At the end of 2024, Gaia spent about two months in Harmanli as a volunteer for No Name Kitchen - a civil movement committed to protecting the human rights of asylum seekers, providing them with humanitarian and legal assistance. The young Italian woman chose Bulgaria because she believes that the situation on the Bulgarian-Turkish border is not known to many and that is why there are not enough people on the ground.
"When a search and rescue (SAR) operation is carried out in a forest area, one would think that the main obstacle is the forest itself. But as it turned out, the main deterrent is the border police," Gaia told DW. According to her, preventing rescue teams from providing humanitarian aid to people in need seeking asylum is a systemic problem not only in Bulgaria, but throughout Europe.
The Bulgarian-Turkish border: border police versus activists
Returning from a clothing distribution operation, Gaia and her colleagues came across two border police cars blocking the main road. –"It is difficult to prove that they do it on purpose, but it would be a really strange coincidence if two border police cars broke down on the same day and both were parked right in the middle of the road, so that other cars could not pass", says the young Italian. After another rescue operation, the tires of the activists' car were slashed.
From the stories of other volunteers in Bulgaria, Gaia understands that they have been the target of more repressive actions by the border police – demanding access to mobile devices, taking fingerprints, even arrests. "There is a lot of intimidation, which is often based on facts that are legally inaccurate or completely false", adds Gaia.
"Criminalization of solidarity"
Diana Dimova from "Mission Wings" also has information about rudeness and aggression towards volunteers by border police. The foundation is in contact with No Name Kitchen and another international organization that carries out rescue operations in Bulgaria.
"They are accused of helping people cross the border. And they are actually exposed to a very high risk, because there is a criminalization of solidarity with migrants", Dimova told DV. She emphasizes that the rescue teams are not engaged in illegal activity and do not encourage people to cross the border. "First aid is not a criminal activity. This is humanitarian work."
Diana Dimova says that there have been reports of "Mission Wings" and other Bulgarian organizations providing support to refugees and migrants, alleging that they are involved in the trafficking of unaccompanied children. So far, all checks have ended in favor of the organizations.
"Unfortunately, we are under attack from a repressive apparatus that is trying to literally destroy and crush us because we said some things that are not convenient for many people," says Dimova. As an example, she gives the accusations that "Mission Wings" made at the end of last year against the border police, which, according to them, obstructed the actions of a rescue team to provide assistance to three children in distress from Egypt, whose bodies were later found in Strandzha Mountain. For their part, the Ministry of Interior came out with a position that civil activists are submitting false signals to the 112 hotline and purposefully preventing the authorities from doing their job.
"Organizations working on the front line and providing humanitarian aid continue to be not only under pressure, but also harassed, without anyone taking into account the fact that there are other people who are literally mafia and criminals", Diana Dimova is indignant, referring to the numerous scammers who carry out illegal actions for personal gain.
Voluntary return or illegal repulsion?
Lawyer Diana Radoslavova from the "Legal Aid Center – Voice in Bulgaria" tells the State Department that in March last year, the Ministry of Interior for the first time introduced the category of "independently returned to the interior of neighboring countries" into the migration statistics.
"This is actually a veiled way of presenting the number of officially rejected persons. We know that they do not return voluntarily - they are pushed back from the border", adds attorney Radoslavova. A look at the migration statistics shows that over 51,000 people fall into the category "independently returned to the interior of neighboring countries" for the period January-November 2024. At the same time, the column "total migration pressure on the state border" includes just over 53,500 people.
According to the annual report on border monitoring in Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC), in 2023 there were nearly 9,900 cases of alleged pushbacks, affecting a total of 174,500 people. Each pushback is in violation of Art. 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely the right to seek asylum. According to the Ministry of Interior, for the period January - November 2023, the total migratory pressure at the border was 178,140 people.
Gaia is convinced that the people pushed back across Europe are many times more than those who managed to apply for asylum. "Bulgaria has strengthened its border control policies and further militarized the area – both by increasing the police forces deployed at the border and by improving technological systems. "It is obvious that Bulgaria would not have been able to join Schengen without reducing the number of people transiting through the country and those applying for asylum," adds Gaia.
Diana Dimova from the "Mission Wings" foundation says that some of the alerts about migrants in distress that they submit to 112 are being misused. "They simply disappear. After a few days, one of them calls and tells a story that is shocking - they were beaten, their valuables were taken and they were sent back. There are also deaths," explains Dimova.
What is happening to human rights?
While thousands of people seeking asylum in the hope of a better life continue to be brutally turned away at various European borders, and others even lose their lives, human rights activists are calling for respect for human rights.
"Regardless of age, gender, origin, education or health status, everyone has the right to apply for asylum. And whether someone is entitled to refugee status is a decision that can only be made by a judge after a hearing, gathering evidence and a trial," says Gaya, hoping that more people across Europe will be concerned about the fate of those seeking protection.
Author: Margarita Nikolova