Caregivers are concerned about the return to Croatia of a family of asylum seekers deemed vulnerable. The father, mother and their child were returned by the Vaud police, which interrupted their medical treatment. The Médecins du Monde Suisse association is offended by the recurrence of these situations.
This family of Kurds from Türkiye arrived in Switzerland via Croatia. When crossing the Croatian border, they suffered violence, documented by photos and a medical report. Arriving in Switzerland, they suffered after-effects. The father spent more than six months in psychiatry.
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Five days after his release from hospital, in the middle of the night, the police came to pick up the father, the mother and their one and a half year old daughter from the Sainte-Croix home, where they were then housed. They left on a special flight to Croatia, the country legally competent to examine their asylum application in the name of the Dublin agreements.
“The authorities were aware that the gentleman had been hospitalized for several months. As soon as he was released, they decided to send the family away, even though the medical profession had sent a letter in which it was written in black and white that there were risks for the mental health of the parents and the development of the child,” denounces Megane Lederrey, member of the Stop Dublin Croatia coalition.
Accumulation of cases
This dismissal is shocking in the eyes of Médecins du Monde Suisse. For the first time, the association wrote directly to the federal authorities to denounce this case, which it considers emblematic.
“We have been observing for some time more and more referrals to Croatia, where medical advice is not or very little taken into consideration. The accumulation of these cases has pushed us to react,” explains Morgane Rousseau, director of Médecins du Monde Suisse, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
These situations with vulnerable people transferred are regularly singled out. The number of returns from Switzerland to Croatia has increased. They went from around fifteen in 2021 to more than 350 last year. This increase is linked to the increase in migrant crossings through this country close to the Balkans.
Requests evaluated individually
In Switzerland, the State Secretariat for Migration did not agree to speak to the RTS cameras. He recalls that each asylum request is assessed individually and that the state of health of the person is taken into account. He ensures that medical files are transmitted to the Croatian authorities.
The federal administration says it is unable to comment on the specific case of the Kurdish family, but points out that Croatia is required to provide asylum seekers with the necessary medical care.
Pascale Defrance and Thibaut Clémence/asch
