Report on the Performance of the Activities of the National Preventive Mechanism for 2019 We are still receiving complaints by irregular migrants, as well as reports by civil society and international organisations alleging illegal conduct by police officers towards migrants found within RC territory, ignoring requests for international protection, and pushbacks across the green border. Although only an independent and effective investigation in each individual case can establish whether the complaints are grounded, we have no information whether such investigations have been initiated, and, if so, what their results were. Unfortunately, since June 2018, the Ministry of the Interior has prevented us from accessing cases and information on the treatment of irregular migrants in police stations, which has made it impossible to carry out NPM tasks in this segment. These are just some of the examples of systematic deficiencies and violations of the rights of persons deprived of their liberty and those with restricted freedom of movement, which we highlight in this Report. It is intended not only for residents and employees of institutions under the jurisdiction of the NPM, but also for the professional, as well as the wider public, including representatives of the legislative, executive and judicial authorities, as well as civil society organisations, the academic community, the media and many others. We believe that the information and recommendations presented here will help to ameliorate the current situation and achieve positive changes needed to permanently improve the human rights and freedoms of each individual, and thus of the society as a whole. Ombudswoman Lora Vidović 3

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