Asylum seekers' ID and phones 'burned by Croatian officers in border pushbacks'

Croatia's border police force have been accused of burning clothing, mobile phones and passports seized from asylum seekers trying to cross into the European Union before pushing them back to Bosnia.

- Lorenzo Tondo Amy Hawkins

Photographs of burnt belongings, along with testimonies of sexual assault and beatings meted out by the police are the latest alleged evidence of brutality against people crossing over EU borders, in a report shared with the Guardian by the humanitarian organisation No Name Kitchen (NNK).

Every day, thousands of people from south Asia, the Middle East and north Africa, and increasingly China, attempt to cross the Balkans heading for the EU. There are few facilities, with people forced to spend most of the difficult journey in makeshift camps or railway stations.

Many are stopped by Croatian border police and searched, with some migrants reportedly robbed and violently pushed back into Bosnia, where thousands can be stranded in often freezing temperatures.

Such pushbacks are an apparent violation of international law, which states that asylum seekers must have the opportunity to file their request for asylum once they are within a country's borders.

NNK has detailed the locations of eight large "burn piles" where Croatian police officers allegedly incinerated people's personal belongings, including documents they need to apply for asylum in the EU.

Burnt smartphones could also contain evidence of abuses in the form of videos and photos taken by asylum seekers, said NNK.