Beating occurs in as many as 75% of the testimonies reported through our network. Sometimes with hands, sometimes with police batons, and sometimes with other weapons, these acts of physical violence can cause injuries ranging from bruises and contusions to more serious harm, such as broken bones and internal injuries. With such an extreme lack of medical care on the move and in many transit/detention camps, these injuries can be fatal or leave people with lifelong injuries.
This form of state and police violence violates fundamental human rights and breaches several international laws and standards, including the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), particularly Articles 3 (prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life), as well as the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Furthermore, beating individuals can violate national laws related to the use of force by law enforcement officers.

Although law enforcement officials may, under certain circumstances, use force, international human rights law states that it must be applied in a manner that respects the principles of necessity, proportionality, and humanity. It must be the minimum necessary for certain permitted aims like ‘maintaining public order’. The violence reported goes far beyond this: it is excessive, systematic, indiscriminate, unprovoked, and is a clear violation of international human rights law. The scale on which we see and hear beating happening on the borders proves there it is systematically being used as a mechanism of terror and control.
“They did not beat us up to beat us up, but to kill us”
Respondent in Svilengrad
Testimonies of beating, such as this quote from Svilengrad, show the severity and potential lethality of beating people experience on the move. It indicates the viciousness of the border regime: rather than offering protection or assistance to people on the move, as mandated by international law, police and border forces systematically use violence to degrade and humiliate people on the move, and justify it through the falsified political ‘need’ to ‘manage migration’. This shows a profound disregard for human dignity and rights, contributing to a culture of impunity where the use of force is seen as an acceptable method of controlling borders and state authorities are not penalised for their widespread violence.