Save the Children published “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)”.
Drawing on data from August 2024 to October 2025, the organisation reported that approximately one in seven persons who told its outreach teams they had been pushed back from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina was a child, most of them unaccompanied. Following these pushbacks, children described abuses by border patrols, ranging from the confiscation of personal belongings, to physical violence and detention in conditions unsuitable for children.