The CMS warns in the letter that Croatia has not been considered a humane country for a long time due to its treatment of refugees.
It notes that the Netherlands on Wednesday decided to suspend the return of refugees to Croatia under the Dublin Regulation due to unlawful and forcible expulsions to which refugees could be subjected.
“That is yet another embarrassment for the country you represent,” the NGO said in the letter to Plenković.
It recalls having demanded that Plenković, after in November 2021 the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled against Croatia in the case of Afghan migrant girl Madina Hussiny, replace national police chief Nikola Milina, Border Police Directorate head Zoran Ničeno, Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović and state secretary Terezija Gras.
The demand was repeated last week following reports that the ECHR ruling in the Hussiny case has become final, but Plenković again refused to do so, saying that the ruling was of an individual character and was not proof of any systemic problem for which the authorities could be responsible, the CMS says.
Recalling in its letter the ruling in the Hussiny case, the CMS also warns that two other cases against Croatia for the collective expulsion of refugees have been underway before the ECHR.
It notes that, according to media reports, refugees are provided with inadequate accommodation, such as in garages.
The CMS also warns that in the past six years there have been numerous reports by civil society organisations, domestic institutions for human rights protection and international institutions, as well as media reports and footage by domestic and foreign media, and testimonies by refugees and police officers, showing that this is a systematic, long-lasting and widespread practice.
“The gravest forms of violation of refugees’ and other migrants’ human rights in our country happen on a daily basis, and nobody has answered for it yet,” the NGO says in the letter.
Following each report of refugees having been beaten up and pushed back, the Ministry of the Interior claimed that it was an isolated incident, as stated also by Plenković in a comment on the death of Madina Hussiny and systematic harassment of her family.
“Prime Minister Plenković, how many isolated incidents constitute systematic practice?” the NGO asks the PM in the letter, calling for the replacement of the responsible officials.
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