The Politics of Injury: Debilitation and the Right to Maim at the EU Border

Figures & data

Figure 1. A man with a foot injury incurred during a pushback from the EU. He was beaten by Croatian police and his shoelaces were confiscated. (Photo: Thom Davies).

Figure 2. Cartography of injury: a map of Southeast Europe showing the location of reported pushbacks (Map: BVMN, 2023).

Table 1. Key characteristics of reported pushbacks: data sourced from 1414 reports by border violence monitoring network, between January 2017 and February 2022.

COMMON CHARACTERISTIC OF PUSHBACKS*	BRIEF DESCRIPTION	PERCENTAGE OF PUSHBACKS
Beatings	Pushbacks often involve physical assault—frequently causing injury— including being kicked, punched, pushed to the ground, sprayed with tear gas, or hit with batons and tasers.	77%
Theft of belongings	Money, phones, and other valuables are stolen by the police in the majority of documented pushbacks.	63%
Destruction of belongings	Phone screens are frequently smashed, and charging points are damaged. Bags, clothes, and shoes are also often destroyed.	36%
Reckless driving	While being transported to the EU border in overcrowded police vehicles, reckless driving causes injury, nausea, and vomiting.	26%
Forced to undress	Pushbacks often involve the forced removal of clothing and shoes, which are often burnt or destroyed in front of them. This intensifies exposure to harsh environmental conditions and risk of injury.	25%
Air conditioning exposure	While being driven back to the EU border in police vans, pushback survivors are often exposed to asphyxiatory conditions and extreme temperatures due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.	17%
Gun Shots	Police discharge their weapon during one in ten reported pushbacks, causing psychological trauma.	10%
Water immersion	Some pushback survivors are forced to wade/swim through rivers during expulsions from the EU, with the risk of drowning, psychological trauma, and hypothermia.	7%
Dog Attacks	More than one in 20 recorded pushbacks involve dog attacks, often creating severe wounds that require medical treatment.	6%

*Each reported pushback from the EU often involves several of these characteristics.

Figure 3. Phones are often smashed and incapacitated by police during pushbacks (Photo: Thom Davies).

Figure 4. “Rescue” photograph attached to a press release responding to Human Rights Watch. Identities hidden (MUP 2020).

Figure 5. A young man in the Vučjak camp examines a map of the surrounding minefields (Photo: Thom Davies).

Figure 6. The isolated Vučjak camp in the foothills of the Dinaric mountains, on the border of the EU. (Photo: Thom Davies).

MUP. 2020. Reaction of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior to the article of the British news portal The Guardian. Press release. https://mup.gov.hr/news/response-of-the-ministry-of-the-interior-to-the-article-published-on-the-online-edition-of-the-british-daily-newspaper-the-guardian/286199.

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