“People describe violence during pushbacks. 15-year-olds tell me that they are being kicked by the police. He said that money was being taken and phones were stolen or damaged.

Last year, the European Commission praised Croatia’s protection of people’s rights. They said that Croatia had established a so-called “independent monitoring mechanism” to ensure that fundamental rights are respected on the outer edge of its borders.

The praise came before Croatia’s entry to the Schengen Area, which allows passport-free travel for more than 400 millions EU citizens.

This also happened at a moment when Croatia’s State Secretary, TerezijaGras, aimed to become the next Head of EU’s border agency Frontex.

Gras claimed credit for the establishment of the independent monitor by June 2021 and told MEPs that it would provide the necessary oversight to fundamental rights in the conduct border police activities.

A proposal by the European Commission to revamp the EU’s policies on asylum and migration includes similar systems.

Human Rights Watch and others continue to deny that such monitors are actually useful.

“It is not independent.” It doesn’t go to the border. Bochenek said, “It doesn’t really monitor.”

“It’s only for official border crossings,” said he, noting that pushbacks occur in the forest and away from official border crossing points.

The Croatian government has not responded to a request for comment. The European Commission has not responded as of publication.

Frontex, the EU border agency, says that it has 10 officers stationed at official crossing points between Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, as well 13 more between Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia.

The Danish Refugee Council claims to have recorded 30,000 pushbacks into Bosnia from Croatia over a two-year period.

There were 201 reports in March of pushbacks involving 37 children. Some of these reports may have involved a person being pushed multiple times.

Bochenek’s report contains a number of testimonies as well as further evidence that people are being pushed back from Croatia to Bosnia, a country with no functioning asylum system.

We interviewed 100 people, including over 20 unaccompanied children as well as parents traveling with young children.

One 19-year-old Cameroonian said that Croatian police had beaten him so badly that he was unable to walk for two full months. Two 15-year-olds from Afghanistan claimed that Croatian police had pushed them back to Bosnia in April.

Human Rights Watch was told that “they said they would beat us if they caught up with us again.”