Halt Summary Returns, Beatings, Robbery of Asylum
Seekers
 |
Bulgarian border police stand near a barbed wire
fence on the Bulgarian-Turkish border on July 17, 2014.
© 2014 Reuters
|
(Budapest) –
Bulgarian law enforcement officials summarily return asylum seekers and
migrants to Turkey, often after stealing their belongings and subjecting them
to violence.
In
research in six countries between October and December 2015, Human Rights Watch
interviewed 45 asylum seekers and migrants from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq
who described 59 incidents of summary returns from Bulgaria to Turkey between
March and November. Twenty-six people said they had been beaten by police or
bitten by police dogs. All but one said they were stripped of their
possessions, in some cases at gunpoint by people they described as Bulgarian
law enforcement officials, then pushed back across the border to Turkey.
“Bulgaria
needs to end the abuse and unlawful treatment of people seeking protection in
Europe,” said Lydia Gall, Balkans and Eastern Europe researcher at Human
Rights Watch. “The Bulgarian government should immediately put a stop to
summary returns, investigate allegations of abuse and pushbacks, and hold those
responsible to account.”
Fourteen
asylum seekers and migrants who had been held in detention in Bulgaria
described beatings by guards, lack of adequate food, and unsanitary conditions.
Three also described being robbed and, in one case, beaten by Bulgarian law
enforcement officials when the person tried to cross from Bulgaria into Serbia.
Human
Rights Watch wrote to the Bulgarian Interior Ministry on December 15, raising
concerns identified during its research. The Interior Ministry has not yet
responded.
Some
asylum seekers and migrants described being apprehended by people wearing
uniforms and insignia consistent with those worn by Bulgarian law enforcement
officials. Others were unable to describe insignia and uniforms because they
were apprehended at night, but they said that those responsible for the abuse
were wearing uniforms and were often accompanied by dogs. They said that
officials stripped them of money and other belongings and took them in police
cars to the Turkish border, forcing them to cross back into Turkey. In some
cases they were also subjected to violence.
Human
Rights Watch documented similar abuses at the Bulgaria-Turkey border and in
detention centers in April and September 2014. The Belgrade Center for
Human Rights documented similar abuses in November 2015. The new Human Rights Watch
findings suggest that the Bulgarian government has failed to take the necessary
action to stop summary expulsions and violence and abuse at its borders and its
detention centers.
The
migrants said that the pushbacks to Turkey in 46 of the 59 cases involved
abusive and violent behavior, including beatings with fists and batons, kicks,
and dog bites. In all but one case, asylum seekers and migrants told Human
Rights Watch that Bulgarian law enforcement officials thoroughly searched them
and took their money, mobile phones, food, drinks, and other items.
Asylum
seekers and migrants trying to leave Bulgaria near the Serbian border also
described being robbed and, in one case, beaten by people they described as
Bulgarian law enforcement officials. They gave detailed accounts of being
apprehended by people they understood to be law enforcement officials close to
the Serbian border, then being stripped of their money, mobile phones, and
other items.
In
April 2014, the European Commission opened infringement proceedings against
Bulgaria in connection with the allegations of summary returns. The procedure
stalled after the Bulgarian authorities flatly denied any wrongdoing despite
evidence from Human Rights Watch and other groups. In September 2015, the
commission initiated new infringement proceedings against Bulgaria for failure
to implement the Qualification Directive, which sets out the minimum standards
for the qualification of international protection as well as protection from refoulement,
which under international law requires not returning anyone to a country where
they would be at risk of being subjected to torture or other cruel or inhuman
treatment.
The
summary return of asylum seekers before their protection claims are considered
violates Bulgaria’s obligations under domestic and international law, including
the 1951 Refugee Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the
European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees the right to
asylum.
While
Bulgaria is entitled to secure its border, under universal standards embodied
in the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law
Enforcement Officials, law enforcement officials, including border agents, may
use force only when nonviolent means have been unsuccessful. Any use of force
must be proportionate and minimize damage and injury.
Taking
asylum seekers and migrants’ possessions through the threat or use of force may
amount to robbery under domestic criminal law. The Bulgarian authorities should
investigate allegations of excessive use of force and robbery by its law
enforcement officials.
“The
failure by Brussels to hold Bulgaria to account for serious rights violations
has left the pushbacks and violence against migrants and asylum seekers
unchecked,” Gall said. “The European Commission should seriously pursue these
blatant violations of EU standards and press Bulgarian authorities to bring to
them to a halt.”
Accounts
of Violent Pushbacks to Turkey
Between October and December 2015, Human Rights Watch interviewed 45 asylum seekers and migrants, including eight unaccompanied children, in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey. They described 59 incidents of summary expulsions from Bulgaria to Turkey. To protect the identity of those interviewed, pseudonyms are used.
Between October and December 2015, Human Rights Watch interviewed 45 asylum seekers and migrants, including eight unaccompanied children, in Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, and Turkey. They described 59 incidents of summary expulsions from Bulgaria to Turkey. To protect the identity of those interviewed, pseudonyms are used.
In
all but one case, witnesses and victims said people they described as Bulgarian
law enforcement officials stripped them of their money, mobile phones, water,
energy drinks, and food before taking them in police cars or trucks to the
Turkish border and forcing them to cross.
Interviewees
described being bitten by police dogs or seeing others bitten; being beaten
with truncheons and wooden branches; and in one case, beaten in the head with a
gun butt. Some said that Bulgarian law enforcement officials fired into the air
after spotting groups of asylum seekers and migrants.
Sinisha,
22, from Afghanistan, described a November 2015 incident:
We
saw the police car and started running. We heard a kid screaming behind, turned
around, and saw the dog biting him. We stopped and saw how the dog dragged him
about 15 meters, viciously biting him, he wouldn’t let go. Then, about eight
police officers came and one started beating the kid while the dog continued biting
him…Then the police told the dog to stop biting but grabbed my friend and had
the dog bite his arm. Then another police hit me on the head with the butt of
his gun. It bled badly. I asked the police for a napkin to wipe the blood from
my face but instead he kicked me on the leg…They took two mobiles, my money and
new shoes…They brought us by police cars to the border and took wooden sticks
and started hitting all of us and made us cross the border to Turkey.
Hamdast,
16, from Afghanistan, described how, after crossing into Bulgaria in early
November from Turkey, he and 47 others were caught by Bulgarian law enforcement
officials:
They
made us stand in a line. They made us take off our trousers down to our knees
and searched us to see if we had money. There were five police officers. They
took 200 euros from me. They also took food and my phone. I had new boots, the
policeman liked them and took them as well. My bag, which had been full, was
given back to me empty…One officer hit me on the face with a tree branch
because I talked…Then police trucks came and took all of us to the Turkish
border and the police kicked each of us while making us cross into Turkey.
Abdullah,
16, also from Afghanistan, said that in early November, people he believed to
be Bulgarian law enforcement officials chased his group of about 40 Afghan men,
shot at them, and then beat them:
When
Bulgarian police saw us, we tried to run away. They chased us with dogs and
shot at us. There were five police. When they caught us, they started beating
us. They kicked me and the others wherever they could reach, [they kicked] my
arm and my head. They did this for about an hour and threatened us with the
dogs. They took my money and mobile.
Nazem,
18, from Afghanistan, said he had been pushed back to Turkey five times in
November. He recounted a similar incident in mid-November:
We
crossed the border. We saw a police dog behind us and hit it with a scarf so it
ran away. A few minutes later, we saw a policeman behind us and he shot in the
air. We sat down. The policeman recognized me and said, ‘You are here for the
third time.’ Then he [had his] dog to bite me and he [the dog] bit my right
arm. Then he [law enforcement official] pointed a gun to my head and said that
if I come again he would kill me…They took US$500 from me and two mobiles and
made us cross the border into Turkey.
Nasratullah,
23, from Afghanistan, said that people he believed to be Bulgarian law
enforcement officials pushed him back to Turkey three times between late
October and mid-November:
When
police caught us, they beat all 22 of us. They searched us and took money and
mobiles from everyone…First they searched us and found the money and started
beating us. They had electric sticks. They beat me with the stick on my arm and
on my back. I don’t know for how long [they beat me] because when they beat me
I lost consciousness. After they took everything from us they left us with only
clothes, put us in cars and took us to the Turkish border and made us cross.
Five
days later, Nasratullah crossed into Bulgaria a second time with a group of 50
men:
A
police dog bit my friend in the leg. He bled and we took a scarf and tied it
around his
leg…When we tried to help my friend, they started beating us. They [five
policemen] all had electric sticks that they beat us with. Then police cars
came, they put us inside them and brought us to the Turkish border and made us
cross.
In
some cases, asylum seekers and migrants said that people they believed to be
Bulgarian law enforcement officials had handed them over to Turkish police.
Rahman, 20, from Afghanistan, who said he had been pushed back to Turkey three
times, described a mid-November incident involving about 50 people:
They
[Bulgarian law enforcement officials] took all they could from us and beat me…
There were four police and two dogs. First they shot in the air and then they
let the dogs after us…They beat me with fists in the face. Then they put us in
a [police] car, took us to the border and gave us to the Turkish police.”
Abuse,
Poor Conditions in Bulgarian Detention Centers
Fourteen asylum seekers and migrants, including three unaccompanied children under 18, described poor conditions in at least two detention centers in Bulgaria: Busmantsi and Elhovo. Four said they had experienced or witnessed abusive behavior, including beatings, by Bulgarian officials in detention centers.
Fourteen asylum seekers and migrants, including three unaccompanied children under 18, described poor conditions in at least two detention centers in Bulgaria: Busmantsi and Elhovo. Four said they had experienced or witnessed abusive behavior, including beatings, by Bulgarian officials in detention centers.
Sina,
16, described his mistreatment during his 15-day detention in early November in
Busmantsi:
The
guards would yell, ‘Why do you come to our country?’…[after] five or six days,
they [guards] kicked me one time…I didn’t know how long I would stay at the
camp…no one knew…the food was scarce, there was never enough to eat.
17-year-old
Sehr, from Afghanistan, also described ill-treatment during his 30-day
detention in Busmantsi in late October:
They
[guards] beat me seven times there [in Busmantsi]. They [guards] hit me with
wooden sticks and there was no reason for the beating. They hit me on my legs
and on my back. They beat all Afghans there…
20-year-old
Gulzar, from Afghanistan, gave a similar account of beatings that occurred in
mid-November in a detention center he could not name but where he was held for
15 days. He said that guards beat him and took his money.
Asylum
seekers and migrants described dirty conditions and inadequate amounts of food
in the detention centers. A 25-year-old man from Syria said that he was held
for two days in very dirty conditions at Elhovo detention center and given bad
food.
Nasratullah,
the 23-year-old Afghan who had described being pushed back to Turkey, described
dirty conditions and insufficient food in a detention center he could not name:
I
was there for eight days [in early November]. It was a closed camp. It was
dirty, the beds were broken, and they didn’t give us enough food to eat. I
never got full…
Asylum
seekers and migrants in all but two cases told Human Rights Watch that food
rations in detention centers were insufficient.
Abuse
at the Bulgaria-Serbia Border
Human Rights Watch interviewed three asylum seekers and migrants who described 11 incidents in which Bulgarian law enforcement officials apprehended them close to the Serbian border, stripped them of belongings, and brought them to police stations for 24 hours, often without water or food. In two cases, arrests involved physical abuse. Didar, 21, from Afghanistan told Human Rights Watch:
Human Rights Watch interviewed three asylum seekers and migrants who described 11 incidents in which Bulgarian law enforcement officials apprehended them close to the Serbian border, stripped them of belongings, and brought them to police stations for 24 hours, often without water or food. In two cases, arrests involved physical abuse. Didar, 21, from Afghanistan told Human Rights Watch:
[In
late November] my friend was beaten by Bulgarian police as we tried to cross
into Serbia. They [police] asked us to show our money and mobiles and told us
to take them out of our pockets. I took out my money and phone and gave to them
but my friend hid his. When police found his money, they started beating him. Two
police beat him, one with fists and the other one with a stick. He beat him on
the face with the stick, he didn’t plan to but my friend turned his head and
the stick hit his nose…he is in hospital in Sofia because of it.
The
Human Rights Watch researcher saw photos of the wounds that appear consistent
with his account of being beaten with a police baton.
An
18-year-old Afghan man said he had been arrested seven times between
mid-October and mid-November by Bulgarian police while trying to enter Serbia
and described abuse and robbery during each arrest:
Every
time Bulgarian police caught us they beat us, mistreated us and took our
money…They kicked us, they used a wooden stick, they swore at us and used bad
language. They talked badly about our mothers and fathers. They kicked us and
hit us wherever they could. Every time they arrested us they did this…One time
when they caught us they brought us somewhere. They made us stay for 24 hours
without food or water. They treated us very badly.
20/1/2016
