12,000 pushbacks in 2021 reflects worrying normalization of illegal practice

The most recent report is the third to be published this year and is part of the Protecting Rights At Borders (PRAB) initiative. It includes data from July to November and shows that, by far, the highest rates of pushbacks were recorded at the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Overall, Afghan nationals are the largest population reporting pushbacks. 10 percent of all pushback incidents involve children. 

The data collected for this report supports previous descriptions of an unofficial but consistent pushback routine, during which border officials confiscate or destroy personal belongings and valuables, in particular phones and cash. Their motivation seems to be twofold: to ensure that any potential evidence of the pushback is destroyed, and to make a profit.

In recent months, public attention has been focused on the Belarusian border with the EU, where pushbacks have also become commonplace.

This reflects a dangerous and growing trend, where EU member states devise ad hoc legal justifications for pushbacks, and apply these questionable doctrines in situations that should be, and indeed are, manageable within the existing laws and commitments they are bound to by the European Convention on Human Rights.

"Whether it happens at the EU border with Belarus, in Croatia, or at the Mediterranean, pushbacks are illegal. Law enforcement officials have the right to protect states' borders, however, human rights must be upheld. Rights violations at the EU's borders are a black stain on the EU’s reputation as a proponent of human dignity and respect for people’s fundamental rights," says Charlotte Slente.