Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) is an independent Network of NGOs and associations mainly based in the Balkan regions and in Greece, who monitors human rights violations at the external borders of the European Union and advocates to stop the violence exerted against people on the move.
BVMN was created in 2016 when several NGOs became aware of the existence of violent pushbacks of asylum seekers along Balkans and Greece and began to document such cases. The Network has developed a common framework for the recording of testimonials and supporting evidences which, after going through a process of fact-checking, are published on our website (see testimonies). These case reports include hard facts, pictures of the injuries and medical documents that provide evidence as well as detailed descriptions of the incidences.
BVMN publishes monthly reports covering pushbacks along the Greek and Balkan route. Every report analyzes in detail pushbacks in specific geographical areas, escalating of violence, excessive use of forces, cases of alleged tortures and others key issues. All the reports are free in access and represent a useful tool to study in details the phenomenon of management of migration flows at the borders in this geographical area.
The testimonials and the reports serve as a basis for the Network’s advocacy effort at the European level, where BVMN engages in meetings with European Parliamentarians, in order to denounce the violations of human rights at the borders and promote a better management of migration flows, in the total respect of human rights.
