A new scene of mistreatment of migrants on the European borders (Reuters)

A video clip showed Serbian authorities taking a group of naked men in near-freezing temperatures, and forcing them to return from Serbia to North Macedonia, in a new scene of mistreatment of migrants on the European border.

The British newspaper “The Guardian” reported today, Thursday, February 22, 2024, that “the scene presented by the Legis organization (a non-governmental organization in North Macedonia) on its page on the (X) platform, shows a row of semi-naked men along the road near the Serbian-Macedonian border.” North.

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The newspaper added, "The video clips were filmed by a citizen near the village of Logan, near the Serbian border, and were handed over to the organization a few days ago."

The organization says that the incident was the second of two "abusive" and "humiliating" operations over the course of 24 hours, claiming that more than 50 people were forced to strip naked and walk in their underwear by Serbian authorities before they were forcibly returned to North Macedonia, according to the newspaper.

Legis reports: “Stripped and beaten.”


Serbian border police violently pushback 70 people to North Macedonia, days after EU border cooperation summit.

pic.twitter.com/9JTHDy7TIp

— Legis (@LegisSkopje) February 15, 2024

The organization commented on the video, saying, “Serbian border police violently returned 70 people to North Macedonia, days after the European Union border cooperation summit,” noting that its local employees were later able to speak to the men who identified themselves as Syrians.

“Although there have been reports of migrants being stripped naked at other European borders, this is the first time this has been reported on the border between Serbia and North Macedonia,” says Jasmin Redjepi, head of the organization.

He explained that the "disturbing and humiliating" returns of refugees came shortly after the EU-Serbia border cooperation summit, which was aimed at strengthening the Serbian border against human smuggling operations.

He added, "These incidents happen when the European Union places restrictions on migrants. Then we see the direct impact and consequences. This way, in which these people are prevented from entering Serbia, represents an additional security problem."

He continued, "We know what was happening in Bosnia, when such repressive measures were carried out by the Croatian border police on migrants, and immediately after that they faced problems in Bosnia, the country to which they were returning. Then they committed criminal acts among themselves, as they no longer returned." "They have no other way to get money than to fight among themselves to get ahead."

Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatović said, “Recent reports regarding the treatment of migrants by Serbian police officers on the border with North Macedonia, which were characterized by ill-treatment and degrading treatment and the theft of migrants’ belongings, require a prompt and effective investigation by state authorities.”

Mijatović stressed that the violations that "appeared to be occurring on the borders of North Macedonia were indicative of the mistreatment of vulnerable people at borders across Europe," describing the widespread phenomenon of illegal returns as a "pressing European problem."

She said, "What I noticed and warned about is that migrants have been subjected to potentially humiliating treatment or torture in many European countries for years, in clear violation of states' obligations in the field of human rights."

For his part, the Executive Director of the Center for Asylum Protection in Serbia, Rados Djurovic, explained that his employees have witnessed an increase in accounts of returns from Serbia to North Macedonia since the beginning of the year, saying, “But we can say that it is now a regular practice.”

He added, “These events are not only worrying, but also indicate a broader and worrying trend among Council of Europe member states. These measures appear to violate the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits refoulement and collective expulsion, as well as other international standards that require ensuring Refugees get what they seek.

Migrants and asylum seekers: forced returns and calls for help

A report issued by a Belgian non-governmental organization estimated that more than 346,000 forced returns occurred at European borders in 2023.

In August 2023, video clips spread on social media platforms showed calls for help from Syrian refugees who had been stranded on the island of Hellas in Greece for more than two weeks.

The Syrian refugees were on their way to Europe, but failed to return to Turkey and remained stuck on one of the Greek islands.

According to the distress call launched by the “Refugees in Libya” organization, the group included 28 children, 18 men, and 11 women, including pregnant women. Many of them were suffering from health problems, and had been living without food, drink, or medical care for about 16 days.

On February 2, 2022, the bodies of 12 migrants who had been deported by Greek Coast Guard units and stripped of their clothes and shoes were found, and they later died as a result of the cold on the Greek-Turkish border.

On December 9, 2022, Syrian asylum seekers, most of whom were women and children, launched a distress call to rescue them after they had been stranded for days on an island near the Evros River separating Turkey and Greece.

The number of migrants stranded in Greece has increased dramatically recently after the Balkan countries closed their borders, preventing them from proceeding along the so-called Balkan Route to the wealthier countries in northern and western Europe.

Refugees and migrants - most of whom are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - are living in extremely difficult humanitarian conditions after the Macedonian authorities decided to close the border with Greece.

Greece continues to reduce subsidies provided to asylum seekers and refugees, amid tightening policies towards migrants across Europe, as financial assistance amounting to a few hundred dollars per month stops when the asylum seeker obtains refugee status.

In December 2022, Athens stopped a European Union-funded program that had paid rent to tens of thousands of refugees over the past seven years.

Source: Al Jazeera + British press + social networking sites