Croatian police are investigating reports that an Afghan woman was sexually harassed at the country’s border with Bosnia-Herzegovina in the middle of February. She says she was held at knife-point and asked to strip naked whilst being touched by officers.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) has said that the conditions to which detained migrants are subjected on Malta could be considered as "inhuman and degrading treatment."
Italy's Supreme Court of Cassation has confirmed a life sentence for Osman M., known as Ismail, for killing and abusing detainees at the camp of Bani Walid in Libya. The judges said that the man killed at least six people and tortured and raped detainees "beyond any reasonable doubt".
Beatings, threats and abandoning people at sea: According to human rights group Mare Liberum, the violence against migrants at the hands of European border guards has "reached an entirely" new dimension. In a new report, the organization documented close to 10,000 pushbacks in 2020.
Senior German politician Claudia Roth from the Green Party has publicly withdrawn her personal support for the EU’s border protection agency, Frontex. She has called for Germany’s withdrawal from the agency in the absence of a "complete reorientation of Frontex."
A spokesperson for the interior ministry in Malta denies that it has received reports of physical abuse of migrants in detention centers, according to a local activist. Meanwhile a row has erupted over claims that migrants have been attempting suicide in order to draw attention to themselves.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, along with various other human rights advocacy groups, have been busy collecting evidence documenting Hungary’s continual flouting of EU law with regards to pushbacks. Since the EU Court of Justice declared Hungary’s pushbacks illegal in December 2020, a recorded 4,903 people have been pushed back to Serbia.
A Syrian NGO based in the United States has filed a case with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to demand an investigation into alleged abuse and mistreatment of refugees by Greek authorities.
The organization Human Rights Watch has denounced that a "deportation center in Riyadh is holding hundreds of mostly Ethiopian migrant workers in conditions so degrading that they amount to ill treatment." In a statement published on December 15, Human Rights Watch asked Saudi authorities to end detention, abuse and torture.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has asked the UN in Libya to adopt concrete measures to end impunity in the country, and bring to justice those who have committed serious crimes and crimes against humanity.
As part of a larger case involving Syrians, a German citizen is also suing Bashar Assad's security apparatus. Martin Lautwein says he witnessed abuse and killings of other inmates during his 48 days detained in Damascus.
A series of brutal pushbacks took place on the Bosnian-Croatian border last week, including a case of sexual assault, according to the Danish Refugee Council. Dozens of asylum seekers were allegedly victimized.