Investigation

Masked men who beat up refugees and illegally cross national borders (pushbacks). This shadow army is funded by the EU.

Together with Klaas van Dijken of Lighthouse Reports, Pointer and a collective of outstanding European journalists, we revealed that the violence on the Croatian border is structural. Broadcasts by the international team that worked together for 8 months to document these gross human rights violations in Croatia, Greece and Romania aired across Europe. The revelations sparked many reactions.

Shadow Game initiator and director Els van Driel: “For the first time, we have visual evidence of masked men beating refugees at our borders. We have now proven the testimonials of all those refugees, including the boys from Shadow Game, beyond doubt. Denial is no longer possible. We hope that the publications and the subsequent shocked reactions will ensure that the violence at our borders stops and that we comply with international agreements: people on the run must be able to apply for asylum and be treated with dignity.”

In this collective we collaborated with the insanely courageous journalists from Pointer (KRO-NCRV), Lighthouse Reports, SRF Rundschau, ARD Studio Wien, Monitor, Liberation, Novosti, Der Spiegel, Libération, RTL Croatia. Bashar Deeb, Jack Sapoch, Nicole Vögele, Steffen Lüdke, Giorgos Christides, Phevos Simeonidis, Andrea Beer, Srdjan Govedrica, Andrei Popoviciu, Tomas Statius, Peter Keizer, Jerko Batokin, Danka Derifaj, Shafagh Laghai, Lamia Sabic, Klaas van DijkenPointer’s broadcast was directed by: Els van Driel