Asylum SEM sees no reason to stop returns to Croatia
The State Secretariat for Migration is continuing to return asylum seekers to Croatia. The office rejects a corresponding demand made by Swiss Refugee Council in mid-February, which had called for a halt to the repatriations.
03.03.2025, 14:48
SDA
According to the latest findings of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), the problems described in the Croatian border region cannot be linked to returns to Croatia under the Dublin procedure. This was announced by the SEM on Monday in response to an inquiry from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The returns were carried out legally and without exception to the capital Zagreb.
Furthermore, there was no connection between the repatriations and the pushbacks at the border mentioned in the communiqué from Swiss Refugee Council (SFH). Pushbacks occur when refugees and migrants are forced back out of the Schengen area immediately after crossing the border and prevented from applying for asylum.
Extensive investigations have not revealed any evidence that the Dublin returnees are at risk of being pushed back to Bosnia and Herzegovina or of systematic violence by the Croatian police authorities, the report continued. The misconduct of the Croatian security forces does not indicate a systematic use of violence against migrants.
The SFH's criticisms and demands are based on a new report on the asylum system in Croatia. Employees of the organization visited Croatian asylum centers in October and spoke with representatives of local non-governmental organizations. There is evidence of systematic incidents of inhumane and degrading treatment of refugees by the Croatian police.
