours sous #paywall

Comment le gouvernement veut enrayer la demande d’asile
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2019/06/11/comment-le-gouvernement-veut-enrayer-la-demande-d-asile_5474631_823448.html

La « loi Collomb » vient à peine d’entrer en vigueur mais le ministère de l’intérieur prépare déjà de nouvelles mesures pour lutter en priorité contre la demande d’asile des Balkans.

C’est un bilan que le gouvernement ne veut pas avoir à défendre. La demande d’asile en France est en augmentation constante alors qu’elle diminue depuis trois ans en Europe. Bien que certains outils de la loi asile et immigration de 2018, dite « loi Collomb », viennent à peine d’entrer en vigueur, le gouvernement veut d’ores et déjà mobiliser de nouveaux leviers pour réduire l’« attractivité » de la France et « rendre les abus moins faciles », explique une source au ministère de l’intérieur.

Les autorités ont notamment dans le viseur les requêtes, jugées anormales, des Géorgiens et des Albanais. Ces derniers sont actuellement les premiers à solliciter la protection de la France, alors que leurs pays sont considérés comme « sûrs ». A côté d’eux, les Afghans déjà déboutés dans d’autres Etats membres, comme l’Allemagne ou la Suède, ou les ressortissants d’Afrique de l’Ouest, pèsent aussi sur la demande d’asile.

Ces phénomènes ont été mal anticipés. Conséquence : cela entretient l’idée d’une situation mal maîtrisée à un moment où la majorité veut durcir son discours. Avec seulement un demandeur d’asile sur deux hébergé par l’Etat, cela alimente en outre le phénomène des campements de migrants et le courroux des municipalités concernées, en particulier à Paris. Cela fait enfin gonfler le budget de l’allocation pour demandeur d’asile (ADA ; 6,80 euros par jour) dans un contexte où la loi de finances tablait sur une stabilité en 2019.

« Le système est embolisé », constate un haut fonctionnaire. Le gouvernement ne parvient pas, comme il l’ambitionnait, à réduire de douze à six mois le délai moyen de traitement des demandes. Et plus elles tardent à être traitées, plus le dispositif d’hébergement est mobilisé, plus longtemps les personnes touchent l’ADA et plus Bercy s’irrite.

Pour y remédier, l’Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides (Ofpra), qui décide de l’octroi de l’asile et dont les effectifs s’élèvent à 820 personnes en 2018, va bénéficier d’une centaine de recrutements supplémentaires. L’objectif est de réduire les « stocks » de dossiers en attente. Ceux des Balkans seront examinés en priorité. « Début 2019, on était à plus d’un an de traitement d’une demande d’asile géorgienne, si l’on additionne la procédure Ofpra et l’appel, justifie un cadre du ministère de l’intérieur. _Autant de temps pendant lequel l’ADA est versée. » Depuis janvier, l’Ofpra se délocalise d’ailleurs régulièrement dans les préfectures où la demande d’asile géorgienne explose, comme à Strasbourg ou Bordeaux. Un dispositif déjà opérationnel pour les Albanais.

Et un commentaire au message, toujours reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop :
En complément, un PDF très complet est disponible ici :
« Analyse juridique Le Régime d’Asile
Européen Commun - introduction à l’attention des juridictions »
▻https://www.easo.europa.eu/file/25988/ent.jsf

New EU deportation law breaches fundamental rights standards and should be rejected

A proposed new EU law governing standards and procedures for deportations would breach fundamental rights standards, massively expand the use of detention, limit appeal rights and undermine ’voluntary’ return initiatives. It should be rejected by the European Parliament and the Council, argues a new analysis published today by Statewatch. [1]

The original Returns Directive was agreed in 2008, but a proposal for a ’recast’ version was published by the European Commission in September 2018 as one a number of measures aiming to crack down on “illegally staying third-country nationals” in the EU. [2]

The proposal aims to increase the number of deportations from the EU by reducing or eliminating existing safeguards for those facing deportation proceedings - but even if such a method could be considered legitimate, there is no evidence to suggest that the proposed measures will have the intended effect.

For example, the proposal introduces numerous new grounds for placing migrants in detention and would introduce a new ’minimum maximum’ period of detention of at least three months. [3]

However, in 2017, Spain (with a maximum detention period of 60 days) had a ’return rate’ of 37%, while the return rate from countries with a detention limit of 18 months (the maximum period permitted under the current Returns Directive) differed significantly: 11% in the Czech Republic, 18% in Belgium, 40% in Greece and 46% in Germany. [4]

The report urges EU lawmakers to discard the proposal and focus on alternative measures that would be less harmful to individuals. It includes an article-by-article analysis of the Commission’s proposal and the positions of the European Parliament and the Council, as they were prior to the EU institutions’ summer break.

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU will begin discussing the proposal again in the coming weeks.

Quotes

Statewatch researcher Jane Kilpatrick said:

“The proposed recast prioritises detention for more people and for longer durations - the physical and mental harms of which are well-known, especially for people with prior traumatic experiences - over any collaborative measures. The recast would remove the option for states to adopt measures more respectful of human rights and health. The fact that it hasn’t relied on any evidence that these will even work suggests it is a political exercise to appease anti-migrant rhetoric.”

Chris Jones, a researcher at Statewatch, added:

“The EU cannot claim to be a bastion of human rights at the same time as trying to undermine or eliminate existing safeguards for third-country nationals subject to deportation proceedings. Given that there is no evidence to suggest the proposed measures would actually work, it seems that lawmakers are dealing with a proposal that would be both harmful and ineffective. The previous MEP responsible for the proposal did a good job of trying to improve it - but it would be better to reject it altogether.”

►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/sep/eu-returns-directive.htm

New EU deportation law breaches fundamental rights standards and should be rejected

A proposed new EU law governing standards and procedures for deportations would breach fundamental rights standards, massively expand the use of detention, limit appeal rights and undermine ’voluntary’ return initiatives. It should be rejected by the European Parliament and the Council, argues a new analysis published today by Statewatch. [1]

The original Returns Directive was agreed in 2008, but a proposal for a ’recast’ version was published by the European Commission in September 2018 as one a number of measures aiming to crack down on “illegally staying third-country nationals” in the EU. [2]

The proposal aims to increase the number of deportations from the EU by reducing or eliminating existing safeguards for those facing deportation proceedings - but even if such a method could be considered legitimate, there is no evidence to suggest that the proposed measures will have the intended effect.

For example, the proposal introduces numerous new grounds for placing migrants in detention and would introduce a new ’minimum maximum’ period of detention of at least three months. [3]

However, in 2017, Spain (with a maximum detention period of 60 days) had a ’return rate’ of 37%, while the return rate from countries with a detention limit of 18 months (the maximum period permitted under the current Returns Directive) differed significantly: 11% in the Czech Republic, 18% in Belgium, 40% in Greece and 46% in Germany. [4]

The report urges EU lawmakers to discard the proposal and focus on alternative measures that would be less harmful to individuals. It includes an article-by-article analysis of the Commission’s proposal and the positions of the European Parliament and the Council, as they were prior to the EU institutions’ summer break.

The European Parliament and the Council of the EU will begin discussing the proposal again in the coming weeks.

Quotes

Statewatch researcher Jane Kilpatrick said:

“The proposed recast prioritises detention for more people and for longer durations - the physical and mental harms of which are well-known, especially for people with prior traumatic experiences - over any collaborative measures. The recast would remove the option for states to adopt measures more respectful of human rights and health. The fact that it hasn’t relied on any evidence that these will even work suggests it is a political exercise to appease anti-migrant rhetoric.”

Chris Jones, a researcher at Statewatch, added:

“The EU cannot claim to be a bastion of human rights at the same time as trying to undermine or eliminate existing safeguards for third-country nationals subject to deportation proceedings. Given that there is no evidence to suggest the proposed measures would actually work, it seems that lawmakers are dealing with a proposal that would be both harmful and ineffective. The previous MEP responsible for the proposal did a good job of trying to improve it - but it would be better to reject it altogether.”

►http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/sep/eu-returns-directive.htm

European Border and Coast Guard: Launch of first ever joint operation outside the EU

Today, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, in cooperation with the Albanian authorities, is launching the first ever joint operation on the territory of a neighbouring non-EU country. As of 22 May, teams from the Agency will be deployed together with Albanian border guards at the Greek-Albanian border to strengthen border management and enhance security at the EU’s external borders, in full agreement with all concerned countries. This operation marks a new phase for border cooperation between the EU and its Western Balkan partners, and is yet another step towards the full operationalisation of the Agency.

The launch event is taking place in Tirana, Albania, in the presence of Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Edi Rama, Albanian Prime Minister and Sandër Lleshaj, Albanian Interior Minister.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, said: "With the first ever deployment of European Border and Coast Guard teams outside of the EU, we are opening an entirely new chapter in our cooperation on migration and border management with Albania and with the whole Western Balkan region. This is a real game changer and a truly historical step, bringing this region closer to the EU by working together in a coordinated and mutually supportive way on shared challenges such as better managing migration and protecting our common borders.”

Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said: “Today we mark a milestone for our agency and the wider cooperation between the European Union and Albania. We are launching the first fully fledged joint operation outside the European Union to support Albania in border control and tackling cross-border crime.”

While Albania remains ultimately responsible for the protection of its borders, the European Border and Coast Guard is able to lend both technical and operational support and assistance. The European Border and Coast Guard teams will be able to support the Albanian border guards in performing border checks at crossing points, for example, and preventing unauthorised entries. All operations and deployments at the Albanian border with Greece will be conducted in full agreement with both the Albanian and Greek authorities.

At the start of the operation, the Agency will be deploying 50 officers, 16 patrol cars and 1 thermo-vision van from 12 EU Member States (Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland and Slovenia) to support Albania in border control and tackling cross-border crime.

Strengthened cooperation between priority third countries and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will contribute to the better management of irregular migration, further enhance security at the EU’s external borders and strengthen the Agency’s ability to act in the EU’s immediate neighbourhood, while bringing that neighbourhood closer to the EU.

▻http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-19-2591_en.htm
#externalisation

Remarks by Commissioner Avramopoulos in Albania at the official launch of first ever joint operation outside the EU

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are here today to celebrate an important achievement and a milestone, both for Albania and for the EU.

Only six months ago, here in Tirana, the EU signed the status agreement with Albania on cooperation on border management between Albania and the European Border and Coast Guard. This agreement, that entered into force three weeks ago, was the first agreement ever of its kind with a neighbouring country.

Today, we will send off the joint European Border and Coast Guard Teams to be deployed as of tomorrow for the first time in a non-EU Member State. This does not only mark a new phase for border cooperation between the EU and Western Balkan partners, it is also yet another step towards the full operationalisation of the Agency.

The only way to effectively address migration and security challenges we are facing today and those we may be confronted with in the years to come is by working closer together, as neighbours and as partners. What happens in Albania and the Western Balkans affects the European Union, and the other way around.

Joint approach to border management is a key part of our overall approach to managing migration. It allows us to show to our citizens that their security is at the top of our concerns. But effective partnership in ensuring orderly migration also enables us, as Europe, to remain a place where those in need of protection can find shelter.

Albania is the first country in the Western Balkans with whom the EU is moving forward with this new important chapter in our joint co-operation on border management.

This can be a source of pride for both Albania and the EU and an important step that brings us closer together.

While the overall situation along the Western Balkans route remains stable with continuously low levels of arrivals - it is in fact like night and day when compared to three years ago - we need to remain vigilant.

The Status Agreement will help us in this effort. It expands the scale of practical, operational cooperation between the EU and Albania and hopefully soon with the rest of the Western Balkan region.

These are important elements of our co-operation, also in view of the continued implementation of the requirements under the visa liberalisation agreement. Visa-free travel is a great achievement, which brings benefits to all sides and should be safeguarded.

Together with Albanian border guards, European Border and Coast Guard teams will be able to perform border checks at crossing points and perform border surveillance to prevent unauthorized border crossings and counter cross-border criminality.

But, let me be clear, Albania remains ultimately responsible for the protection of its borders. European Border and Coast Guard Teams may only perform tasks and exercise powers in the Albanian territory under instructions from and, as a general rule, in the presence of border guards of the Republic of Albania.

Dear Friends,

When it comes to protecting our borders, ensuring our security and managing migration, the challenges we face are common, and so must be our response.

The European Border and Coast Guard Status Agreement and its implementation will allow us to better work together in all these areas. I hope that these agreements can be finalised also with other Western Balkans partners as soon as possible.

I wish to thank Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Albanian authorities, and the Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Fabrice Leggeri and his team for their close cooperation in bringing this milestone achievement to life. I also want to thank all Member States who have contributed with staff and the personnel who will be part of this first deployment of European Border and Coast Guard teams in a neighbouring country.

With just a few days to go before the European Elections, the need for a more united and stronger European family is more important than ever. We firmly believe that a key priority is to have strong relations with close neighbours, based on a clear balance of rights and obligations – but above all, on genuine partnership. This includes you, fellow Albanians.

Albania is part of the European family.Our challenges are common. They know no borders. The progress we are witnessing today is another concrete action and proof of our commitment to bring us closer together. To make us stronger.

▻http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-19-2668_en.htm

Externalisation: Frontex launches first formal operation outside of the EU and deploys to Albania

The EU has taken a significant, if geographically small, step in the externalisation of its borders. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, has launched its first Joint Operation on the territory of a non-EU-Member State, as it begins cooperation with Albania on the border with Greece.

After the launch of the operation in Tirana on 21 May a deployment of 50 officers, 16 patrol cars and a thermo-vision van started yesterday, 22 May (European Commission, link). Twelve Member States (Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland and Slovenia) have contributed to the operation.

New agreements

The move follows the entry into force on 1 May this year of a Status Agreement between the EU and Albania on actions carried out by Frontex in that country (pdf). Those actions are made possible by the conclusion of operational plans, which must be agreed between Frontex and the Albanian authorities.

The Status Agreement with Albania was the first among several similar agreements to be signed between the Agency and Balkan States, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and North Macedonia.

The nascent operation in Albania will give Frontex team members certain powers, privileges and immunities on Albanian territory, including the use of force in circumstances authorised by Albanian border police and outlined in the operational plan.

Frontex does not publish operational plans whilst operations (which can be renewed indefinitely) are ongoing, and documents published after the conclusion of operations (usually in response to requests for access to documents) are often heavily-redacted (Ask the EU, link).

Relevant articles

Article 4 of the Status Agreement outlines the tasks and powers of members of Frontex teams operating in Albanian territory. This includes the use of force, if it is authorised by both the Frontex team member’s home Member State and the State of Albania, and takes place in the presence of Albanian border guards. However, Albania can authorise team members to use force in their absence.

Article 6 of the Status Agreement grants Frontex team members immunity from Albanian criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction “in respect of the acts performed in the exercise of their official functions in the course of the actions carried out in accordance with the operational plan”.

Although a representative of Albania would be informed in the event of an allegation of criminal activity, it would be up to Frontex’s executive director to certify to the court whether the actions in question were performed as part of an official Agency function and in accordance with the Operational Plan. This certification will be binding on the jurisdiction of Albania. Proceedings may only continue against an individual team member if the executive director confirms that their actions were outside the scope of the exercise of official functions.

Given the closed nature of the operational plans, this grants the executive director wide discretion and ensures little oversight of the accountability of Agency team members. Notably, Article 6 also states that members of teams shall not be obliged to give evidence as witnesses. This immunity does not, however, extend to the jurisdiction of team members’ home Member States, and they may also waive the immunity of the individual under Albanian jurisdiction.

Right to redress

These measures of immunity alongside the lack of transparency surrounding documents outlining team members’ official functions and activities (the operational plan) raise concerns regarding access to redress for victims of human rights violations that may occur during operations.

Human rights organisations have denounced the use of force by Frontex team members, only to have those incidents classified by the Agency as par for the course in their operations. Cases include incidents of firearm use that resulted in serious injury (The Intercept, link), but that was considered to have taken place according to the standard rules of engagement. This opacity has implications for individuals’ right to good administration and to the proper functioning of accountability mechanisms.

If any damage results from actions that were carried out according to the operational plan, Albania will be held liable. This is the most binding liability outlined by the Status Agreement. Albania may only “request” that compensation be paid by the Member State of the team member responsible, or by the Agency, if acts were committed through gross negligence, wilful misconduct or outside the scope of the official functions of the Agency team or staff member.

Across the board

The provisions regarding tasks, powers and immunity in the Status Agreements with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia are all broadly similar, with the exception of Article 6 of the agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This states:

“Members of the team who are witnesses may be obliged by the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina… to provide evidence in accordance with the procedural law of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

The Status Agreement with Serbia, an early draft of which did not grant immunity to team members, is now consistent with the Agreement with Albania and includes provisions stating that members of teams shall not be obliged to give evidence as witnesses.

It includes a further provision that:

“...members of the team may use weapons only when it is absolutely necessary in self-defence to repel an immediate life-threatening attack against themselves or another person, in accordance with the national legislation of the Republic of Serbia”.

▻http://www.statewatch.org/news/2019/may/fx-albania-launch.htm

La police des frontières extérieures de l’UE s’introduit en Albanie

Frontex, l’agence chargée des frontières extérieures de l’Union européenne, a lancé mardi en Albanie sa première opération hors du territoire d’un de ses États membres.

Cette annonce de la Commission européenne intervient quelques jours avant les élections européennes et au moment où la politique migratoire de l’UE est critiquée par les candidats souverainistes, comme le ministre italien de l’Intérieur Matteo Salvini ou le chef de file de la liste française d’extrême droite, Jordan Bardella, qui a récemment qualifié Frontex d’« hôtesse d’accueil pour migrants ».

Cette opération conjointe en Albanie est « une véritable étape historique rapprochant » les Balkans de l’UE, et témoigne d’une « meilleure gestion de la migration et de la protection de nos frontières communes », a commenté à Tirana le commissaire chargé des migrations, Dimitris Avramopoulos.

L’Albanie espère convaincre les États membres d’ouvrir des négociations d’adhésion ce printemps, ce qui lui avait été refusé l’an passé. Son premier ministre Edi Rama a salué « un pas très important dans les relations entre l’Albanie et l’Union européenne » et a estimé qu’il « renforçait également la coopération dans le domaine de la sécurité ».

À partir de 22 mai, Frontex déploiera des équipes conjointes à la frontière grecque avec des agents albanais.

La Commission européenne a passé des accords semblables avec la Macédoine du Nord, la Serbie, le Monténégro et la Bosnie-Herzégovine, qui devraient également entrer en vigueur.

Tous ces pays sont sur une des « routes des Balkans », qui sont toujours empruntées clandestinement par des milliers de personnes en route vers l’Union européenne, même si le flux n’est en rien comparable avec les centaines de milliers de migrants qui ont transité par la région en quelques mois jusqu’à la fermeture des frontières par les pays de l’UE début 2016.

Ce type d’accord « contribuera à l’amélioration de la gestion de la migration clandestine, renforcera la sécurité aux frontières extérieures de l’UE et consolidera la capacité de l’agence à agir dans le voisinage immédiat de l’UE, tout en rapprochant de l’UE les pays voisins concernés », selon un communiqué de la Commission.

Pour éviter de revivre le chaos de 2015, l’Union a acté un renforcement considérable de Frontex. Elle disposera notamment d’ici 2027 d’un contingent de 10 000 garde-frontières et garde-côtes pour aider des pays débordés.

https://images.lpcdn.ca/641x427/201905/21/1641482-membres-frontex-policiers-albanais-conversent.jpg

European Border and Coast Guard Agency began to patrol alongside the Albanian-Greek border in late May (►https://www.bilten.org/?p=28118). Similar agreements have recently been concluded with Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina but Albania is the first country to start implementing programs aimed at blocking refugees entering the EU. Bilten states that Frontex employees can carry arms and fight “against any kind of crime, from” illegal migration “to theft of a car or drug trafficking”. Frontex’s mission is not time-bound, i.e. it depends on the EU’s need. The Albanian authorities see it as a step forward to their membership in the Union.

Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa dobrodosli, le 10.06.2019

L’article original:
Što Frontex radi u Albaniji?

https://www.bilten.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/000_1FP47G.jpg

Nakon što je Europska unija službeno zatvorila “balkansku migrantsku rutu”, očajni ljudi počeli su tražiti nove puteve. Jedan od njih prolazi kroz Albaniju, a tamošnja se vlada odrekla kontrole nad vlastitom granicom u nadi da će time udobrovoljiti unijske dužnosnike.

Agencija za europsku graničnu i obalnu stražu, Frontex, počela je krajem prošlog mjeseca patrolirati uz albansko-grčku granicu. Već prvog dana, raspoređeno je pedesetak policajaca iz različitih zemalja članica EU koji bi se u suradnji s albanskim graničarima trebali boriti protiv “ilegalne migracije”. Iako je slične dogovore Unija nedavno sklopila sa zemljama poput Srbije, Sjeverne Makedonije, Crne Gore te Bosne i Hercegovine – a sve s ciljem blokiranja mogućnosti izbjeglica da uđu na područje EU – Albanija je prva zemlja u kojoj je počela provedba tog programa. Zaposlenici Frontexa ne samo da smiju nositi oružje, već imaju i dozvolu da se bore protiv bilo koje vrste kriminala, od “ilegalnih migracija” do krađe automobila ili trgovine drogom. Također, njihova misija nije vremenski ograničena, što znači da će Frontexovi zaposlenici patrolirati s albanske strane granice dok god to Unija smatra potrebnim.

Unatoč nekim marginalnim glasovima koji su se žalili zbog kršenja nacionalne suverenosti prepuštanjem kontrole nad granicom stranim trupama, javnost je reagirala bilo potpunom nezainteresiranošću ili čak blagom potporom sporazumu koji bi tobože trebao pomoći Albaniji da uđe u Europsku uniju. S puno entuzijazma, lokalni su se mediji hvalili kako su u prva četiri dana Frontexovi zaposlenici već ulovili 92 “ilegalna migranta”. No to nije prvo, a ni najozbiljnije predavanje kontrole nad granicom koje je poduzela albanska vlada. Još od kasnih 1990-ih i ranih 2000-ih jadranskim i jonskim teritorijalnim vodama Republike Albanije patrolira talijanska Guardia di Finanza. Tih se godina albanska obala često koristila kao most prema Italiji preko kojeg je prelazila većina migranata azijskog porijekla, ne samo zbog blizine južne Italije, već i zbog slabosti državnih aparata tijekom goleme krize 1997. i 1998. godine.

Helikopteri Guardije di Finanza također kontroliraju albansko nebo u potrazi za poljima kanabisa i to sve u suradnji s lokalnom državnom birokracijom koja je sama dijelom suradnica dilera, a dijelom nesposobna da im se suprotstavi. No posljednjih godina, zbog toga što su druge rute zatvorene, sve veći broj ljudi počeo se kretati iz Grčke preko Albanije, Crne Gore i BiH prema zemljama EU. Prema Međunarodnoj organizaciji za migracije, granicu je prešlo oko 18 tisuća ljudi, uglavnom iz Sirije, Pakistana i Iraka. To predstavlja povećanje od sedam puta u odnosu na godinu ranije. Tek manji dio tih ljudi je ulovljen zbog nedostatka kapaciteta granične kontrole ili pak potpune indiferencije prema ljudima kojima siromašna zemlja poput Albanije nikada neće biti destinacija.
Tranzitna zemlja

Oni koje ulove smješteni su u prihvatnom centru blizu Tirane, ali odatle im je relativno jednostavno pobjeći i nastaviti put dalje. Dio njih službeno je zatražio azil u Albaniji, ali to ne znači da će se dulje zadržati u zemlji. Ipak, očekuje se da će ubuduće albanske institucije biti znatno agresivnije u politici repatrijacije migranata. U tome će se susretati s brojnim pravnim i administrativnim problemima: kako objašnjavaju lokalni stručnjaci za migracije, Albanija sa zemljama iz kojih dolazi većina migranata – poput Sirije, Pakistana, Iraka i Afganistana – uopće nema diplomatske odnose niti pravne predstavnike u tim zemljama. Zbog toga je koordiniranje procesa repatrijacije gotovo nemoguće. Također, iako sporazum o repatrijaciji postoji s Grčkoj, njime je predviđeno da se u tu zemlju vraćaju samo oni za koje se može dokazati da su iz nje došli, a većina migranata koji dođu iz Grčke nastoji sakriti svaki trag svog boravka u toj zemlji.

U takvoj situaciji, čini se izvjesnim da će Albanija biti zemlja u kojoj će sve veći broj ljudi zapeti na neodređeno vrijeme. Prije nekih godinu i pol dana, izbila je javna panika s dosta rasističkih tonova. Nakon jednog nespretnog intervjua vladinog dužnosnika njemačkom mediju proširile su se glasine da će se u Albaniju naseliti šesto tisuća Sirijaca. Brojka je već na prvi pogled astronomska s obzirom na to da je stanovništvo zemlje oko tri milijuna ljudi, ali teorije zavjere se obično šire kao požar. Neki od drugorazrednih političara čak su pozvali na oružanu borbu ako dođu Sirijci. No ta je panika zapravo brzo prošla, ali tek nakon što je vlada obećala da neće primiti više izbjeglica od onog broja koji bude određen raspodjelom prema dogovoru u Uniji. Otad zapravo nema nekog osobitog antimigrantskog raspoloženja u javnosti, unatoč tome što tisuće ljudi prolazi kroz zemlju.
Europski san

Odnos je uglavnom onaj indiferencije. Tome pridonosi nekoliko stvari: činjenica da je gotovo trećina stanovništva Albanije također odselila u zemlje Unije,1 zatim to što ne postoje neke vjerske i ultranacionalističke stranke, ali najviše to što nitko od migranata nema nikakvu namjeru ostati u zemlji. No zašto je albanska vlada tako nestrpljiva da preda kontrolu granice i suverenitet, odnosno zašto je premijer Edi Rama izgledao tako entuzijastično prilikom ceremonije s Dimitrisom Avramopulosom, europskim povjerenikom za migracije, unutrašnje poslove i državljanstvo? Vlada se nada da će to ubrzati njezin put prema članstvu u Europskoj uniji. Posljednjih pet godina provela je čekajući otvaranje pristupnih pregovora, a predavanje kontrole nad granicom vidi kao još jednu ilustraciju svoje pripadnosti Uniji.

S druge strane, stalna politička kriza koju su izazvali studentski protesti u prosincu 2018., te kasnije bojkot parlamenta i lokalnih izbora od strane opozicijskih stranaka, stavlja neprestani pritisak na vladu. Očajnički treba pozitivan znak iz EU jer vodi političku i ideološku borbu protiv opozicije oko toga tko je autentičniji kulturni i politički predstavnik europejstva. Vlada naziva opoziciju i njezine nasilne prosvjede antieuropskima, dok opozicija optužuje vladu da svojom korupcijom i povezanošću s organiziranim kriminalom radi protiv europskih želja stanovništva. Prije nekoliko dana, Komisija je predložila početak pristupnih pregovora s Albanijom, no Europsko vijeće je to koje ima zadnju riječ. Očekuje se kako će sve ovisiti o toj odluci. Ideja Europe jedno je od čvorišta vladajuće ideologije koja se desetljećima gradi kao antipod komunizmu i Orijentu te historijska destinacija kojoj Albanci stoljećima teže.

Neoliberalna rekonstrukcija ekonomije i društva gotovo je uvijek legitimirana tvrdnjama kako su to nužni – iako bolni – koraci prema integraciji u Europsku uniju. Uspješnost ove ideologije ilustrira činjenica da otprilike 90% ispitanih u različitim studijama podržava Albansku integraciju u EU. U toj situaciji ne čudi ni odnos prema Frontexu.

►https://www.bilten.org/?p=28118

v. la new Frontex Regulation (octobre 2019) :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/806961

Frontex expands operations in EU neighbouring countries

https://digit.site36.net/files/2019/11/Frontex_Albania-1024x683.jpg

After Albania and Montenegro, the EU Commission has concluded a Frontex status agreement with Serbia, to be followed by Northern Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. A first deployment of the EU border troops has meanwhile been increased.

The European Commission has now also signed an arrangement with Serbia on „cooperation on border management“. The so-called status agreement regulates the implementation of „Joint Operations“ with the EU border agency Frontex at the common borders with the European Union. It was already published by the Commission in January and has now been ratified by the Serbian Parliament. Kosovo’s territory is excluded.

The objectives of the agreement include the fight against irregular migration and cross-border crime in accordance with the Frontex Regulation. The EU also promises „increased technical and operational assistance“ to the Serbian border police.

Model status agreement for „priority third countries“

The negotiations with Serbia followed a model status agreement approved by the Commission under the „European Migration Agenda“ for operational cooperation with „priority third countries“. The Commission first concluded a status agreement with Albania a year ago, followed by a similar agreement with Montenegro on 7 October this year. Further status agreements with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Macedonia have been negotiated but still need to be ratified by the national parliaments. The European Parliament must also give its assent.

Once all five status agreements have been signed, Frontex could be deployed throughout the whole Western Balkans with the exception of Kosovo. The EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, describes the agreements as „yet one more step towards bringing the Western Balkan region closer to the EU“. All countries concerned are considered candidates for EU membership and the agreement to the Frontex operations is intended to facilitate the negotiations.

However, this rapprochement is likely to be damaged by the decision of the French government to refuse negotiations on EU membership to Northern Macedonia and Albania despite fulfilling the necessary conditions. The North Macedonian parliament could therefore delay the planned Frontex agreement. The same applies to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which France’s President Macron described as a „ticking time bomb“ for returning jihadists.

Police powers and immunity

The border police officers sent by Frontex from the EU Member States receive a special identity card from the country of deployment and wear their own uniforms with a blue Frontex armband. They will also carry weapons, ammunition and equipment from their sending state and may use force.

The troops enjoy immunity during Frontex operations. If a criminal offence is found, it will be prosecuted by the jurisdiction of the Member State of origin. Frontex team members also enjoy full protection against civil and administrative prosecution in the State of operation. The latter will also be liable for any damage caused by a member of the team during „all acts performed in the exercise of the official functions“.

Deployment plan agreed with Greece

Following the conclusion of the status agreement with Albania, it took six months for Frontex to launch its by now „first-ever joint operation“ on the territory of a neighbouring third country. According to Frontex, the governments in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Romania, Poland and Slovenia have sent personnel to a total of 16 patrol vehicles and one thermovision car.

According to the operational plan, which Frontex says is agreed with the Greek government, the operation will take place along the entire „green“ border and, in addition to border surveillance in the sections Sopik, Çarçovë, Leskovik, Shtikë, Kapshticë and Livadhja, will include border control at the Albanian-Greek crossing points Kakavija, Tre Urat (Çarçovë), Kapshticë, Rips and Qafe Bote. Frontex has set up support offices in Gjirokaster, Kakavija and Kapshticë to coordinate operations.

In the meantime, the operation, which started with 50 EU officials, has grown to 66. One sixth comes from the German Federal Police, which also brought along six of the twelve patrol vehicles currently in use. In addition to operational border control, training measures are also planned in Albania. The operation will also facilitate the exchange of operational information and „best practices“.

No Albanian human rights groups involved

The new Frontex Regulation will apply from 4 December. The border agency will be then granted more powers and will set up a border troop of 10,000 border guards. The measures taken by Frontex should be observed by a Fundamental Rights Officer, among others. Frontex has also set up a Consultative Forum with non-governmental organisations to advise the Agency on how to prevent infringements.

For „Joint Operations“ in third countries, the Consultative Forum recommends involving human rights groups active there in the operational plan. However, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior, which sends eleven officers to Albania, has „no knowledge“ of the involvement of Albanian non-governmental organisations. The German Government also does not know which Albanian organisations might be asked to participate.

►https://digit.site36.net/2019/11/25/frontex-expands-operations-in-eu-neighbouring-countries

Infographic - Border management: agreements with non-EU countries

https://i.imgur.com/b2IxnFb.png

v. aussi :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/718180

Demand the charges against Sarah and Seán are dropped

In Greece, you can go to jail for trying to save a life. It happened to Seán Binder, 25, and Sarah Mardini, 24, when they helped to spot refugee boats in distress. They risk facing up to 25 years in prison.

Sarah and Seán met when they volunteered together as trained rescue workers in Lesvos, Greece. Sarah is a refugee from Syria. Her journey to Europe made international news - she and her sister saved 18 people by dragging their drowning boat to safety. Seán Binder is a son of a Vietnamese refugee. They couldn’t watch refugees drown and do nothing.

Their humanitarian work saved lives, but like many others across Europe, they are being criminalised for helping refugees. The pair risk facing up to 25 years in prison on ‘people smuggling’ charges. They already spent more than 100 days in prison before being released on bail in December 2018.

“Humanitarian work isn’t criminal, nor is it heroic. Helping others should be normal. The real people who are suffering and dying are those already fleeing persecution." Seán Binder

Criminalising humanitarian workers and abandoning refugees at sea won’t stop refugees crossing the sea, but it will cause many more deaths.

Solidarity is not a crime. Call on the Greek authorities to:

Drop the charges against Sarah Mardini and Seán Binder
Publicly acknowledge the legitimacy of humanitarian work which supports refugee and migrant rights

▻https://www.amnesty.org/en/get-involved/write-for-rights/?viewCampaign=48221

In our neighbouring country Bosnia and Herzegovina, the local authorities consider volunteers to disturb public order and peace by helping migrants. As a result, the work of some of them has been banned - you can read more about it in this article: ▻https://www.telegram.hr/politika-kriminal/vlasti-bih-smatraju-da-volonteri-remete-javni-red-i-mir-tako-sto-pomazu-mig. This is the last example of the criminalization of solidarity work, yet it’s not the only one: nowadays Europe is becoming more and more a place of repression towards those who are willing to oppose hate speech and intolerance, promoting and everyday practicing solidarity. You can read more about it in this article: ▻http://novilist.hr/Komentari/Kolumne/Pronadena-zemlja-Borisa-Pavelica/BORIS-PAVELIC-Brigade-bespomocnih?meta_refresh=true.

Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodošli, le 31.05.2019

Migrants dying in Bosnia: Red Cross

Thousands of migrants and refugees are stranded in Bosnia on their way to Western Europe. They are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. The international Red Cross says some have died while trying to find shelter.

About 6,000 people have entered Bosnia and Herzegovina since the start of the year, according to the country’s security agencies. But all the transit centers, which can accommodate around 3,500 people, are full, forcing thousands to sleep rough.

“People are sleeping in parks, in carparks, on the footpath, and in dangerous buildings,” said Indira Kulenovic, operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Bosnia.

“A few weeks ago, three migrants sheltering in an abandoned building burned to death when a candle they were using caused a fire. Soon after, another fell from the top floor of a building he was sheltering in. Psychological stress among migrants is high – just last week one man set himself on fire in desperation,” Kulenovic said.

https://scd.infomigrants.net/media/resize/my_image_big/690dd2557f57f53a0eff91db3f1ac97f65d4a95e.jpeg

‘Humanitarian crisis’

Bosnia is on the route of thousands of people from Asia and North Africa who try to enter Europe via neighboring Croatia, an EU member state. Last year, about 25,000 people entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro.

Mobile teams from the Bosnian Red Cross society have been handing out food, water, clothes, blankets and first aid to the migrants, as well as trying to provide psychological support.

Red Cross workers are also distributing information about active landmine fields to warn people of the dangers of unexploded bombs. Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in Europe.

https://scd.infomigrants.net/media/resize/my_image_big/680831613e7287fc9138d287d58ef938d7a668ce.jpeg

The Red Cross is working in five migrant centers across the country providing meals for 3,000 people a day, as well as clothing, bedding, tents and first aid. Meanwhile, the UN migration agency, IOM, is providing food supplies.

Despite their efforts, the head of the Bosnian Red Cross, Rajko Lazic, says living conditions for many people remain inadequate in the centers and worse for those outside. “The situation has reached a critical point. This is a humanitarian crisis,” Lazic said.

Disease outbreaks

In migrant reception centers, overcrowding has led to an increase in infectious diseases. The Bosnian health minister, Nermina Cemalovic, said on 15 May there were 800 cases of scabies in transit centers in Bihac, one of the western towns where migrants are concentrated.

Health workers have also been trying to prevent an outbreak of measles after aid workers were hospitalized with the disease.

“We are extremely concerned for people on the move in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the IFRC’s Kulenovic said. “They are arriving in poor condition, and many, including children, have walked for weeks. They are hungry, exhausted, sick and cold and traumatized by their journeys. The recent wet weather has just made their journeys worse.”

Kulenovic added that the local population was also suffering from the pressure that extra numbers had put on services, land and property. The IFRC and the Red Cross Society of Bosnia aim to provide food, first aid and other assistance to 7,600 of the most vulnerable migrants as well as cash grants for 1,500 host families during 2019.

▻https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/17218/migrants-dying-in-bosnia-red-cross?ref=tw
#mourir_en_Bosnie #morts #décès #Kljuc #OIM #IOM #Croix-Route

La Bosnie, cul-de-sac pour les migrants

Sur la route des Balkans, les demandeurs d’asile dénoncent la violence de la police croate aux portes de l’Union européenne.

Le regard bute sur les montagnes, flanquées d’arbres pelés par l’hiver et recouvertes, à leur sommet, de nuages épais, si bien qu’on en discerne mal les contours. C’est vers cet horizon obstrué que s’engouffrent chaque jour des dizaines de personnes, dans l’espoir de passer, à pied, la frontière qui sépare la Bosnie-Herzégovine de la Croatie.

La route migratoire qui traverse les Balkans a déporté ici l’une de ses étapes après que plusieurs États (dont la Hongrie et la Slovénie) aient fermé leurs frontières au nord de cet itinéraire. Depuis 2018, Afghans, Pakistanais, Syriens ou encore Algériens empruntent ce chemin après être arrivés en Europe par la frontière greco-turque, et être remontés par l’Albanie et le Monténégro ou bien la Macédoine du Nord et la Serbie. Les flux sont sans commune mesure avec ceux de 2015 mais l’application des Croates, pays candidat à l’entrée dans Schengen, à tenir leur frontière a transformé le nord-ouest de la Bosnie en cul-de-sac.

« C’est une crise humanitaire créée de façon politique »

Il y aurait entre 7 000 et 9 000 migrants dans le pays, essentiellement dans le canton d’#Una_Sana, limitrophe de la Croatie. Une partie vit dans des maisons ou des usines abandonnées, des gares, à la rue ou encore dans des bois. « C’est une crise humanitaire créée de façon politique », répète Peter Van der Auweraert, le représentant de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM) en Bosnie. Le pays offre moins de 5 000 places de mises à l’abri, gérées par l’OIM et financées par l’UE.

Dans la ville frontalière de Bihac, où les stigmates de la guerre civile balafrent encore les édifices du centre-ville, une ancienne usine de réfrigérateurs accueille par exemple 2 000 personnes, dont 400 mineurs non accompagnés, dans des containers. Il arrive que la police limite les sorties des migrants, sans d’autre raison apparente que celle de réduire leur présence en ville. François Giddey, coordinateur de Médecins sans frontières (MSF) en Bosnie, déplore « un espace humanitaire extrêmement restreint car toute structure d’aide est considérée comme un facteur d’attractivité ».

Tous les soirs, des policiers font descendre des dizaines de migrants du train en provenance de Sarajevo, à son entrée dans le canton d’Una Sana, dans la petite gare du village d’Otoka Bosanska. Cette nuit-là, ils sont une quarantaine à être débarqués. L’ONG Danish Refugee Council est autorisée à leur donner un snack avant qu’ils ne soient montés dans un bus pour être déposés deux kilomètres plus loin, en rase campagne, à la limite de la République serbe de Bosnie. « Des passeurs nous feront rejoindre Bihac », sait d’avance un Marocain.

A leur tour, lui et d’autres tenteront leur chance à travers la frontière, un jeu de piste sans joie surnommé « game » par les migrants, qui fait son lot de gagnants et de perdants. Un matin de décembre, on croise une quinzaine de personnes qui ont rebroussé chemin. Hadi Sayed, un Syrien de 30 ans originaire d’Idlib, voyage avec son fils de 10 ans. « On a marché six heures et on a dormi dans une vieille maison dans la montagne, raconte cet homme. Mais le matin, il neigeait, alors on a abandonné ». C’est déjà la troisième fois que Hadi Sayed échoue à passer en Croatie.
Refoulements illégaux et violents récurrents

« La première fois, la police croate nous a attrapés alors qu’on avait passé la frontière, rapporte-t-il. Ils ont menacé de tuer ceux qui avaient tenté de fuir. Avant de nous ramener à la frontière, ils nous ont pris nos téléphones, nos sacs et notre nourriture et ils ont frappé ceux qui avaient tenté de cacher leur téléphone ». Les témoignages de migrants qui dénoncent les refoulements illégaux et violents sont ici récurrents.

Début décembre, la commissaire aux droits de l’homme du Conseil de l’Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, a fait état de sa « grave préoccupation ». « J’ai déjà abordé ce sujet avec le premier ministre de Croatie en octobre 2018. La situation n’a fait qu’empirer depuis ».

Dans le camp de l’OIM à Bihac, Mohamed Bilal présente une jambe droite fracturée et plâtrée. « Lors de ma troisième tentative, les policiers croates nous ont ramenés à la frontière et nous ont fait sortir de leur véhicule un par un, explique le jeune pakistanais. On a dû passer entre deux rangées de policiers qui nous ont battus avec des bâtons ». Ismatullah Rahemi, lui, se déplace en fauteuil roulant car ses deux pieds sont bandés et l’un est encore boursouflé jusqu’à la cheville par une infection. Cet Afghan assure que la police croate lui a confisqué ses chaussures à la frontière, malgré la neige. « Ils ont pris nos sacs, nos téléphones, nos habits et nos chaussures, et ils les ont brûlés, confie-t-il. Ensuite, ils nous ont frappés, ils nous ont poussés dans la rivière jusqu’au torse et ils nous ont laissés en caleçon et en tee-shirt. On a marché douze kilomètres ».

A Velika Kladusa, une autre ville frontalière, dans une maison abandonnée, comme le pays – touché par l’émigration de sa propre population – en compte en grand nombre, six Algériens attendent que le « game » leur sourit, serrés dans une pièce glaciale de leur squat, sans eau, sans électricité, et aux fenêtres béantes. Ils ont déjà tenté trois ou sept fois, ont été arrêtés par les Croates après sept ou dix jours de marche dans la forêt. « On ne nous a pas laissés demander l’asile », jure l’un d’eux. Ils décrivent les mêmes pratiques, leurs affaires incendiées, les coups, le passage obligatoire par la rivière… Ils évoquent des hommes en uniforme noir ou bleu marine, cagoulés.
« Dérive » d’une unité spéciale de la police

Il arrive que des refoulements aient lieu bien au-delà de la ligne frontalière. Hamza, un Algérien de 27 ans, affirme avoir été repoussé depuis la Slovénie. Alaa Asar, Ahmed Aser, Mohamed Eldeyasty et El-Sayed Elmezayen, quatre Egyptiens de 17 ans rencontrés à Bihac, assurent qu’ils ont été refoulés alors qu’ils étaient présents en Croatie depuis plus d’un mois, hébergés et même scolarisés à Split. « Des policiers nous ont arrêtés devant un supermarché et renvoyés Bosnie », témoigne Alaa Asar. Contactée, la directrice du centre de services communautaires de Split (une institution publique de protection sociale à destination des enfants), Marija Tešija, confirme au Monde que les quatre jeunes « sont restés au sein de [l’]institution pendant le mois d’octobre ». « On est dans une Union où de plus en plus de gouvernements ne font même plus semblant de respecter leurs engagements européens », déplore un fonctionnaire européen.

Le directeur de cabinet du premier ministre croate, Zvonimir Frka-Petesic, considère au contraire que « la police croate fait un travail à la fois efficace et humain, et fournit beaucoup d’efforts pour rendre la frontière la moins poreuse possible ». « A chaque fois qu’il y a eu des accusations, des enquêtes ont été diligentées et il n’y a aucun fait avéré », ajoute-t-il.

Le 9 décembre, le site d’information croate Net.hr a pourtant évoqué dans une enquête la « dérive » d’une unité spéciale de la police, Corridor, créée en 2017 pour lutter contre les migrations illégales. L’unité se concentrerait sur l’expulsion vers la Bosnie voisine de migrants, prenant de plus en plus la forme de groupes opérationnels mobiles sans commandement formel. M. Frka-Petesic dément « catégoriquement » la présence à la frontière de policiers cagoulés, tels que souvent décrits par les migrants. « Il n’y a pas de milice d’appoint qui joue les shérifs », évacue-t-il.

Interviewée par Net.hr, la médiatrice croate Lora Vidovic – l’équivalent du Défenseur des droits en France – dit ignorer l’existence d’unités spéciales mais évoque les « nombreuses plaintes de migrants », corroborées par des témoignages anonymes internes aux forces de l’ordre. Les 16 et 27 novembre, la police croate a blessé par balles deux migrants dans la région de Gorski Kotar, limitrophe de la Slovénie. Dans le premier cas, la version officielle veut que le policier ait glissé et tiré accidentellement.

▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/12/30/en-croatie-on-ne-nous-a-pas-laisses-demander-l-asile_6024367_3210.html

Février 2019 :

Fortress Europe continues to take lives. This week, a young man’s body was found in #Istria (▻https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/u-gustoj-sumi-kod-istre-pronadjen-mrtvi-migrant/2062081.aspx), in the inaccessible forest area of #Vodni_dol. It was determined that he died due to freezing (▻http://hr.n1info.com/Vijesti/a368976/Mladi-migrant-smrznuo-se-do-smrti-na-Cicariji.html). The search went off after the police in Žejane met an individual of Sudanese origin who pointed to the man in need of help. The Sudanese got charged for the offense of illegal border crossing, but it is not known whether he was granted access to asylum. In #Velika_Kladuša, a 33-year-old Algerian (▻http://www.federalna.ba/bhs/vijest/264429 was killed in a car crash. According to the testimonies of a friend who was with him, the driver left the car and escaped. What is further concerning, according to his claim, is that the Miral staff did not want to call for help and potentially save the life of an injured man.

Message reçu par email, le 11.02.2019.

En fait, des quelques recherches effectuées, le premier décès a eu lieu en Istrie... or, des informations reçues, je n’arrive pas à comprendre dans quel pays : Croatie ? Slovénie ?

Pour le deuxième, par contre, il semblerait qu’il s’agisse d’un lieu en #Bosnie-Herzégovine : #Velika_Kladuša

Message de la personne auprès de qui j’ai reçu l’information :

As for the humans, whose lives were lost, you were right. The first man was found in Istria, the region of Croatia. And the second one was killed in Velika Kladusa in Bosnia.

#Velika_Kladusa

#Statistiques morts en #Bosnie, #2018 :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/768627
#chiffres

Border Violence Monitoring reported that a young Algerian man died in the Croatian forest. Two weeks ago, specifically on 31 March, Oussama died during “the game” in Croatia, while the rest of the group he was travelling with was detained for nearly two weeks. They have been then pushed back on 11 April. Croatian Mountain Rescue Service published the news on 31 March (▻http://www.gss.hr/novosti/iz-70-metara-duboke-jame-izvuceno-bezivotno-tijelo-muskarca), but from their text, it wasn’t specified or known that the body found was actually from a person on the move. A day later, Croatian media (▻https://www.tportal.hr/vijesti/clanak/poginuli-muskarac-iz-kraske-jame-kod-vrhovina-najvjerojatnije-alzirac-201904) reported on it, without putting the tragic death in any context: in fact, as you can read from the testimony published by BVM (▻https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/march-30-2019-0000-20km-east-from-otocac-at-the-north-west-end-of-the), “At 3 am in the night, the group saw a light and assumed that it was the police. They ran away and suddenly heard Oussama screaming when he fell into the hole where he died. After that, 2 of the group walked around 14 km to the next village, where they explained their situation to a Croatian woman around 12 am. She called the police that arrived 20 minutes later. As an excuse, the police told them that they had to wait for a train to pass at an intersection. The Police also ordered a forest-guide to come. The group witnessed the forest-guide taking preparations to recover the dead body (9 hours after death)”. After witnessing the horrible death of their companion on the road, they experienced limitation of freedom of movement, deprivation of personal goods like mobile phones, humiliation, denial of access to the asylum procedure, even if clearly expressed their will to seek asylum in the country. Moreover, they had to sign papers in the local language, thus not being able to understand it nor the presence of a translator or lawyer have been provided.

Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodošli, le 24.04.2019

Illegal push-backs and border violence reports

https://i.imgur.com/Pdc3SDv.png https://i.imgur.com/8MEOlDl.png

Et un rapport sur #Sid, en #Serbie :

https://i.imgur.com/WjKDVPb.png

The U.S. Department of State published a Human Rights Report for Croatia for 2018, where a significant part is dedicated to the abusing of migrants, refugees, and stateless persons as well as the protection of refugees:
▻https://hr.usembassy.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/233/CROATIA_2018_HUMAN_RIGHTS_REPORT_HR.pdf
Reçu par mail via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 29.04.2019:

https://i.imgur.com/0TesqDB.png

Commentaire en anglais :

the Asylum Protection Centre published photos and information that more than 50 people were violently pushed back by the Croatian police back to Serbia, near Šid. They were heavily beaten with police bats on legs and back. The people describe being beaten, robbed of their belongings, having their phones destroyed, all between April 19 and 22.

►https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-23-4-19-weekend-of-violent-push-backs-from-croatia-and-bosn

The situation in #Šid is worsening - many people are arriving to Serbia and trying to cross the border, while at the same time weather conditions are getting worse, with temperatures getting lower and lower. The police began emptying the streets and spaces used by refugees for temporary accommodation and taking people into camps at the border, which are overcrowded and in very poor conditions. On Friday the police cleared the streets in Šid (►https://www.facebook.com/NoNameKitchenBelgrade/videos/973792239674633) and several makeshift lodgings in the city, including a squatted area where 30 minors were living. They took people into a police station and later to a camp. The police action in the weekend involved more than 150 people in Šid and the surrounding area. Moreover, a reception center in Preševo, in which people will be accommodated during the winter, has reopened (▻http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/drustvo/3754805/prihvatni-centar-u-presevu-ponovo-otvoren.html).

Reçu via Inicijativa dobrodosli, mail du 04.11.2019.

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In the early hours of Friday, 22nd November 2019 a large-scale police eviction took place in Šid, Serbia. Some might recall the illegal burning of a migrant encampment close to the border of October 20th, among many others. Sweeping all squats and unofficial settlements, the recent operation aimed to remove all undocumented people in transit from the streets of Šid. The action targeted approximately 150 people in and around Šid. The largest eviction of people was carried out at the settlement in the former Grafosrem industrial facility, but was accompanied by the clearance of multiple other smaller squats throughout the city. Authorized by municipality of Šid and supported by regional police, as well as units from Sremska Mitrovica and Belgrade, the apprehensions started at 06:00 am.

Outwardly justified as a measure to meet the security concerns of the local population, the operation is clearly part of a larger scheme of internal displacement being realized throughout Serbia during the past week. No Name Kitchen strongly condemn the forced removal of systemically marginalised communities, and the ruthlessness used during these operations.

Concerning the eviction of the Grafosrem squat, there was no official notice given or information on a relocation operation. While around 50 officers conducted the physical apprehension of the ca. 110 people living there, the deputy mayor Zoran Semenović was also in attendance, declaring the abandoned factory site to be his property, loudly insulting NNK volunteers that were present and – together with police - removing these witnesses from the area.

The removal of the inhabitants was followed by the “cleansing” of the grounds - making use of a bulldozer, two forklift trucks, and around 30 workers of the municipality, along with multiple transport vehicles. Under the eyes of the media present, the entirety of the people’s belongings such as cell phones, power banks, clothing, electricity supply, personal money, 40 tents, over 200 blankets and sleeping bags were confiscated by city workers. The flattening of the Grafosrem surroundings lasted until nightfall.

No information on the confiscated possessions was given to NNK, despite requests by volunteers. It is likely these items - provided by NNK and charitable donations from across the region - were destroyed by the authorities, when the hundred plus people were forcibly removed from the site. Similar actions were carried out at various other smaller squat settlements (this time only by police authorities). Persons apprehended did not receive preliminary eviction notices and were conveyed to the local police station to give their information before being removed to reception camps, such as Kikinda and Pirot. Minors were reported to have been taken to Sjenica or housing around Belgrade.

In the days after the operation, volunteers in Šid have been under constant scrutiny. Private people have been observed monitoring the volunteer’s house and filming use of the organisations vehicle. Even the mayor himself began to harass volunteers with his car when they were documenting the remains of the settlements.

Several key questions arise following Fridays events. Do fundamental rights still exist for Serbia’s transit population? What awaits these people in the camps across the country to which they have been forcibly removed? And locally, did Zoran Semenović act in an official capacity when claiming to be the owner of Grafosrem? What will happen to the confiscated possesions of the people expelled in this operation? Will they be returned or wilfully destroyed?

This goes connected with this new agreement: “the European Union signed an agreement with Serbia on border management cooperation between Serbia and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)”.

Text by: Davy Jones

We’re sorry for the delay in reporting about the situation, but the volunteers there are overwhelmed.
It would be great if someone could manage to go there and take sleeping bags, tents and other materials.

►https://www.facebook.com/NoNameKitchenBelgrade/videos/973792239674633

ENS MOVEM - Semana del 20 al 26 de enero de 2020

Through short audio recordings, independent volunteers and volunteers working for small organizations in Greece and some of the EU’s external borders report weekly on their daily work and the dire conditions in which refugees and migrants are living. The audios are in Spanish and, time permitting, subtitles are also provided in Serbo-Croatian and English. When not, the original Spanish transcription is edited to ensure, as far as possible, that an accurate machine translation into English helps you follow these updates.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxWmB5gT5Dk&feature=youtu.be

#Sid #Šid #Velika_Kladusa
–-> Mais aussi #Patras

News from Šid :

Saturday morning, when NNK volunteers came to the Squat as part of their daily routine in the town of Šid, police was already present - together with the owner of the property and a bunch of workers who were supposed to cut down bushes surrounding the Squat.

However, some of them - together with police - started to set tents on fire that they found in the bushes, collected people’s belongings on a pile and set it on fire as well, while other workers tried to steal items that they deemed valuable. When the volunteers tried to put off the fire and prevent the workers from stealing more stuff, things got more violent. Police pushed and grabbed the volunteers, and one of the workers got particularly aggressive and even started hitting them. Before they finally left, they also destroyed a tire of the NNK van.

From their own car was hanging a black flag with a skull symbol, and one of the workers was wearing a “traditional” looking hat. Later we found out that he was not a pirate fan with a penchant for Serbian folklore, but according to neighbours and the clothes that the man was wearing, it might be a supporter of the far-right Chetnik movement. (The Chetniks originated in the Second World War with the aim of creating an ethnically homogenous Serbia, and were responsible for the killings of approximately 50.000 Muslims and Croats.)

https://i.imgur.com/35tdfFp.jpg

Témoignage #audio d’un volontaire de No name kitchen depuis #Šid

Through short audio recordings, independent volunteers and volunteers working for small organizations in some sites of the EU’s external and internal borders report weekly on their daily work and the dire conditions in which refugees and migrants are living. The audios are in Spanish and subtitles are also provided in Serbo-Croatian and English.
The objective of this project is to help give visibility to what is (still) happening at our borders, providing weekly updates of the situation. Here you will find this week’s audio-video, as well as all the previous ones. Thank you for helping us spread the word!

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL9fLNSTtrM&feature=youtu.be

#campement #témoignage #Sid

–—

Dans cet audio, il y a aussi d’autres témoignages, notamment depuis #Patras et #Lesbos, en #Grèce

▻https://balkaninsight.com/2019/03/20/radovan-karadzic-final-verdict-live-blog
▻https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/carnet/2019-03-23-Kosovo-vingt-ans-apres
#Kosovo #Yougoslavie #Balkans

Reçu via la newsletter Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 02.08.2019 :

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, two people lost their lives this week, one in #Bihać (►https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/u-bihacu-umro-migrant-spavao-je-na-pruzi-kad-je-na-njega-naletio-vlak/2105526.aspx) and one in #Polje (►https://www.radiovkladusa.ba/u-naselju-polje-pronadjeno-bezivotno-tijelo-migranta). Uncertain and inhumane living conditions and the absence of legal and safe roads have once again proved fatal for those in need of safety.

#Bihac #2019

–---------

U Bihaću umro migrant, spavao je na pruzi kad je na njega naletio vlak

SINOĆ je na pruzi u Bihaću od udara vlaka iz smjera Sarajeva poginuo jedan migrant, javlja Klix.ba.

Nesreća se dogodila oko 00:25 na pruzi u blizini Jablaničke ulice kod benzinske pumpe Čavkunović, potvrdio je glasnogovornik MUP-a Unsko-sanskog kantona Ale Šiljdedić.

Migrant je navodno spavao, nije čuo sirene upozorenja

Prema riječima svjedoka, vlak se pokušao zaustaviti, ali neuspješno. Migrant je navodno spavao i nije se uspio skloniti s pruge premda su ga sirene upozoravale da se nalazi na mjestu kojem se približava vlak.

Policajci su odmah izašli na teren, a obaviješteno je i tužiteljstvo.

Nije poznato iz koje zemlje dolazi nesretni čovjek koji je preminuo na pruzi.

►https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/u-bihacu-umro-migrant-spavao-je-na-pruzi-kad-je-na-njega-naletio-vlak/2105526.aspx

–--------

U naselju Polje pronađeno beživotno tijelo migranta

Jučer je u Velikoj Kladuši, prema još uvijek neutvrđenim okolnostima, smrtno stradala muška osoba za koju se pretpostavlja da je migrant, potvrdio je za naš Radio portparol MUP-a USK Ale Šiljdedić.

Naime, policijski službenici, u 16:55h, zaprimili su dojavu da se na spratu jedne kuće, u naselju Polje nalazi tijelo nepoznatog muškarca. Slučaj je prijavila uposlenica trgovine koja se nalazi u prizemlju pomenute kuće.

Policijski službenici su po dolasku na teren utvrdili da se radi o beživotnom tijelu, za sada, još uvijek neidentificirane muške osobe. Kako je naveo Šiljdedić, najvjerovatnije je riječ o migrantu, koji je pronađen sa teškim povredama u predjelu glave. Pretpostavlja se da je do smrti došlo usljed nesretnog slučaja, ali se ne isključuje ni mogućnost krivičnog djela. Više informacija bit će poznato nakon što se završi obdukcija tijela.

►https://www.radiovkladusa.ba/u-naselju-polje-pronadjeno-bezivotno-tijelo-migranta

K.A.(30) migrant from Algeria, died on last Friday after being struck by a power stream while trying to board a train in Sid for Croatia.According to witnesses,after the fall,he was giving signs of life for another 2hours in the presence of police,but ambulance didn’t arrive timely

▻https://twitter.com/APC_CZA/status/1105362261470793728

LLEGAL PUSH-BACKS AND BORDER VIOLENCE REPORT

https://i.imgur.com/yCycz5C.png https://i.imgur.com/gLlGfmQ.png

On fait mention dans ce rapport de #push-back_en_chaîne entre l’#Allemagne et la Serbie :

https://i.imgur.com/AFP6CE3.png

Garaža za mučenje migranata

“Policija je dovela njih sedmero u garažu u Korenicu, gdje su im oduzeli sve stvari. Slomili su im mobitele, uništili punjače. Uzeli su im novac, cigarete i hranu. Kad su skinuli odjeću policajci su ih počeli tući rukama, laktovima, nogama”. U posljednjih pola godine pojavila su se višestruka svjedočanstva koja ukazuju na to da hrvatska policija pritvara i muči izbjeglice i migrante u garaži u policijskoj postaji u Korenici. Garaža s plavim vratima, u kojoj, kako se opisuje u svjedočanstvima, izbjeglice i migranti bivaju pretučeni i izgladnjivani, nalazi se svega par metara od dječjeg igrališta.

U više izvještaja različitih organizacija, a najnovije i u posljednjem izvještaju Border Violence Monitoringa, opisuju se garažna mjesta za pritvaranja i zlostavljanje, koja po opisu mogu odgovarati policijskoj postaji u Korenici, koja je zbog blizina granice često u službi odvraćanja izbjeglica i migranta natrag u Bosnu i Hercegovinu.

Prema posljednjim svjedočanstvima u travnju je grupa muškaraca iz Sirije, Alžira i Maroka, uhvaćena blizu granice sa Slovenijom, odvedena u garažu u Korenicu i zatim vraćena natrag u Bosnu i Hercegovinu. Izrazili su namjeru za službenim traženjem azila, ali im je odbijen pristup proceduri, iako na nju imaju zakonsko pravo.

“Policija je dovela njih sedmero u garažu u Korenicu, gdje su im oduzeli sve stvari. Slomili su im mobitele, uništili punjače. Uzeli su im novac, cigarete i hranu. Jednoj su osobi uzeli čak i naočale. U prostoru je samo prljavi pod, bez deka, spužvi, wc-a. Morali su na njemu ležati, iako je bilo užasno hladno. Kad su skinuli odjeću policajci su ih počeli tući rukama, laktovima, nogama. Imali su i elektrošokere i pepper sprej, koje su koristili nekoliko puta. Svi su ljudi plakali”, stoji u svjedočanstvu.

Prva svjedočanstva i opisi garaže pojavili su se u prosincu prošle godine, od strane migranata koji su nakon prelaska granice u Hrvatsku uhićeni, odvedeni u “garažu” pa protjerani natrag u Bosnu i Hercegovinu, bez da im je omogućeno pravo da u Hrvatskoj zatraže azil.

U prosincu 2018. godine, kako je evidentirao Border Violence Monitoring, grupu Alžiraca je nakon prelaska granice pokupio kombi s policajcima u maskirnim uniformama, koji su izgledali kao vojska. Odveli su ih u garažu.

“Policijska postaja je ispred garaže. Dvorište je između policijske postaje i garaže. Unutra je umiovaonik i grijalica, te svjetla na stropu. Prostorija je malena. Nema prozora, samo plava vrata”, stoji u opisu. Istaknuli su kako je bilo hladno te zbog hladnoće nisu mogli spavati. Policajci su, navodi se, s njima pričali nasilno te su im odbili dati hranu.

Naposljetku su, s drugim migrantima koji su već bili u garaži, bez da im se omogući da zatraže azil, izbačeni u planinama i poslani da hodaju natrag u Bosnu satima. Kad su izišli iz kombija, policajci su naložili vatru u koju su bacili sve njihove stvari. “Jedan je policajac htio uzeti i deku u kojoj je bila umotana djevojčica iz iračke obitelji, ali ga je drugi policajac zaustavio da to ne napravi”, navodi se u svjedočanstvu. Vreće za spavanje i šatori su završili u plamenu.

“Policija radi što hoće”, komentar je koji se učestalo čuje među brojnim izbjeglicama koji su više puta protjerani iz Hrvatske. Većina odvraćenih i protjeranih u Velikoj Kladuši, gradu blizu granice u kojem smo nedavno bili, žale se upravo najgorljivije na hrvatsku policiju.

I mještani Velike Kladuše, pogotovo oni koji svakodnevno pomažu izbjeglicama i migrantima, ističu kako ljudi s granice dolaze izmučeni i gladni, nerijetko s modricama, ožiljcima, otvorenim ranama. “Svi ti prizori podsjećaju me na zadnji rat, jedino što nema bombardiranja”, komentira nam jedna mještanka. Nasilje koje provodi hrvatska granična policija tako je postalo svakodnevna tema.

Krajem prošle godine pojavljuje se još jedno svjedočanstvo o “garaži”, u kojem stoji: “Stavili su nas u ćeliju, ali to zapravo nije ćelija, nego više kao garaža, s plavim vratima i pločicama. Ispred je parkiralište i policijska postaja”. “Kad nas je policija uhvatila, nisu nam dali ništa. Tamo je bio neki stari kruh, dosta star. Zatražio sam taj kruh, ali mi ga nisu dali”, opisuje jedan od migranata.

Ponukani ovim svjedočanstvima i opisima garaže za mučenje, nedavno smo posjetili Korenicu. Na ulazu u Korenicu primjećujemo jedan policijski auto parkiran kraj šume, i policajca koji se upravo izvlači iz šume prema autu. Tijekom zimskih mjeseci mogli smo čitati kako “službenici postaje granične policije Korenice provode mjere pojačanog suzbijanja nezakonitih migracija”. U razgovoru s mještanima doznajemo kako su pojačane policijske snage u okolici u posljednje vrijeme, a izbjeglice i migrante se intenzivno traži po okolnim brdima.

Prilikom našeg kratkog boravka u Korenici, ispred policijske postaje se izmijenio velik broj policajaca, dolazili su i odlazili autima i kombijima. Osim policajaca u redovnim uniformama, bilo je i obučenih u tamnozelene uniforme. U postaju dolaze i kombiji bez policijskih oznaka, a prisutni su i policajci u civilnoj odjeći.

https://www.h-alter.org/img/repository/2019/05/scaled/img_20190513_212207_copy18995.jpg https://www.h-alter.org/img/repository/2019/05/scaled/border.jpg

Prednji dio postaje sastoji se od velike zgrade s mnogo prozora, dok je unutarnji dio kompleksa ograđen i s malim dvorištem na kojem je parkirano nekoliko policijskih automobila i kombija, uz prostorije koje nalikuju na garaže, s plavim vratima. Te prostorije s jedne strane gledaju i na obližnje dječje igralište i na tom dijelu nema nijednog prozora. U dvorištu se nalaze i Toi Toi WC-i.

U najnovijem svjedočanstvu koje je dokumentirao Border Violence Monitoring stoji: “Možemo ići samo dva puta dnevno na zahod, ujutro i navečer. Za ovo nas se vodi van u dvorište, gdje se nalaze tri plastična WC-a”, što ukazuje da postoji mogućnost da se radi upravo o ovoj policijskoj postaji. Aktivisti nam potvrđuju kako su svjedočanstva o “garaži” postala učestalija i sve detaljnija u opisima.

I u svjedočanstvima iz ožujka izbjeglice i migranti navode kako su bili zatvoreni satima bez vode i hrane, te su iz nužde morali urinirati u kutu prostorije. “Bili smo kao kokoši. Ne želim se prisjećati tog trenutka. Bili smo poput životinja”, opisuje jedan migrant. “Pod je betoniran, hladno je, moramo spavati na njemu. Postoji samo jedna slavina za vodu i mali grijač na zidu. Vrata su plava i na njima je ispisano na mnogo jezika, datumi, imena i mjesta. Pakistanski, alžirski, marokanski, iranski, sirijski, odasvud”, opisuje se.

Kad su pušteni iz pritvora garaže, kažu, policija ih je ostavila u planinskom području i poslala da hodaju kilometrima natrag prema Bihaću. Učestalo se spominje oduzimanje novca i mobitela i vrijednih stvari koje migranti sa sobom nose.

Procedure odvraćanja izbjeglica i migranata obično se izvode iza zatvorenih vrata i u skrovitim područjima, čime se umanjuje rizik da će biti onih koji će im svjedočiti. Paralelu možemo povući i sa tzv. trećestupanjskim policijskim ispitivanjima.

“Većina trećestupanjskih ispitivanja događala se tijekom pritvaranja na izoliranim lokacijama, uključujući policijske postaje, garaže, ponekad i hotele i mrtvačnice. Ali obično se takva mučenja događaju u pozadinskim sobama, incommunicado prostorijama, posebno dizajniranima u ove svrhe. U javnosti se postojanje takvih prostorija poriče, a njihovo održavanje zahtjeva šutnju čitavog sustava. Policija je rijeko kažnjavana za brutalne metode ispitivanja, korištene za izvlačenje priznanja, ali i da se ’nepoželjne’ otjera iz grada”, navodi se u radu Police Interrogation and Coercion in Domestic American History: Lessons for the War on Terror, Richarda A. Leoa i Alexe Koenig.

“Ovakve prakse postaju sredstvo putem kojeg policija nadilazi svoju ispitivačku ulogu, pojačava svoju moć i zaobilazi ulogu koja je dizajnirana kako bi se spriječila koncentracija i zlouporaba moći od strane države”, zaključuju autori.

Brutalne prakse zlostavljanja i prisilnih protjerivanja koje provode policijski službenici na hrvatskoj granici i o kojima sad već postoje kontinuirana i detaljna svjedočanstva, protivne su i domaćim i međunarodnim zakonima te direktivama.

“Premlaćivanje i deportacija ljudi protivni su zabrani kolektivnih protjerivanja (Članak 4 Protokola 4 ECHR) i zabrani mučenja i nečovječnog ili ponižavajućeg postupanja ili kazni (Članak 3 ECHR)”, navodi se u Petom izvještaju o nezakonitim protjerivanjima i nasilju Republike Hrvatske, koji su nedavno objavile organizacije Are You Syrious?, Centar za mirovne studije i Incijativa Dobrodošli.

Vraćanje migranata u Bosnu i Hercegovinu bez uzimanja u obzir osobnih okolnosti svakog pojedinog slučaja, a posebice zanemarujući njihovu potrebu za međunarodnom zaštitom, pa čak i na izričito traženje azila, uporaba sredstava prisile te ponižavanje ozbiljna su povreda izbjegličkih i migantskih prava, ali i enorman prijestup MUP-a, na što je upozoravala i pučka pravobraniteljica.

MUP-u smo uputili upit za komentar o opžubama za nasilje i mučenje od strane hrvatske policije, kao i za slučaj “garaže” koju se povezuje s policijskom postajom u Korenici. Upitali smo ih i jesu li, s obzirom na svjedočanstva koja se pojavljuju od prosinca, reagirali na optužbe i posvetili se detaljnoj istrazi i uvidu u potencijalne prijestupe i prekoračenja policijske ovlasti u Korenici. Do zaključenja teksta odgovor na upite nismo dobili.

Kada su u pitanju optužbe za policijsko nasilje, u prijašnjim reakcijama iz MUP-a su isticali kako “prilikom postupanja prema migrantima policija poštuje njihova temeljna prava i dostojanstvo te im omogućuje pristup sustavu međunarodne zaštite, ukoliko im je takva zaštita potrebna, sukladno općim dokumentima o ljudskim pravima, regulativi EU-a te nacionalnom zakonodavstvu. Želimo naglasiti nultu stopu tolerancije ovog ministarstva na nezakonitu uporabu sredstava prisile od strane hrvatske policije naspram bilo koje populacije, kao i nultu stopu tolerancije nad neprocesuiranjem bilo kojeg kaznenog djela ili prekršaja počinjenog od strane policijskih službenika”.

Kako je moguće da se u zemlji “nulte stope tolerancije na nezakonitu upotrebu sredstava prisile” kontinuirano pojavljuju svjedočanstva o garažama za mučenje? Ostaje nam zapitati se je li zaista moguće da su sva ova detaljna svjedočanstva, koja se u mnogočemu podudaraju, prikupljena u različitim vremenskim periodima, od ljudi čiji se putevi uglavnom nisu sreli, lažna? Volonteri i aktivisti koji prikupljaju svjedočanstva također se rotiraju i dolaze iz različitih organizacija, pa je i njihova “sugestivnost” faktor koji bi se moglo prekrižiti.

Garaža za mučenje mali je prostor, ali je bijeg od suočavanja s njenim postojanjem velik i indikativan. Arundhati Roy piše: “Ne postoje oni koji nemaju glas. Postoje samo oni koji su namjerno ušutkani i oni koje biramo da ne čujemo.”

▻https://www.h-alter.org/vijesti/garaza-za-mucenje-migranata
#Korenica

Commentaire reçu par email de Inicijativa Dobrodosli, le 22.05.2019 :

H-alter published a text based on refugee testimonies and previously published reports of torture in a blue-coloured door garage that may correspond to the description of the police station in Korenica, located near the children’s playground. The testimonies describe denial of food, limited use of toilet and physical violence that occurs not only at the border but also in the depths of the Croatian territory.

‘Nobody Hears You’ : Migrants, Refugees Beaten on Balkan Borders

https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1139070317802991617/bM6NCDB9?format=jpg&name=600x314#.jpg

Migrants and refugees say they continue to face violence at the hands of police while trying to cross the Balkan peninsula.

It was supposed to have closed. But migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Asia and Africa are still crossing the Balkan peninsula en route to Western Europe. Many report brutality at the hands of the police.

In April this year, some 3,600 migrants and refugees – mainly from Afghanistan and Iran – were registered in Serbia, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

Bosnia last year registered 25,000, though only 3,500 chose to stay in the country while the rest crossed quickly into European Union member Croatia.

No Name Kitchen, NNK, an NGO assisting migrants and refugees, says police violence is on the rise.

Between May 2017 and May last year, NNK recorded 215 reported cases of push-backs by Croatian police to Serbia, of which 45 per cent involved physical violence.

Between May 2017 and December last year, there were 141 push-backs from Croatia to Bosnia, NNK reported, of which 84 per cent involved violence.

Croatian authorities denied police used violence against migrants and refugees, telling BIRN that such accusations were often made up.

BIRN journalists spoke to a number of refugees and migrants in Serbia, Bosnia and Slovenia about their experiences with Croatian police. Most chose to be identified only by their first names.

Ahmed: ‘Nobody hears you’

“They make the music loud and start beating us, one by one. With sticks, electrical sticks…,” said Ahmed, a Moroccan who had spent the past month in a migrant camp in the small Serbian border town of Sid.

Ahmed said he had tried several times to cross the nearby border into Croatia, running a gauntlet known among migrants and refugees as ‘The Game’, but had been turned back each time by Croatian police.

“I’ve been captured and they turn me back, beat me and turn me back,” he told BIRN. “They would come out from the car, one by one and they start, like that until you scream and nobody hears you,” he said.

Ali: ‘Police have no heart’

Ali and a group of friends had made it into Croatia from Bosnia in April and walked for six days in the direction of Slovenia.

“Police officers, they caught us and after that, they brought us in the police station and we were for four hours in the police station like a prisoner and after that… they beat us,” he told BIRN in the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac, a hub for migrants and refugees trying to cross the Croatian border.

“Police have no heart. They don’t want to see that the guys are human. It’s really horrible.”

Nue: ‘I don’t have a country’

Some of those BIRN spoke to said they were fleeing repression in their own countries.

Nue, a Palestinian now also stuck in Sid, said: “My country, I don’t have a country because I am from Palestine… I have ID just to say I am from Palestine.”

Nue said that when he tried to cross the border, he was caught by the Croatian police. He pointed to a cut on his head.

“When he’s [the police officer] catching me, he does like this,” he said, imitating being beaten. “I have to just stay in the tent because maybe I have a problem in my head because [the beating was] very strong.”

Nue said he was now sleeping in the street.

Another man, in the centre of Sid, said police were also violent towards his wife, who was nine months pregnant when BIRN spoke to the couple.

“They don’t care if she’s pregnant or not,” he said. “There is no human qualities in them, you understand. I never seen such people.”

Muhamed: Old and new injuries

Muhamed, from Tunisia, said he had been in Serbia for six weeks having been beating by police on the Croatian border.

“They done with you everything,” he said, and showed injuries he said were inflicted the day before by Croatian police.

Muhamed said he was beaten for 10 minutes and then sent back to Serbia.

“Everytime, doing this, everytime, look, this old and this new,” he said, pointing to the bruises and cuts.

Khalid: It was necessary

In a migrant camp in Slovenia, Khalid, from Eritrea, said he had been deported back to Bosnia eight times.

“I came to Ljubljana by walk,” he said.

“[Croatian police] deported me eight times – four times to [Velika Kladusa] and four times to Bihac. They beat us, and they take [our] phones. They make many things.”

Though he personally had not faced violence, Khalid said he knew of many others who had.

“All the people now, they forget everything because they crossed the borders and also we have to tell them sorry, we cross your country… It was necessary to do it.”

Activist: ‘It’s worse and worse’

Diego Menjibar, an activist with No Name Kitchen, told BIRN:

“They are beaten by batons in borders. Also, with fist, kicking them. We have a lot of cases every week of people beaten with batons, with physical violence, also verbal violence and some of them, they also passed out while they [were] beat, so we have a doctor here.”

Menjibar spoke in a disused factory in Sid that is now filled with tents for migrants and refugees. Roughly 100 pass through the camp each day.

“We talk with the people in the squat and we listen what they say and every time it’s worse and worse,” he said.

Beaten around the legs

In April, Swiss broadcaster SRF and the crew of the TV programme “Rundschau” spent three weeks in the fields on the Bosnian-Croatian border speaking to migrants and refugees in the moment after they were turned back by Croatian police.

“I was literally running after these people when they came down [after being deported],” SRF journalist Nicole Vögele told BIRN. “I was aware that now what we really need is a full line of evidence.”

In May, SRF broadcast a piece showing Croatian police pushing back migrants and refugees into Bosnia. Vögele said many sustained injuries to their legs from being beaten by police with sticks.

“Most of them were showing me the [lower] parts of the legs,” Vögele said. “Two days later, I asked them if they have same traces because just an hour after the beating, as you can imagine you can see a bit of red. But two days later it is clearly visible.”

In the SRF report, an Afghan family, including small children, spoke of bring stopped in the forest by Croatian policemen.

“They pointed their guns at us and said ‘Stop’. We were very scared and cried,” said the oldest of the children. When the family asked for asylum, the police officers laughed and said that they would be given “Bosnian asylum” – meaning that they would be deported back to Bosnia.

Injuries

The Serbian-based NGO Asylum Protection Centre has also gathered extensive evidence of Croatian police brutality.

In late April, Rados Djurovic, the director of the centre, said instances of violence were on the rise.

The NGO has also gathered evidence of migrant families, including children, being starved and exhausted and illegally pushed back into Serbia by Hungarian police.

Police denial

The office of the Croatian ombudsperson said it had acted in more than 50 cases concerning refugees and migrants.

The cases “often involve complaints on various grounds, including police treatment,” the office said in a written reply to BIRN.

Most complaints concerned Croatian and Hungarian police.

“The complaints relate to various types of violence, from hits by hands and sticks to the bite of official dogs,” the office said.

The local health centre in Bihac, in northwestern Bosnia, said it saw up to 10 cases of violent injuries each month, “but injuries are done by various subjects, i.e. the internal conflicts of migrants, third parties and / or police”.

Croatia’s interior ministry said it had looked into all complaints of alleged coercive measures against migrants and that none had warranted further criminal investigation.

“In all these cases, detailed field inspections were carried out in police administrations, and so far in none of the cases have been found that police officers are using forced means against migrants,” it told BIRN.

The ministry stressed its respect for the fundamental rights and dignity of migrants and that it used “prescribed procedure for returning to the country from which they illegally entered into the Republic of Croatia.”

“Migrants are most often falsely accusing police officers of violence, expecting such accusations will help them with a new attempt to enter the Republic of Croatia and continue their journey towards the destination countries,” it said.

In Bosnia, a police spokesman in the Una-Sana canton, where Bihac is located, said police had not received any complaints of violence against migrants and refugees by Bosnian police.

▻https://balkaninsight.com/2019/06/13/nobody-hears-you-migrants-refugees-beaten-on-balkan-borders

Un monde de murs : en Bosnie, la matraque et les poings comme frontière

L’Europe a fait tomber ses murs mais bétonne ses frontières. Depuis 2018, des milliers de personnes tentent de traverser le corridor croate depuis la Bosnie pour atteindre l’espace Schengen. Migrants et ONG dénoncent des refoulements ultra-violents.

Le camp de #Vučjak est situé sur une ancienne décharge. D’après le responsable de la Croix-Rouge, du méthane s’échappe du sol dans certaines zones. Autour des terrains empruntés chaque jour par les migrants sont susceptibles d’abriter des #mines_antipersonnel. - Kristof Vadino.

Ici, on appelle ça le « #game ». Tenter de franchir la frontière entre la Bosnie et la Croatie et atteindre la Slovénie puis l’Italie sans se faire pincer. Le « game », Anwar peut en parler : il a « joué », il a perdu. Ils sont un petit groupe d’adolescents pakistanais et afghans dans le coin d’une grande tente du camp de Vučjak, dans les montagnes du nord de la Bosnie, à manger à même le sol le deuxième (et dernier) repas de la journée. Certains sont majeurs. « La police a tout pris : mes vêtements, mes chaussures… Ils ont tout jeté dans le feu. Et puis, ils ont frappé, fort », raconte le jeune Pakistanais. Parce qu’on demande, il précise : coups de poing, coups de pied, coups de matraque. « Ils nous ont poussés dans la rivière, l’eau était vraiment très froide, mais ils nous ont forcés à rester là deux heures. Ensuite, on a dû monter dans un véhicule et ils ont mis la climatisation à fond. » Ils ont été renvoyés pieds nus dans la forêt.

Si, à vol d’oiseau la frontière n’est qu’à quelques kilomètres du camp, il faut plusieurs heures de marche pour passer la montagne, notoirement habitée par loups, serpents et ours (un psychologue croate de Médecins du Monde raconte avoir suivi une enfant traumatisée après que sa famille a été prise en chasse par un ours). Cette fois-ci, Anwar s’en sort bien, des contusions mais pas de blessures. Celle d’avant, au tibia, a cicatrisé. Une fois, il est parvenu à marcher pendant dix jours en Croatie. Il approchait de la frontière slovène lorsqu’on l’a attrapé. « A chaque fois, ils nous lâchent dans la montagne quand ils nous ramènent. » Les violences ? « Toujours. » Un ami l’a dépanné d’une paire de chaussures et de vêtements, mais il faudra quelque temps avant de réunir à nouveau le matériel nécessaire pour camper dans la « jungle » le long des routes croates. Avant d’avoir une opportunité avec les passeurs aussi. Le tarif : 1.200 euros – payables à l’arrivée – pour rejoindre Trieste à pied depuis la Bosnie. L’option « taxi » est beaucoup plus sûre, mais trois à quatre fois plus chère.

« C’est dur », mais pas question de dévisser de l’objectif. « Inch Allah, je retenterai et je rejoindrai la Belgique », assure Anwar, dans un grand sourire fayot. « Il n’y a pas de vie pour nous au Pakistan. » Autour, les copains qui comprennent un peu l’anglais acquiescent, sérieux.
Une petite équipe pour 700 hommes

L’acharnement, c’est l’impossibilité de faire machine arrière : la dette contractée auprès de sa famille – les terres vendues, les sacrifices pour financer le voyage –, l’obligation de réussite. C’est aussi que, si violentes que puissent être les fins de partie, le « game » vaut le coup. Depuis 2018, un peu plus de 50.000 migrants sont entrés en Bosnie. D’après les chiffres de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), ils seraient actuellement autour de 7.000 sur le territoire ; 700 ont fait le choix de rentrer dans leur pays d’origine. Les autres sont vraisemblablement passés en Europe.

https://i.imgur.com/rcah2fX.jpg

Comme beaucoup, Anwar a passé quelques nuits devant les portes de Bira, le vaste entrepôt qui parque depuis un an plus de 1.500 hommes, mineurs isolés et familles à quelques kilomètres de là. Il est complet en permanence (1.800 personnes en ce moment). L’espace permettrait de rajouter des containers pour ouvrir 500 places supplémentaires, mais le gouvernement local restreint strictement la capacité. Les conditions sont rudes mais, à côté du camp « cauchemar » de Vučjak, c’est trois étoiles. « J’ai dit à la barrière de Bira que j’avais 17 ans », raconte Anwar. « Mais ils n’ont pas voulu que j’entre. » Il a fini par lâcher l’affaire et revenir au camp.

Dans la tente des garçons, le container de la Croix-Rouge locale conserve les pains qui restent du petit-déjeuner. Les retardataires et retournés frappent régulièrement à la porte pour en récupérer. « It’s oooooopeeeeeen. » Affalé sur la table, le garçon aux traits tirés retire prestement le masque médical en se redressant. Mohamed Cehic gère la toute petite équipe de la Croix-Rouge qui tente tant bien que mal, seule, de répondre aux besoins des 700 hommes du camp. Cinq « volontaires » mobilisés sept jours par semaine. Il est épuisé. « Rien à voir avec le travail, j’ai juste mal dormi », assure le responsable. Avant de prendre les rênes du camp, il avait travaillé un mois dans les centres gérés par l’OIM, où la Croix-Rouge assure la distribution des repas. Et avant cela, il était à l’école. Il a 19 ans.

« On fait tout : on a monté les tentes, on collecte et distribue la nourriture, les vêtements, tout », explique Mohamed Cehic. « Ce n’est pas un camp, je dirais plutôt un… site de transit. La situation n’est pas bonne. Ce n’est pas facile pour les gens. » Il est parfois interrompu par les puissantes rafales de vent qui rabattent pluie et branches contre la paroi du container. Reprend quand cela se calme. « L’hiver approche. C’est la montagne ici, il fait beaucoup plus froid qu’en ville. Ça va vite devenir très difficile. » Est-ce qu’il y a d’autres questions, parce qu’il devrait y aller là, il y a encore… beaucoup.
« Si une solution n’est pas trouvée rapidement, les gens vont mourir »

Dehors, les sollicitations reprennent. Deux hommes reviennent de l’unité mobile que Médecins sans frontières fait désormais venir quatre fois par semaine à un kilomètre de là (il n’y avait avant cela aucun accès à l’aide médicale). Ils ont un papier certifiant leur diagnostic : tuberculose. Il faut organiser leur transport à l’hôpital. Entendant parler de « docteur », d’autres arrivent. Un homme a le poignet blessé. « Police. » Il a improvisé un bandage avec un t-shirt déchiré et de la ficelle. Un autre encore ; une plaie suinte à travers le tissu à sa cheville. « C’est trop tard pour le docteur. Demain. » L’eau dans la tente ? « Je sais, on n’a rien pour réparer. » Médicament ? Vêtements ? Non ; plus tard : désolé, je ne peux rien faire ; demain. « Je ne sais pas si on pourra continuer comme ça », reconnaît Mohamed Cehic. « Les autorités ont dit que le camp fermerait le 15 novembre, mais honnêtement, je ne sais plus à qui faire confiance. » Même la nourriture manque. Dans son dernier rapport, la Croix-Rouge affirme ne pas parvenir à fournir les 2.200 calories minimum nécessaires. Le chef de mission de l’OIM, Peter Van der Auweraert, est, lui, plus catégorique : « Si une solution n’est pas trouvée rapidement, les gens vont mourir. »

Vučjak n’a rien d’un camp spontané. Il résulte de la volonté du gouvernement cantonal d’éloigner les migrants des centres-villes et des habitations. Nouvellement empruntée, la route bosnienne a vu le nombre de migrants soudainement augmenter début 2018, passant de 1.116 personnes en 2017 à 23.848 l’année suivante. Même si un centre d’accueil existe à Sarajevo (saturé, comme les autres), la population se concentre dans le seul canton d’Una Sana, très proche de la Slovénie et de l’Italie. Ce qui a pesé sur la population. En l’espace de dix mois, la police du canton a ouvert 185 dossiers criminels à l’encontre de migrants, incluant un meurtre, trois tentatives de meurtre et des intrusions dans des maisons (« Plutôt en quête d’abris que de vol », nuance le porte-parole de la police). Des migrants étaient victimes dans 26 dossiers. Mais s’agissant de Vučjak, l’OIM et la plupart des autres organisations (y compris l’Union européenne, qui finance tous les centres) ont refusé de jouer le jeu. Le site, une ancienne décharge, n’a pas été testé pour sa toxicité. Sans eau courante, ni électricité, il est entouré de zones toujours susceptibles d’abriter des mines antipersonnel, résidus de guerre.
Violences policières

Seule la Croix-Rouge a répondu à l’appel du gouvernement et jongle depuis avec des bouts de ficelle. Enfin, des colsons pour l’heure, seul moyen de rabibocher les tentes déchirées par les intempéries. Au petit matin, les hommes transis de froid se rassemblent près des feux aux abords des tentes. Voire à l’intérieur. C’est dangereux, mais comme tout. Encore emmitouflé dans une mince couverture, un homme se lance dans une grande supplique à l’Union européenne. « Vous nous repoussez, d’accord, mais s’il vous plaît, arrêtez de nous punir. Arrêtez les violences. »

La violence « supposée » de la police croate, toutes les personnes rencontrées qui sont revenues de la frontière disent en avoir fait l’expérience. Les estropiés qui « se sont fait mal » en tentant de traverser font désormais partie du paysage cantonal. Tant à Vučjak que dans les rues et les centres gérés par l’OIM. Comme Ghulem, 38 ans, croisé à Miral, le centre de Velika Kladusa, dans son fauteuil roulant. Lorsque ses amis l’ont ramené du « game » il y a un mois, incapable de tenir sur ses jambes, les médecins ont fait une radio. Mais on ne lui a jamais communiqué les résultats. Il peut légèrement les bouger maintenant, pas plus. Il a mal, surtout le soir. C’était sa première tentative. Un seul coup de matraque sous les genoux. Il y pense tout le temps. Des migrants racontent que la police tape toujours plus dur sur les Pakistanais – majoritaires en ce moment – sans qu’on sache pourquoi.

Naeem était presque en Italie, lorsque la police slovène l’a intercepté et remis aux forces croates. Retour à la montagne. Le bâton a frappé tellement fort qu’il a creusé des trous dans la chair. Sa jambe a doublé de volume avec l’infection. Un mois plus tard, les plaies suintent encore à travers les pansements. Il a de la chance, il a accès à un docteur.
Histoires de disparitions

Contactée, la Commission européenne assure prendre la situation très au sérieux et attend que la Croatie la « tienne informée ». Fin 2018, Bruxelles débloquait une enveloppe de 6,8 millions d’euros pour permettre à la Croatie de renforcer le contrôle de ses frontières – condition pour une intégration future du pays dans l’espace Schengen – « dans le respect du droit de l’Union européenne ». Outre l’achat de matériel, la création de nouveaux postes-frontières et le renforcement des équipes, l’argent devait financer un « monitoring indépendant », censé essentiellement passer en revue les procédures en place. Quant aux violences policières et au déni d’asile, la Croatie « s’est engagée à enquêter sur toute allégation de mauvais traitement de migrants et réfugiés à la frontière ». Le ministère de l’Intérieur croate n’a pas donné suite à nos requêtes (refusant par ailleurs l’accès à un centre d’accueil de Zagreb).
Quotidien de migrant

Le monitoring se fait surtout du côté des ONG. Une poignée d’organisations actives dans les Balkans alimente continuellement le Border Violence Monitoring de rapports d’entretiens menés avec des migrants, souvent complétés de rapports médicaux corroborant les témoignages. De quoi conforter l’idée d’un usage systématique de la violence incluant torture par le froid, passage à tabac, destructions des biens et vêtements et, dans certains cas, des morsures de chiens, os brisés par des coups de bâton…

L’angle mort pour l’heure, ce sont les disparitions. Dans les camps circulent de nombreuses histoires de noyade lors de la traversée de la Glina, la rivière qui sépare la Bosnie de la Croatie. Mais elles restent quasi impossibles à documenter. Alertées par les migrants, les ONG ont amené (poussé) la police bosnienne à découvrir trois corps – dont un dans la rivière – depuis le mois de septembre, induisant ainsi l’ouverture d’enquêtes. Depuis son lit superposé dans l’immense dortoir de Miral, un garçon essaie de se faire entendre, cherche du regard un Pakistanais capable de traduire. « S’il vous plaît, mes amis, ils sont restés là-bas. » Quatre jours plus tôt, il a laissé quatre compagnons dans les bois, à proximité de la frontière slovène, raconte-t-il. « Ils ont mangé des baies empoisonnées. Ils ne se sont pas réveillés. » Les informations lui manquent, il n’a pas de données GPS. « C’est près d’un village. S’il vous plaît. Il faut les aider. »

Déni d’asile

L.K.

D’après les témoignages de migrants et d’organisations locales, de nombreux cas de refoulements se feraient depuis les commissariats de police croates, seuls endroits où les personnes peuvent déclarer leur intention de demander l’asile. « Il est déjà arrivé que des personnes viennent directement dans nos locaux, qu’on les renvoie vers les commissariats… et qu’elles se retrouvent en Bosnie le lendemain », raconte Tajana Tadic, de l’association citoyenne Are you Sirious. « Ça nous met dans une situation compliquée. C’est délicat de demander aux gens de faire confiance une autorité dont ils ont peur, tout en sachant qu’ils ont de bonnes raisons de se méfier. »

La Croatie, cela dit, accueille des demandeurs d’asile. Des familles surtout. Médecins du Monde y assure le screening médical et les consultations psychologiques. « On constate essentiellement des maladies de peau, des blessures traumatiques et des problèmes respiratoires. Côté psychologique, leur esprit est encore tourné vers la route, l’urgence d’avancer. Ce n’est qu’après quelque temps que les problèmes apparaissent, quand ils sortent du “mode survie” », explique une psychologue. « On voit des symptômes dépressifs, des crises de panique, de l’anxiété, des troubles de stress post-traumatiques… »

▻https://plus.lesoir.be/259302/article/2019-11-08/un-monde-de-murs-en-bosnie-la-matraque-et-les-poings-comme-frontiere
#Vucjak #the_game #Cazin #Bihac #Vedika_Kladusa

Réfugiés en Bosnie-Herzégovine : à la frontière croate, le « game » a repris

Bloqués depuis la mi-avril par les mesures de confinement liés à la pandémie, les candidats à l’exil sont de plus en plus nombreux à reprendre la route de Bihać pour tenter de passer en Croatie puis se diriger vers l’Europe occidentale. Malgré les violences, les humiliations et les actes de torture commis par la police, dénoncés par Amnesty international (▻https://www.amnesty.be/infos/actualites/article/croatie-violences-policieres-torture-infligees-migrantes)

« Je vais en Italie. J’ai fait 100 km à pied pour arriver ici », raconte Velid, un Afghan. Trois jours plus tôt, il est parti du camp de Blažuj, près de Sarajevo, afin d’essayer de passer la frontière croate par Bihać, dans le nord-ouest de la Bosnie-Herzégovine. Velid dort dans des bâtiments abandonnés en attendant de tenter le « game ». « Je n’ai rien à boire ni à manger. Les conditions de logement sont mauvaises, sans eau, ni électricité. On a essayé d’aller dans un camp officiel, mais les gens de la sécurité nous disent qu’il n’y a pas de place pour nous. ». Velid est accompagné d’Abdul Samed, lui aussi venu de Blažuj avec l’objectif de rallier l’Italie.

Muhamed Husein est Pakistanais. Il y a trois semaines, il logeait au camp Lipa, à 30 km de Bihać. Il a fini dans les locaux désaffectés de Krajinametal après avoir échoué à passer la frontière croate. « Nous sommes arrivés dans ce bâtiment. Nous n’avons pas d’eau, pas de chaussures. Le camp de Lipa est plein et de nouvelles personnes arrivent. Quand on essaie de pénétrer en Croatie, la police nous attrape et nous reconduit à la frontière. Mais nous, on veut aller en Italie. »

Suite à l’assouplissement des mesures de lutte contre la pandémie, l’arrivée de réfugiés et de migrants sur le territoire du canton d’Una-Sana (USK) est en forte hausse. Selon les informations de la police locale, ces dix derniers jours, 1500 à 2000 nouveaux réfugiés et migrants seraient entrés dans le canton. « Chaque jour, entre 100 et 150 nouveaux migrants en moyenne arrivent dans notre canton en autocar, depuis Sarajevo, Tuzla et Banja Luka », confirme Ale Šiljededić, porte-parole de la police de l’USK. « Comme nous avons pu nous en assurer lors de nos contrôles, certains ont des cartes de camps en activité en Bosnie-Herzégovine, plus précisément à Sarajevo, ce qui signifie qu’ils en partent librement, sans le moindre contrôle ni surveillance. »

Dans le canton de Bihać, les autorités sont inquiètes

Selon les autorités municipales, l’augmentation des arrivées à Bihać réveille la crainte que la situation ne revienne à son état d’avant l’état d’urgence, quand les bâtiments abandonnés, mais également les parcs de la ville, étaient devenus des lieux de rassemblement et de vie pour les migrants faute de place dans les camps officiels saturés. « Il n’y a pas eu de nouvelles arrivées pendant la pandémie », précise Ale Šiljededić. « Nous avons vidé les bâtiments squattés et installé les migrants dans le camp Lipa. Ces jours-ci, ces espaces se remplissent à nouveaux, car les centres d’accueil affichent complet. »

Selon les données de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), en charge de la gestion des camps officiels en Bosnie-Herzégovine, 3500 migrants séjournent actuellement dans les camps du Canton d’Una-Sana, dont 1200 dans le nouveau camp de Lipa. Autre problème pour les autorités municipales, le camp de Bira, situé dans la ville de Bihać, dont la fermeture traîne depuis des mois. D’après l’OIM, il accueille à l’heure actuelle quelque 610 migrants. « Bira doit fermer, c’est notre objectif à long terme, mais fermer Bira et avoir des milliers de migrants dans la nature et dans les rues, ce n’est pas non plus une solution », a déclaré le maire Šuhret Fazlić lors d’une conférence de presse le 4 juin.

Sur la base des conclusions du Groupe opérationnel de suivi de la crise migratoire dans le Canton d’Una-Sana, la police contrôle les autocars qui entrent sur le territoire du canton. « Malheureusement, nous n’arrivons pas complètement à dissuader les migrants d’entrer dans le canton, car la majorité d’entre eux poursuit son chemin vers Bihać à pied ou par d’autres moyens », précise Ale Šiljededić.

Les migrants ont le même objectif que les Bosniens

Azra Ibrahimović-Srebrenica, directrice du camp d’Ušivak, près de Sarajevo, confirme que les migrants sont à nouveau en mouvement. Pendant le confinement, il y avait dans ce centre d’accueil dirigé par l’OIM environ 900 migrants, ils ne sont plus que 400 aujourd’hui. « Leur objectif n’est pas la Bosnie-Herzégovine, mais les pays d’Europe occidentale », rappelle-t-elle. « Toute surveillance de la direction du camp cesse quand les migrants les quittent », poursuit-elle. « D’après ce qu’ils nous disent, ils utilisent les transports publics, selon l’argent dont ils disposent. Certains paient leur voyage, et ceux qui ne peuvent pas s’acheter un billet partent à pied. »

Les restrictions de déplacement des migrants sont-elles toujours en vigueur ? Pour l’OIM, « depuis l’adoption de la décision du Conseil des ministres sur la restriction des déplacements et du séjour des étrangers, qui a suivi l’annonce officielle de la pandémie de Covid-19, il est impossible de quitter les centres d’accueil temporaires de manière régulière ». Cette décision, adoptée le 16 avril, interdit les déplacements et le séjour des sans-papiers en dehors des centres d’accueil. Mais les migrants, comme l’a confirmé l’OIM, quittent en général les camps en sautant les barrières.

La population locale est inquiète, « mais c’est principalement à cause des préjugés envers les migrants », affirme la directrice du camp Ušivak. L’objectif de ces derniers, rappelle-t-elle, est exactement le même que celui des citoyens bosniens qui quittent le pays : une vie meilleure. « Les gens se font des idées fausses et des préjugés sur la base de quelques individus problématiques. En réalité, nous avons dans nos centres des gens charmants, bien élevés, éduqués, cultivés, des sportifs talentueux, comme ce groupe de six footballeurs qui se sont entraînés avec le petit club près du camp. Nous avons aussi des musiciens, des enseignants, des médecins... » Selon les données de l’OIM, il y aurait actuellement sur l’ensemble du territoire de la Bosnie-Herzégovine, plus de 5700 migrants logés dans les sept centres d’accueil sous sa tutelle.

►https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/A-la-frontiere-Bosnie-Herzegovine-Croatie-les-migrants-tentent-de