New report reveals massive human rights violations at EU’s external borders

Thousands of migrants were beaten, humiliated and arbitrarily detained at the EU’s external borders before being illegally pushed back, a new report by a group of human rights organizations has revealed.

The Border Violence Monitoring Network has documented hundreds of cases, in which European border guards used “gruesome tactics” to push back refugees, including women and children.

These tactics included “extreme and prolonged beatings, the shaving of heads, forced undressing, sexual assaults, dog attacks, nonconsensual medical treatments, and attacks with Electric Discharge Weapons,” according to the report.

The “Black Book of Pushbacks 2022” report included testimonies of more than 700 migrants, who faced degrading treatment, abuse, or torture while trying to cross the European Union’s external borders in the last two years.

Human rights experts said they will continue with their work, documenting human rights violations at the EU’s external borders, in order to force governments to end these illegal practices and bring those responsible to justice.