Beaten by Batons, Bitten by Dogs – The Harsh Realities for Children Travelling the Balkans Route: Spotlight on Pushbacks at the External Border with Croatia (2025)

The spotlight showcases the experiences of refugee and migrant children who, instead of being offered protection, experienced (violent) pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and highlights gaps in services in BiH available for these children in an extremely vulnerable situation.

While the European Union builds an integrated and coordinated border management system, pushbacks – illegal and often violent returns of refugees and migrants without access to due process – remain a systemic feature of border control along the EU’s external borders. Children, including unaccompanied and separated boys and girls, are among those most severely affected by pushbacks – approximately one in seven persons who reported to Save the Children’s protection team that they had been pushed back from Croatia to BiH was a child, most of them unaccompanied (data covering period from August 2024 to October 2025).

Once they return to Bosnia and Herzegovina, children encounter an overstretched protection system struggling with capacity, resources, and coordination needed to provide timely assistance to those who have been pushed back.

As a result, children on the move are increasingly at risk of harm, suffering repeated pushbacks at the border, which are compounded by their pre-existing vulnerabilities, and insufficient protection and support after the pushbacks. This cycle perpetuates child rights violations, exposing children to additional uncertainty, fear, and distress.