Among reports of human rights violations at the European Union鈥檚 external borders, cases of sexualised violence intended to humiliate and deter irregular migrants and asylum seekers have received little attention. Until now.
Supported by a grant from IPI鈥檚 , a team of freelance journalists has investigated abuse by border authorities and their accomplices during illegal pushbacks. The indignities include forcing people to undress in front of others and unsanitary genital searches conducted without privacy.聽
As the journalists from Spain, Germany and Lebanon took a closer look, they uncovered not just isolated incidents but a systematic pattern of abuse. The findings of the investigation, , were published in six languages.聽
The idea for the investigation came from fragmented reports and firsthand accounts from the peripheries of the EU 鈥� testimonies collected by the and the .
鈥淲e had read scattered media reports of sexual violence and forced undressing at the Greek-Turkish border and along the Balkan route in The Guardian and Al Jazeera, but a comprehensive investigation into this pattern of abuse across EU borders was conspicuously absent,鈥� journalist Helena Rodr铆guez told IPI in a joint interview with her teammates.
This gap in reporting motivated Rodr铆guez and fellow freelancers Benjamin Hindrichs and Sandra Abdelbaki to apply for an IJ4EU grant and dig deeper.
Approaching this topic fraught with trauma required a delicate balance from the team. Equipped with insights from the , the journalists placed the utmost priority on the well-being and consent of survivors.聽
Workshops with experts like , director of a journalism project on sexualised violence in conflict at the , and sessions at the investigative journalism conference equipped them with essential skills for trauma-sensitive reporting.
鈥淲e wanted to make sure that we had the necessary tools to approach such a sensitive topic in a correct, responsible way,” Rodr铆guez said.
鉁嶏笍 Our grantees , and reveal sexualised humiliation and violence against asylum seekers at EU borders.
See their investigation here 馃憞
鈥� European Journalism Centre (@ejcnet)
Harrowing accounts
The investigation’s findings are harrowing.
Personal accounts depict a disturbing pattern of forced undressings and invasive genital searches by border authorities, practices aimed at humiliating and deterring asylum seekers.
鈥淭he refugees were made to crouch down,鈥� the team reported in one Al Jazeera feature. 鈥淭hen, one by one, the men forced them to stand up and undress, in front of everyone else.鈥�
The article continues:
Those who fought back were threatened and beaten with truncheons, she said. Their clothes were cut off and ripped apart while the men shouted at them: 鈥淎re you going to come back to Greece?鈥�
Once fully naked, one of the masked men started to assault their bodies, touching their breasts and genitals.
Ngono* tried to resist at first.
鈥淏ut when they got on top of me, they hit me. So I pulled my pants down myself,鈥� she told Al Jazeera.
鈥淗e searched us everywhere,鈥� she said, pressing two fingers together and pointing to her abdomen.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how he put his hand in my vagina. And in my anus.鈥�
These accounts are supported by reports from organisations such as the and , indicating that such abuses are part of a broader, troubling pattern at the EU鈥檚 borders.
Internal reports from , the EU border agency, suggest that these are not isolated incidents but indicative of a systemic issue.
More than 200 sources
With a shared vision and divided responsibilities, the team collaboratively contacted more than 200 sources, drawing on their polyglot linguistic skills and maintaining regular emotional and strategic support meetings.
鈥淭he diversity of our languages combined allowed us to communicate with more sources on the ground,鈥� Abdelbaki said.
Conversations with non-governmental organisations confirmed awareness of these allegations, underscoring the prevalence of various forms of sexual violence at the EU borders.
NGOs expressed the difficulty in gathering evidence, as “survivors rarely report, and thus, it is a silenced phenomenon”, Hindrichs said.聽
Legal experts who reviewed the journalists鈥� findings were clear: if the accounts are accurate, the actions described would constitute 鈥渋nhumane or degrading treatment鈥� in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, directly undermining the EU’s foundational principles of dignity and respect for human rights.
Despite their groundbreaking work, official investigations or actions by EU authorities in response to the allegations remain absent. The investigation, however, has shone a light on a dark corner of Europe’s border policy, challenging the silence surrounding such human rights violations.
*Name has been changed to protect identity.
For more on this investigation, see