Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic on Tuesday dismissed accusations by Human Rights Watch (HRW) levelled against Croatian law enforcement authorities over their treatment of migrants.

“The Croatian police protect the Croatian border, they protect the European Union’s external border in compliance with the Croatian laws and Schengen Zone rules. They have done that and are doing that in a professional manner. Had it not been so, Croatia would not have received commendations from the relevant members of the EU institutions for the way it is coping with the migrant crisis,” Bozinovic said in the Morrocan city of Marrakech on Tuesday, where he represented Croatia at a UN conference in which the Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migrations was adopted on Monday.

The New York-based HRW said in a report on Tuesday that the Croatian police were turning migrants back to the neighbouring Bosnia, and denying them the opportunity to apply for asylum. The organisation had interviewed 20 people, including 11 heads of families and one unaccompanied boy, who said that the Croatian police deported them to Bosnia without due process, after detaining them deep inside Croatian territory.

Sixteen of them, including women and children, said police beat them with batons, kicked and punched them, stole their money, and either stole or destroyed their mobile phones.

In response to this criticism, Minister Bozinovic said that all those objections had been made by people whose attempts to illegally enter Croatia failed.

The police check any reported case (of violence) and maybe somebody would be happier if we managed to find some evidence, but we haven’t found anything (to corroborate the accusations), the minister said.

Asked by the reporters if it is possible to safeguard the border without the use of force, he answered that “the police are trained to do so.”

He said that the UN migration pact made a distinction between migrants and refugees, and that the majority of those coming to the Croatian borders are not refugees but economic migrants.

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