Torture, Covid-19 and forced deterrence at EU borders

This was the fifth time he would try getting smuggled to Italy since the pandemic hit and security measures increased. The hope this time round, was to avoid being caught by Croatian police, avoid the beatings and torture, avoid the pushback...

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, Frontex indicates that irregular migration to the EU is at a long-time low. There is only one place where numbers of irregular border crossings are increasing: the Balkan route, connecting Turkey to central Europe. The article investigates how Covid-19 transformed the migrant route across the Balkans, and why violence has become the new norm of migration management, with police forces in Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia establishing a mechanism of undocumented collective chain pushbacks of migrants and asylum seekers outside of Europe.

Personal testimonies and direct accounts from both people on the move and law enforcement are sided by photographic forensic evidence, as well as the use of maps, satellite and digital illustrations needed to reconstruct and visualise key testimonies.