Pushbacks at european borders: A reality ignored despite growing challenges
PRAB’s ninth report confirms the grim and ongoing rights violations and humanitarian toll at Europe’s borders, questioning the EU’s commitment to human dignity.
For years, pushbacks—the practice of forcibly returning migrants and asylum-seekers without due process—have been employed as a systematic border management tool. Despite international legal frameworks designed to safeguard human rights, these practices continue to flourish, often leaving vulnerable individuals in precarious and life-threatening situations.
Between January and October 2024, PRAB documented thousands of pushbacks across Europe, adding to the staggering total of over 46,000 since 2021. These figures represent more than numbers; they encapsulate stories of hardship, desperation, and courage.
Migrants and refugees fleeing conflict, persecution, and poverty often find themselves trapped in a cycle of violence and neglect, their rights routinely disregarded by the very systems meant to protect them.
The EU’s Pact on Asylum and Migration was expected to address such systemic issues. Yet, PRAB's findings paint a different picture, suggesting that the Pact, while promising on paper, fails to tackle the root causes and consequences of pushbacks effectively.
Instead of being met with compassion and due process, many migrants are likely to continue encountering hostility, violence, and bureaucratic indifference at Europe’s borders.
A Deepening Crisis
Pushbacks, defined by UN OHCHR as “various measures taken by States which result in migrants, including asylum-seekers, being summarily forced back... without access to international protection or asylum procedures,” remain widespread despite international condemnation.
These practices, PRAB highlights, not only violate the principle of non-refoulement but also expose individuals to life-threatening risks.
Testimonies gathered by PRAB provide firsthand insights into the harsh realities faced by migrants. A Syrian family stranded at the Croatian border shared:
"Police ordered us to leave the van and took all of our personal belongings. It was raining, and our clothes were wet to the skin. Police ordered us to walk towards the border and escorted us... We walked for 5–6 hours until we reached [a transit center in Bosnia]."
Such experiences are not isolated. Over 46,000 pushbacks have been documented since January 2021, with many occurring in remote areas like forests and mountains, away from official border crossings where violations are easier to monitor.
We were forced to sign documents we didn’t understand. No one explained what we were signing. They simply told us to leave.
/ Individual at Polish-Belarus border
The EU’s Response: A Tension Between Commitments and Realities
The European Commission’s December 2024 communication once again framed migration as a security threat and European Member States were given the possibility to restrict fundamental rights, including the right to asylum.
The communication attempts to legalize the reality at Europe’s borders, where the guise of a ‘crisis’ has given member states at the EU’s external borders the self-claimed legitimization’... to curtail the rights of those aiming to find international protection in the EU for more than 12 months.
Limiting people’s right to international protection can not simply be ‘justified’ by a communication. PRAB’s nineth report clearly set outs how the safeguards in the EU Pact on Asylum and Migration attempt to comply with fundamental rights, but are likely to fail in practice.
For instance, while the adopted the Pact on Asylum and Migration, promised a “new, robust, and independent monitoring mechanism”, the PRAB’s report highlights critical shortcomings.
The monitoring mechanism is limited to pre-identified screening facilities and fails to address violations occurring in the so-called “green borders”.
The report further critiques the Crisis Regulation, which allows temporary derogations during emergencies. The PRAB report reveals a stark disconnect between policy rhetoric and on-the-ground realities.
The Humanitarian Toll
Beyond legal violations, pushbacks have severe humanitarian consequences. Individuals subjected to these practices often report violence, deprivation of necessities, and abandonment in perilous conditions.
The report documents instances where border officials “threw people into the sea, abandoned refugees on islets in rivers, or forced them into overcrowded inflatable boats with no safety equipment.”
Particularly vulnerable groups, such as children and women, face heightened risks of violence and exploitation. The criminalization of humanitarian aid further exacerbates this crisis.
In Greece and Poland, for example, aid workers have faced prosecution for providing lifesaving assistance. PRAB notes this trend “undermines the work of human rights defenders and humanitarian aid providers,” calling it a violation of the EU’s core values.
We were left in the middle of the river. The authorities made no effort to rescue us. We were on our own, unsure if we would survive.
These ordeals are mirrored in countless stories where vulnerable individuals, having faced adversity and danger to escape their home countries, are now left with no resources or means to secure refuge.
The abandonment of migrants without belongings and devoid of a way to safety highlights the urgent need for humane and compassionate responses to the complex challenges posed by migration, urging a collective re-evaluation of policies and practices that respect the dignity and rights of those seeking safety in Europe.
