The Interior Ministry on Friday refuted accusations made by the Council of Europe about collective deportations of migrants and violence they were subjected to in Croatia, after that organisation urged Zagreb to "stop collective deportation of and police violence against illegal migrants."
On Friday morning, the Council of Europe (CoE) issued a statement in which CoE Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic said that national and foreign NGOs have been warning about violence and deportations of irregular migrants for quite some time now.
The Ministry said that Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic provided detailed answers to Mijatovic on October 3 regarding the Croatian border police conduct towards migrants, the ways in which international protection functions in Croatia, as well as all the efforts Croatia invested in pursuing joint European policies.
Croatia, a member of the European Union and an aspirant for joining the Schengen passport-free area in the foreseeable time, has the sovereign right to to control the arrival of foreign nationals on its territory and is also supposed to safeguard the state border against illegal arrivals, the ministry said.
Since mid-2017, the personnel and technical capacities of the border police along the external border have been enhanced, and measures of deterrence have been stepped up in response to increasing migrations along the so-called Mediterranean and western Balkan routes.
Having in mind that its borders with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are currently most exposed to illegal migrations, Croatia has engaged a large number of police officers to protect those borders and has set up state-of-the-art technical devices for border surveillance around the clock and in all weather conditions, the ministry said.
All reports filed by NGOs about mistreatment of migrants have been looked into as much as possible having in mind that usually there have been no concrete evidence or data necessary to conduct a police investigation, the ministry said, adding that so far, not a single accusation of violence committed by the law enforcement authorities has been proven true.
It also refuted accusations that the police stole any of the foreign nationals’ belongings.
The ministry said that accusations about violence were motivated by migrants’ expectations that such claims may help them, to again reach Croatia on their way to western Europe after the police managed to deter their illegal entrance to Croatia.
The ministry said that, during the heightened migratory pressure on some segments of the Croatian border, the police will continue do their job, showing respect for the fundamental rights of the migrants and implementing the relevant national and EU laws.
