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Protests against the pushbacks of the Croatian police
Photo: Edo Zulic / AP
Migrants are being pushed back at Europe's borders, sometimes with violence.
The Council of Europe has now called for an end to these pushbacks, which have been shown to be practiced at several borders.
At the moment, "violations of the human rights of refugees" are increasingly observed, complained the human rights commissioner of the Strasbourg country organization, Dunja Mijatović.
The Council of Europe states would have to defend themselves against attempts to legalize the rejection of asylum seekers at their external borders.
Countries hardly admit wrongdoing - or not at all
Croatia and Greece in particular have long been accused of violently preventing or deporting people from entering the EU.
After SPIEGEL and other media partners recently released video recordings of the brutal actions of suspected border guards, the government in Zagreb admitted isolated misconduct by its officials.
Athens agreed to investigate, but otherwise categorically denied the allegations.
In addition, there have recently been numerous reports of pushbacks at the EU's external borders with Belarus.
In the past few months, thousands of people, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, have tried to get from Belarus to Poland, Latvia or Lithuania.
Against this background, the Polish parliament voted in favor of legalizing pushbacks.
Hungary has also been cracking down on migrants at its borders for years and is more or less openly pursuing a policy of violent rejection.
Even after a conviction by the European Court of Justice, this did not fundamentally change.
The EU border protection agency Frontex therefore stopped its activities in Hungary.
Mijatović reminds of the duty to »solidarity«
Pushbacks are illegal within the meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Accordingly, asylum seekers must be given the opportunity to apply for asylum.
"Human rights violations against asylum seekers at national borders have increased at an alarming rate," said Human Rights Commissioner Mijatović.
She reminded of the duty to "show solidarity when accepting refugees".
The tendency of the countries of first arrival for migrants in Europe to push back migrants is mainly due to the lack of support from the partner countries.
muk / AFP