AYS Daily Digest: 01/10/20: Evictions and pushbacks all over Europe
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Eviction, Digest, Europe, Refugees, Pushback

AYS Daily Digest: 01/10/20: Evictions and pushbacks all over Europe

Eviction of the official UN-run Bira camp in BiH // Illegal eviction of unofficial camp in Calais // Pushback from Spanish islet to Morocco // large-scale pushbacks from Cyprus to Lebanon // 7300 pushbacks monitored in Aegean since March // What is it like to be a refugee child in Greece? // Solidarity with PIKPA Are You Syrious? Follow Oct 2, 2020 · 13 min read

Large-scale eviction in Calais on September 29. Copyright: Human Rights Observers

FEATURE: As winter approaches, the situation of refugees in Bosnia-Herzegovina is deteriorating

On Wednesday, 30 September, the Una Sana Canton authorities forcibly transferred refugees from the temporary reception centre Bira in Bihać.

The event unfolded as follows:

“According to people on the move and other witnesses on site, at 3PM today, around 70 minors were taken from their designated area in Bira to the nearby Borići camp, where children and families reside. As soon as the evacuation of minors was done, dozens of special police and regular police officers entered the premises for single men and started removing them from the camp. The plan was not announced to the residents, many of whom panicked as they were taken away. By 6PM, five buses of single men were taken towards the desolate Lipa camp, while around 100 people were allowed to leave Bihać in an unorganised manner. According to information from the field, more than 300 people on the move are now in front of Lipa camp but they say IOM doesn’t allow to them to enter inside. They say there is no food or blankets provided outside the camp, and inside resources are also lacking. Low temperatures and remoteness of the site are making things worse for people who’ve been removed from the relative safety of the solid-structured camp. According to information from Velika Kladuša, another major migrant hub in the Una-Sana canton near the Croatian border, closure of Miral camp is also expected within the next 48 hours.” AYS Breaking News, Facebook

It is important to state that both the emptied camp and the one that people are now waiting in front of are run by IOM. The Lipa camp is not at all equipped for winter conditions; it was only set up in spring as a temporary emergency facility to respond to COVID-19 measures. IOM’s western Balkan Coordinator Van der Auweraert calls on the local authorities to provide solutions for the people who have nowhere to go. However, he could have let the people enter the IOM-run Lipa camp. Instead, he only allowed 10 people with injuries to enter, as the camp was full.

The Croatian NGO CMS denounced the local government, IOM and the UN camp management agency for playing “ping-pong with responsibilities and human lives”.

The EU also condemns the latest actions by BiH’s authorities. A statement of the Delegation of the EU to BiH reads as follows:

“The EU expects the competent Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina to urgently take all necessary measures to prevent a humanitarian crisis from unfolding, ensure shelter for all persons in need, including unaccompanied minors, facilitate humanitarian assistance and stop further evictions. The EU also expects violations of the law to be duly investigated and the rule of law to be upheld. The EU has provided considerable support to Bosnia and Herzegovina to manage migration and asylum. The EU urges Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities to live up to their commitments.”

Full statement here.

BiH is currently hosting some 10,000 people on the move who try to find a way into the EU and are repeatedly being violently pushed back at the Croatian border. Only around 7,000 are housed in IOM-run official camps; the rest are sleeping rough. Winter is coming, and we are once again watching a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.

Van der Auweraert also published videos showing makeshift camps of people on the move in the area of Velika Kladuša:

The pushbacks conducted by Croatian police are continuously carried out in a violent and sadistic manner. NoNameKitchen published the testimony of a man who was, together with many other people, forced by Croatian police to swim across the Korana river to BiH:

“Rahim described that they were brought to the secluded banks of the Korana river under the cover of darkness and ordered out of the vans in one large group. He recalled that six additional officers were present there, all dressed in black uniforms with their faces covered by balaclava masks. Lined up and facing the river bank, Rahim described that they were told to get in the river and swim across: “Everyone together. Tell everyone to go…We’re in a line and beating until people go.” Rahim described that many people screamed that they did not know how to swim but the officers beat them and forced them into the water anyway.”

Two people from Rahim’s group did not survive the crossing.