Author
The Border Police Directorate of the Ministry of Interior is in charge of the management of the detention centre and the staff working within the centre are mainly police officers. In 2019, the Ministry of Interior reported that a total 75 employees work in the Reception Centre for Foreigners in Ježevo, 33 in the Transit Reception Centre in Tovarnik and 42 in the Transit Reception Centre in Trilj.[1] No new data are available for 2020 and 2021.
An Ordinance on stay in the Reception Centre for Foreigners (“Detention Centre Ordinance”) entered into force in November 2018,[2] and was amended in 2019.[3] The initial text of Ordinance from 2018 foresaw the need for the Ombudsperson, national or international courts, or other state or international supervisory bodies to have concluded agreement with the Ministry of Interior in order to communicate with detainees. This was changed with the amendments so that these stakeholders do not longer need to have agreements concluded with the Ministry of Interior.
The new Ordinance on accommodation in the Reception Centre for Foreigners and the method of calculating the costs of forced removal entered into force at the beginning of January 2022. [4]
The Ombudsperson’s staff conducted an unannounced visit in 2019 to, amongst other, the Transit Reception Centre in Tovarnik and Reception Centre for Foreigners in Ježevo. It was reported that migrants in Transit Reception Centre in Tovarnik have difficult access to attorneys and that they are not adequately informed about their rights.[5] In 2021, the Ombudsperson’s staff conducted a control visit to the Transit Reception Centre in Trilj and reported that migrants are not sufficiently informed in languages that they understand about their rights and obligations in relation to the possibility of contacting consular or diplomatic missions and other rights.
In 2020 the Ombudswoman initiated an investigation proceeding related to access to free legal aid for irregular migrants detained in the Reception Centre for foreigners in Ježevo. It was determined that they were not adequately informed that they are entitle to free legal aid.They were also not made aware of contact persons they may turn to for legal advice and / or legal representation. The Ombudswoman recommended that information on free legal aid is printed in languages usually spoken by foreigners in return procedures, posted on the notice boards of the Centre and provided to each migrant when issuing a return decision.[6] In 2021, the Ombudperson conducted one investigative proceedings regarding the inability to access the international protection procedure in the reception center for foreigners.[7]
The CPT report on its visit to Croatia in 2020 was published in December 2021.[8] The CPT delegation visited inter alia the Reception Centre for Foreigners in Ježevo. Almost all the persons who met with CPT’s delegation at Reception Centre for Foreigners in Ježevo stated that they were treated correctly and respectfully by the staff in Ježevo. However, the CPT recommended that staff working in the Centre no longer carry baton s in detention areas and that staff should be provided with regular training on cultural mediation and on techniques to de-escalate tense situations. The CPT also provided a set of other recommendations regarding the conditions in the Centre, the importance to schedule outdoor activities and the access healthcare. It also recommended that more formal and reliable systems should be put in place to ensure that all detained persons fully understand the grounds for their detention and the possibilities to challenge such a decision as well as any decisions on extending the period of detention, but also that all persons held under aliens’ legislation (i.e. under the Law on Foreigners and the LITP) have an effective right of access to a lawyer. In addition, even if the right of detainees to lodge complaints to the Director of the Reception Centre is already regulated, the CPT recommended that an effective complaint system should be introduced at the Reception Centre in Ježevo. This should include the installation of dedicated complaints boxes as well as a central register of complaints where the date, subject matter, processing, and response should be recorded. Further, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the system, detained persons who are dissatisfied with the response to their complaints should be able to appeal to a second instance body within the Ministry of the Interior.
Overall conditions
Conditions in the detention centre are satisfactory. According to the Ordinance that were still in force in 2021, each room must guarantee 4m2 per person and have access to daylight.[9] Every person has his or her own bed and there is sufficient space and separation between beds, as well as sufficient space to store personal possessions. Men and women are separated.[10] Detainees are provided with clothes,[11] although they are all dressed in identical tracksuits and cannot, in usual circumstances, use their clothes.
According to the CPT report, upon admission, detained persons had their personal clothes washed, disinfected, and stored for the entire period of detention and were provided with two sets of standard clothes and shoes from the centre. However, several detained persons complained that they could only change their clothes once a week, which was insufficient to maintain basic hygiene, especially during summer. Furthermore, personal hygiene kits were provided to all detainees on a weekly basis. In terms of food, several foreign nationals complained about the monotonous food provide for dinner which always consisted of canned meat paste, which is confirmed by the weekly menus.[12]
There used to be a so-called library within the centre so detainees had access to books in a few languages. Yet, according to the CPT report, the Centre had no library. However, in response to the report, the Croatian Government reported that bookcases have been set up in the living area. The books are available in English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Arabic, Urdu, Pashto and Farsi and the list is continuously updated.
However, no internet access is available. The centre is cleaned on a regular basis and there are sufficient showers and toilets. There is a common room with a TV available and migrants can spend most of the day there, watching TV or playing cards. There is also a facility for buying cigarettes and drinks. There are two public phones available to migrants at the Centre that can be used at their own cost. However, detained migrants are not allowed to use their mobile phones, which are seized upon admission to the Centre.[13]
If a person is in possession of any cash, it will be temporarily seized and safeguarded by an authorised officer.[14] While staying in the Centre, people may use the seized cash, but may not have an amount exceeding HRK 300 (approximately €30) on them.[15]
The cost of accommodation of a foreigner in the Centre amounts to HRK 150 (approx. 20 EUR) per day and these costs are borne by the foreigners themselves. According to the Decision on the Manner of Calculation of deportation costs, stay at the Centre will be charged also to applicants accommodated there.[16] In the case of families, the costs are borne by the person who holds the funds. If they do not possess any funds to cover these expenses, the costs of their stay in the Centre are paid from the state budget.
According to the Ordinance, persons are provided with three meals a day, of which at least one must be a warm meal. Specific diets can be prepared upon request or when ordered by a doctor (for religious or other reasons, e.g. for pregnant women).[17] In practice, quality of food is generally reported to be of a satisfactory level.
People are entitled to stay outdoors for at least two hours a day in a specially designated area within the Centre (there is a football playground serving as an outdoor exercise area).[18] This does not always happen for example during bad weather conditions
Migrants are entitled to freedom of religion,[19] and one room is used for this purpose.
With the support of the EU financial instrument “Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund” (AMIF) a new kitchen, laundry and heating system were installed in the course of 2019 as well as a football field.[20] At the end of 2020, the decision was brought on the allocation of additional financial resources for the implementation of the project “Assistance in maintaining an adequate level of accommodation in the Reception Centre for Foreigners” within the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.[21]
In October 2020, information was published according to which the Reception centre for Foreigners in Ježevo implements the project : “Improvement of accommodation conditions and working conditions in the Reception Center for Foreigners in Ježevo“. The aim of the project is to ensure adequate accommodation conditions for third-country nationals in accordance with EU standards, improve the infrastructure and to raise the level of quality of services as well as working conditions for employees in the Center.[22] In June 2021, the Decision on the allocation of financial resources for the implementation of the project “Improvement of accommodation and working conditions in the Reception Center for Foreigners in Ježevo – II. phase” was adopted.[23]
As regards police stations, a case concerning conditions in detention i.e. premises in the Border Police station of Bajakovo, Daraibou v. Croatia, was lodged on 19 December 2017 and was communicated by the ECtHR on 23 October 2018.[24] The applicant complains under the substantive and procedural aspects of Articles 2 and 3 ECHR that Croatia is responsible for not preventing a life-threatening situation, a fire in the police station, owing to which he suffered grave bodily injuries and that no effective investigation has been carried out in that respect.
Health care and special needs in detention
Foreigners in detention have access to emergency health care, according to the Ordinance.
According to Ministry of Interior, health and medical care of persons who are accommodated at the Reception Centre in Ježevo is conducted by a general practitioner in the branch office of the Medical Centre Dugo Selo.[25] As of 1 January 2021, a full-time nurse has been employed in the office who conducts a basic medical examination and screening immediately after a foreign national is accommodated in the Centre. A doctor comes to the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and when called by the nurse. An emergency medical service also comes to the Centre when called. If a person does not speak English, the telephone interpretation is conducted by interpreters with whom the Ministry of the Interior has concluded an agreement either during a basic medical examination, a screening, or during health checks but also when transporting persons to specialist examinations and during treatments in hospitals and specialised institutions. Psychosocial assistance and protection is conducted in cooperation with the Croatian Red Cross whose psychologists and psychiatrists come to the Centre accompanied by interpreters twice a week and when called. They transfer foreign nationals to specialised institutions if specialist examinations are needed and with the authorisation of a doctor. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, persons undergo a PCR test before accommodation at the Centre and by a rapid antigen tests during their stay at the Centre. In addition, all persons located at the Centre have the option to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
There is no special mechanism in the detention centre to identify persons with special reception needs. Although vulnerable applicants were rarely detained in the past few years, when that happened, vulnerable persons were usually transferred to open centres upon request from lawyers working in NGOs. However, within the Centre a special facility exists for vulnerable groups. This facility is an integral part of the Reception Centre for Foreigners, which is an organisational unit of the Border Police Directorate. The facility has a capacity of 27 places. Beside rooms for accommodation, the facility has a living room and a playroom for children, and facilities for education, health care, isolation, psychologists and educators.[26]
[1] Information provided by the Ministry of Interior, Border Directorate, 6 February 2019.
[2] Official Gazette 101/2018.
[3] Official gazette 57/2019.
[4] Official Gazette 145/2021,
[5] Ombudsperson, Report for 2019, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/2VaHJUt.
[6] Ombudsman, Annual report 2020, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3aaQXar.
[7] Ombudsperson, Annual report 2021, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/3OdvWOS.
[8] Council of Europe, Report to the Croatian Government on the visit to Croatia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 14 August 2020, available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680a4c199.
[9] Article 8 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Article 10 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[12] Council of Europe, Report to the Croatian Government on the visit to Croatia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 14 August 2020, available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680a4c199.
[13] Article 7 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Article 24 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[16] Official Gazette 66/13, available in Croatian at: https://bit.ly/2Jxvbma. See also the standard form provided to foreigners for the collection of such costs: ECRE, Balkan route reversed, December 2016, Annex II.
[17] Article 19 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[18] Article 18 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[19] Article 20 Detention Centre Ordinance.
[20] Council of Europe, Report to the Croatian Government on the visit to Croatia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 14 August 2020, available at: https://rm.coe.int/1680a4c199.
[21] Decision on the allocation of additional financial resources for the implementation of the project “Assistance in maintaining an adequate level of accommodation in the Reception Centre for Foreigners”, available at: https://bit.ly/3KAeu4W.
[22] Ministry of Interior: Project “Improvement of accommodation conditions and working conditions in the Reception Center for Foreigners in Ježevo“, 23 October 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3emgiiW.
[23] Decision on the allocation of financial resources for the implementation of the project “Improvement of living and working conditions in the Reception Centre for Foreigners in Ježevo – II. phase”, available at: https://bit.ly/3KzJKRi.
[24] ECtHR, Daraibou v. Croatia, Application No 84523/17, available at: https://bit.ly/2RZ2uCI.
[25] Response of the Croatian Government to the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its ad hoc visit to Croatia from 10 to 14 August 2020, available in English: https://rm.coe.int/1680a5acfc and Croatian: https://rm.coe.int/1680a5acfd.
[26] Information provided by the Border Police Directorate, 14 October 2015.