The Daily Star revealed the suffering of thousands of Bangladeshi Muslims trapped in the woods of Velika Kladusa in the far northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, fleeing the misery of their country.
The newspaper asks, in the title of its report, “Have we forgotten the Bangladeshis trapped in Velika Kladusa?”
According to the report, “Several hundred Bangladeshis are spending nights in overcrowded shacks made of polythene sheets. They don’t have sufficient food, drinking water and emergency medical supplies… Many of the Bangladeshis there said officials from some international agencies distributed food among them and provided medical support occasionally but those were not sufficient.”
It added that “the ones who try to cross into Croatia to ultimately land in Italy or Spain are often allegedly subjected to human rights abuses by the Croatian border police, who have been repeatedly accused of resorting to torture on illegal migrants. According to victims, the Croatian police not only brutally beat them up and push them back into Bosnia, but also seize their possessions, including, money, phones, and even clothes.”
Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Secretary General Charlotte Slente told Deutsche Welle (DW), “People from different groups and nationalities have independently reported inhumane treatment, savage beatings and even sexual abuse at the border. There is an urgent need to ensure that independent border-monitoring mechanisms are in place to prevent these abuses and to ensure that all reports of abuse are transparently and credibly investigated—and those responsible are held to account.”
The organization called on the Bangladeshi government to take immediate measures to address the suffering of individuals. But so far, no major action has been taken.
