Governments must
end push-backs at land and sea borders
, especially at the borders of the European Union, and ensure that migrants are not subjected to ill-treatment by law enforcement.
This is what the Cpt demands from the European Commission against torture and inhuman treatment, an organ of the Council of Europe, in its annual report, highlighting that "refoulements are illegal acts" and that it is forbidden to subject anyone to ill-treatment.
In the document, the Cpt points out that there is ever more frequent recourse to violent pushbacks during interceptions at sea, at border crossings, or of people who have already entered the territory, and that these are practices that "some member States of the Council of Europe try to legalize".
The anti-torture body adds that since 2009 "it has received numerous complaints of ill-treatment of migrants by police and border guards and has visited immigration centers near the borders in appalling conditions".
The ill-treatment, says the Cpt, consists above all of punches, slaps, baton blows when the person is stopped, but also in shooting near the migrants when they are already on the ground, pushing them into rivers and across borders even completely naked, depriving them of any good , or water and food.
Strasbourg points out that these acts are rarely investigated.
Also for this reason, it calls on all States to create independent mechanisms to investigate reports of ill-treatment and refoulements.
"Many European countries face very complex migratory challenges, but this does not mean that they can ignore their human rights obligations", says Alan Mitchell, president of the Cpt.
