The pan-European human rights watchdog Council of Europe called on Croatia on Friday to stop collective expulsions and investigate cases of police violence against illegal migrants, problems which have been reported by a number of foreign and local NGOs.

“I am worried by reports that I have received from expert refugee and migrant organisations that provide consistent and substantiated information about a large number of collective expulsions from Croatia to Serbia and to Bosnia and Herzegovina of irregular migrants, including potential asylum seekers. Particularly worrisome are allegations of systematic violence used by Croatian law enforcement officials against those persons, including pregnant women and children. According to UNHCR, Croatia has allegedly collectively expelled 2,500 migrants since the beginning of 2018. Among them, 1,500 reported having been denied access to asylum procedures, while 700 of those persons reported violence and theft by law enforcement officers during summary expulsions,” Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, said in a letter sent to Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

Zagreb had repeatedly dismissed allegations of police violence and mistreatment of migrants.

Mijatovic said that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) prohibits both inhumane treatment and collective expulsions, and called on the Croatian government to investigate such cases and take steps to prevent them from happening in the future.

“I call on the Croatian authorities to initiate and carry out prompt, effective and independent investigations into all recorded cases of collective expulsions and of allegations of violence against migrants, as well as other alleged crimes such as theft, and take all necessary measures to end such practices and prevent their recurrence. I also urge the authorities to ensure that anyone who intends to make an asylum application gets access to a fair and effective procedure,” Mijatovic added.

Earlier this week, two local NGOs warned about the plight of mistreated migrants coming into Croatia, with one group’s members gathering in front of government building and holding up pictures of beaten up migrants.

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