ZAGREB, September 26, 2019 - In the first eight months of 2019, Croatian border police arrested and processed 11,813 migrants who attempted to illegally enter the country, which is 3,609 more persons than in 2018 and as many as 8,019 more persons than in the same period of 2018, the Jutarnji List daily of Thursday reports.

The daily quotes official figures from the Ministry of the Interior which show that police stopped 49 people on a daily basis while they were trying to illegally cross the border into the country.

However, the total number of illegal migrants processed by Croatian police in the first eight months is far higher because in the same period, Slovenian police returned to Croatia 6,447 illegal migrants.

Those people managed to cross Croatian territory into Slovenia, where they were arrested and returned to Croatia in line with international regulations. Based on these figures, it can be concluded that 18,260 illegal migrants entered Croatia in the period from 1 January to 31 August.

The daily wonders where those 18,260 people are and concludes that they have been sent back to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia without having been offered protection.

If the influx of migrants continues at the current rate, Croatian police could arrest more than 15,000 migrants by the end of the year, which is by far the highest number since March 2016, when a large wave of people arriving in Europe from the Middle East, Asia and Africa was stopped.

Leading police and border officials warned at a meeting of the coordinating committee for homeland security on Tuesday that the situation with illegal migrants has been growing more and more serious.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 25, 2019 - The Ministry of the Interior on Tuesday denied an article by the H-Alter news website saying that Croatian police were "punishing migrants" by burning their feet with a hot iron rod.

"In order for an allegation to be officially verifiable at least some evidence should be made available, but none is presented in the article," the ministry said in a statement.

It said that the person who spoke with the author of the article did not know which police station he was taken to, could not remember details of the appearance of the police station, and the article did not specify the time when the incident allegedly happened.

"This kind of reporting can only be tendentious and that's why we resolutely dismiss the allegations from the article, which provides no evidence to support the claims made in it," the statement said, adding that the primary task of Croatian police is to guard the country's borders and protect its citizens and their property.

The ministry stressed that the Croatian police abide by all relevant European and national regulations concerning human rights protection.

"We emphasise once again that the Ministry of the Interior has zero tolerance to any form of violence, including in the treatment of migrants. So far it has been shown that accusations of alleged violence used by the Croatian police, made by migrants who were prevented from crossing the state border illegally, have no basis in reality nor have they ever been corroborated by any evidence," the statement said.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 17, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović has said that Croatia will not change its policy towards migrants, which has been recognised by the European Commission, underscoring that the country will continue reinforcing the protection of its borders against irregular crossings and, in parallel, enable the integration of migrants who want to stay in Croatia.

"We are ready to respond to any situation in the event of a stronger influx (of irregular migrants)," Božinović told reporters at an international conference on homeland security in Zagreb on Tuesday.

Addressing the conference, President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović warned about possible recurrence of migrant crisis, and said that Croatia would respond to such developments in a responsible manner, protecting its borders.

In his comment on the president's speech, the minister told reporters that, being a sovereign state, Croatia protected its territory and had reinforced human and technical capacities to that end.

He noted that the developments in the Middle East and north Africa are being followed, as those areas are sources of a large number of migrants. "Currently, there is no direct threat," Božinović said, adding that Croatia had stepped up control of migrations.

He also underscored a rise in the number of arrests of migrants' smugglers as a result of both higher pressure from migratory routes and improved efficiency of law enforcement authorities.

The minister commented on Croatia's obligation to integrate migrants relocated from Greece, Turkey and Italy.

"Some 252 people have been integrated in Croatia under that scheme, and the process is going on well," Božinović said, recalling that the government assumed that duty in 2015.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 6, 2019 - A group of about 20 Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrants were given notices of readmission to Bosnia and Herzegovina after it was established that they had entered Croatia illegally and after none of them applied for asylum or requested medical attention, the police told Hina on Thursday.

The migrants were found in Pokupsko, south of Zagreb, where they stopped on their way to Slovenia. They had walked along a road from Velika Gorica and sat outside a church in Pokupsko waiting for the police to pick them up, according to the police report.

The police found that they had illegally crossed the border from the Bosnian town of Velika Kladuša.

They were processed in accordance with the law on foreign nationals and were given notices of readmission after they expressed no wish to apply for international protection in Croatia.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 5, 2019 - The highest number of asylees in Croatia, 620, are accommodated in Zagreb and the lowest in counties reputed as multicultural, which points to the weakness of the state's policy, Večernji List daily said on Thursday.

Since 2015, Croatia has granted international protection for 696 people, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Interior Ministry data, asylum has been granted for 620 and subsidiary protection for 76 applicants. The government has also met its 2015 and 2017 obligations to take in 250 Syrian refugees relocated from Turkey as well as adopting a third decision to take in up to 150 citizens from third countries in a show of solidarity with other EU member states, the newspaper said.

As expected, the largest number of asylees is in Zagreb, but it is surprising that Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties, reputed as multicultural and tolerant, have taken in only 15 people, Večernji List said.

The state has the duty to integrate asylees into society so that, while keeping their culture, they can accept the values and norms of Croatian society and it them. However, Croatia does not have a migration policy and until now has not dealt with the integration of a larger number of foreigners from third countries, so integration is being implemented based on government action plans for the integration of refugees and asylees, the paper said.

It also mentioned the findings of a government survey showing that the lowest support for asylee rights, the highest expectation of negative change and the least willingness to help come from the people of the Dalmatia coastal region and eastern Croatia, while Istria and Primorje-Gorski Kotar counties and central Croatia have more positive views.

Willingness for close contact with asylees is lowest in Dalmatia and eastern Croatia, and highest in the northern Adriatic and central Croatia, Večernji List said, adding that it was therefore surprising that only 11 asylees have residence in Istria County and only four in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. Eighty-seven asylees reside in Sisak-Moslavina County, 43 in Zadar County, 42 in Brod-Posavina County, 34 in Zagreb County, seven in Split-Dalmatia County, six in Varaždin County, one in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, while there is not one asylee in Međimurje County.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 2, 2019 - Croatia's Interior Ministry on Monday said that it was not acquainted with a case of alleged violence against migrants that Serbia's office for refugees and migrants reported about last week.

The Serbian office claimed last Saturday that Croatian border police staff had brutally beaten an Afghan minor.

"We consider this one more unfounded and uncorroborated accusation against the Croatian police forces because of their persistence and resoluteness in the protection of the state border which is also the European Union's external border," the ministry said in a press release.

Croatia's police have prevented 9,487 attempts of illegal crossings of its border since the beginning of this year, which is a 200% increase compared to the corresponding period in 2018.

Croatian law enforcement authorities have to date arrested nearly 600 migrant smugglers and 17% of the apprehended smugglers were Serbian nationals, the ministry added.

It recalled several cases when Croatian police officers helped migrants in dire situations and rescued them from peril.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, September 2, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović said in a television interview on Sunday evening that the migrant wave was less intense than four years ago but that the number of illegal migrants had increased, adding that Croatia was following the rules and would not allow illegal migrations.

"The migrant wave has actually never stopped. It is much less intense than in 2015 and 2016. The main difference is that in 2015 migrants were invited to western Europe, while the situation today is completely different," Božinović told the HRT public television service.

He said that the EU today obviously did not want to take in illegal migrants anymore and that Croatia, given the fact that it has the longest external border of the European Union, was withstanding the pressure.

Božinović said that Croatia was aware of the complex situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina given its internal relations and division of powers, adding that the problem was not the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia but "the fact that, according to their own admissions, they are doing nothing on the eastern border of Bosnia and Herzegovina where migrants are entering the country."

The minister said that the number of illegal migrants had increased compared to last year. "Croatian police are abiding by the law and are not allowing illegal migrants into Croatia," he said.

Asked if Croatia had the resources to deal with the increased number of people smugglers, 589 of whom have been arrested so far this year compared to 600 in the whole of 2018, Božinović said that the police had the necessary resources and were much better organised in combating illegal migration.

As for Croatia's bid to join the Schengen passport-free area, Božinović said that a confirmation of the country's technical preparedness was expected this month. He said that seven chapters had been closed and one more was expected to be closed within the next week or two, after which a political decision would follow.

"It is very much in Europe's interest for Croatia to become a Schengen member," the interior minister said.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 31, 2019 - The driver, a 45-year-old Serbian national suspected of causing an accident in which a female migrant lost her life when he left his van while it was sinking, was on Saturday remanded in custody after he was arrested at the Bajakovo border crossing on late Friday.

The suspect was admitted to prison in Sisak, local police reported today.

The fugitive was apprehended in a bus at Bajakovo while he was trying to cross from Croatia into Serbia.

The suspect was driving the van transporting 11 illegal migrants through Croatia on 25 August and in his attempt to evade a police check point on the road near Sisak, he made the van swerve, which was why it fell into the nearby river. During the tragic accident, the driver jumped out of the vehicle, and left it sinking. While trying to rescue her children when the van ran into the river, the woman drowned. The other 10 migrants, who were rescued by the police, were admitted to the Sisak hospital.

Soon after the accident three men connected with smuggling those migrants were arrested when they tried to leave Croatia by bus. When the driver jumped out of the sinking van, he ran into the mine-infested field near the site of accident at the Slatina Pokupska village. The police search for the fugitive driver lasted six days.

All the migrants who were rescued from the sinking van have applied for asylum in Croatia.

A police investigation int the case is under way.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 26, 2019 - The Head of Croatia's Border Police Directorate, Zoran Ničeno, has said that the police registered an almost 200% rise in the number of illegal border crossings in the first seven months of 2019, with statistics showing some 9,500 such cases.

In parallel, since a flow of migrants' started passing through Bosnia and Herzegovina, there has been an increase in the rate of detected criminal offences in this segment, Ničeno told the national broadcaster HTV on Sunday evening explaining that a rise in the detected criminal offences was also a result of the better organisation of the police work, flexibility and engagement of all police sectors in efforts to curb the inflow of irregular migrants.

For instance, the police arrested 505 migrants' smugglers in the first seven months of 2019.

Ničeno finds it disputable that Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities have set up an accommodation centre for passing illegal migrants intentionally at the village of Vučjak, just a few kilometres from its border with Croatia.

He underscores that Croatia's law enforcement authorities have already seen media footage showing Bosnia's police officers pushing 200-300 migrants in front of themselves towards the border with Croatia in that area of Vučjak.

He criticised the attempts of the Bosnian police to make irregular migrants cross into Croatia.

The Croatian official once again dismissed accusations that Croatia's border police are pushing back migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Media outlets disseminate information that illegal crossings of the border is something normal and that migrants are always right. The attention is paid only to the humanitarian aspect of this problem that is really worrisome, he added.

He explained that the police only deter the attempts of illegal crossings into Croatia's territory.

Ničeno appealed on international and local NGOs to inform migrants that illegal entries are not permitted.

He also informed the TV audience that an investigation is under way regarding the case of a van with German licence plates that was transporting illegal migrants which swerved in the River Kupa in the village of Slatina Pokupka near the town of Glina on Sunday morning while it was trying to evade a police patrol.

A woman lost her life in that accident.

While evading a police checkpoint, the driver jumped out of the vehicle and fled towards a mine-suspected area and the vehicle fell into the river. The police smashed the windows of the van while it was afloat and rescued 11 people.

However, one of those rescued migrants, a female migrant, who was receiving medical aid, died at the scene.

The police are searching for the fleeing driver.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, August 25, 2019 - A van with German licence plates that was transporting illegal migrants swerved into the River Kupa in the village of Slatina Pokupka near the town of Glina on Sunday morning while it was trying to evade a police patrol, and a woman lost her life in that accident, the Croatian police reported on Sunday.

While evading the police checkpoint, the driver jumped out of the vehicle and fled towards mine-suspected area and the vehicle fell into the river. The police smashed the windows of the van and rescued 11 people.

However, one of those rescued migrants, a female migrant, who was receiving medical aid died at the scene.

An investigation is under way and the police are searching for the fleeing driver.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.