ZAGREB, July 30, 2018 – The Welcome refugee support initiative on Monday called on Croatian police officers to disobey orders to expel refugees from Croatia in order to show the senselessness of the policy of guarding the border against people who are in need of safety and thus improve the image of the Croatian police.
The initiative warned in a statement that expulsions of refugees are accompanied by physical violence and sexual harassment at the hands of Croatian police, as shown by testimonies and reports by both local and international organisations.
It said that downplaying such actions by claiming that they are individual cases is an attempt to cover up “these systematic inhumane actions”.
The initiative called on all police officers who oppose the widespread practice of expelling refugees to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and who are ordered to engage in violent acts of expulsion to report their personal experience anonymously to the Welcome initiative.
It also called on the public to exert pressure on the government and police to establish civil control of the border and effective civil control of the police, which it said has not been functioning for years.
