Mikkel Hørlyck

No Man's Land is published in Danish Politiken

Pushback February 2021. Marzyeh Ahmadi (38) and Ali Ahmadi (42) try to comfort their youngest child, Marya Ahmadi. They are on their way back from their 38th escape attempt to Croatia. According to the family, father Ali was beaten and humiliated by the Croatian police, in front of his family, before they were sent back to Bosnia.

All of a sudden, a car comes speeding with only one light on. The parents shoot their heads back: "Is that the police?!," the family yells. But inside the car a group from Germany sits. The car is filled with food and the group wants to hand it out to refugees and migrants.

It’s illegal to help refugees in Bosanska Bojna, so the Germans do a quick stop and hand out telephone numbers, so that the Ahmadi family later can get food and toilet paper.

In a disused metal factory, in Northwestern Bosnia, Fawad Nasiri (23) stares into the flames from the fire. "It's going to be alright," says his friend and Afghan countryman Sirab Khan (19), who puts his hand on Fawad's shoulder.

Fawad is thinking about his girlfriend, who he met while living in Greece on his route across Europe. Today, she's in France. That's where he wants to go.

Nasiha Qarmish (37) from Palestine is walking away from the Croatian border, with four other families, in flip flops, clutching her sleeping daughter. The Croatian border police took Nasiha’s shoes. The four families are at a loss of what to do.

Ahmed Jamous (52) from Syria is walking next to her. His sons are travelling with him. The war has ruined everything. He was shot in his hip during an escape attempt to Turkey.

The mountain landscape between Bosnia and Croatia. On the border with Croatia, mines from the civil war from the 1990s are still buried. In March, a migrant stepped on a mine during an escape attempt and died. His two traveling companions were wounded.

Bosnia is not part of the EU and is plagued by corruption, high unemployment, political instability and bureaucracy. This means that funds for refugees and migrants are limited and their opportunities for residence and work permits are poor.

"1,030 refugees have applied for asylum in Bosnia. The process of dealing with the cases is slow, because the sector who deals with the cases has not worked for a year owing to Covid-19," says Nataša Omeroviš (47), aid coordinator of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

At the end of a hill, close to the border town of Bosanska Bojna, the four families take a break by an intersection to regain strength to work out what to do.

They put blankets on the grass and Yousif Jamous (17) hands out food and water. Nasiha Qarmish’s (left) daughter sleeps on a blanket. The kids and fathers start to feed wild dogs with bread while trucks whizz by.

Two members of The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) drive by, register the families and call the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Hewad Piroz (23) washes his hair with his companions from Afghanistan. The group has been traveling for five months and has fled the Taliban. They sleep with 100 other refugees and migrants in a large, disused metal factory in the town of Bihać. The landscape is flat, but on the horizon refugees and migrants see their escape route: the mountains to Croatia.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has registered 22,550 pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia between May 2019 and November 2020.

Fahim Bakhtary talks with his girlfriend in Afghanistan from the metal factory in Bihać. She's in trouble and he wants to go home. Fahim will soon be deported back to Afghanistan.

Ghoulamshki Hadrai (70) (left) and his daughter Mina Hadrai (24) are about to topple. An Afghan companion points the light at the Hadrai family with the only headlamp.

Ghoulamshki and Mina grab and support each other on their way to their sleeping place at an abandoned house, down a muddy hill in Bosanska Bojna.

500 meters from the border, 70-year-old Ghoulamshki Hadrai lies on the ground. He has carried his family's sleeping bags from one abandoned house with refugees to another.

Ghoulamshki was a math teacher in Afghanistan, where he lost three of his six children to an explosion. One of their sons lives in a refugee camp in Germany, who the family hope to reunite with.

A group of men attempt, unsuccessfully, to cross a collapsed metal beam between two of the metal factory's buildings. "We are human beings, not animals," is one of the phrases regularly used by refugees and migrants.

The Danish Refugee Council estimates that approximately 3,000 refugees and migrants live in abandoned buildings, tents and abandoned houses in Northwestern Bosnia, while 6,500 refugees live in official camps.

A group from Afghanistan are preparing a fire for making dinner in the abandoned retirement home Don Pensionera in Bihać, while two men are cutting and shaving each other's hair on the opposite floor. 

Rami Qarmish from Palestine finds food and drinks for his family, which they have been given by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Suddenly, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) arrives in two large cars. The kids are cheering. The IOM takes the families to Camp Sedra, a refugee camp for families. Their stay will be short. In five days the families will try to cross the border again.

In front of an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna, only 500 meters away from the Croatian border, Afghan children play the Croatian border police against refugees. They play out the whole scenario: escape, capture and deportation. “Deport, deport,” yells one of the boys after the other kids, while he is running after them.

From this house, the Croatian border police are visible as silhouettes on top of the hills, guarding the border.

"All the experiences with the border police are stressing me. Smoking helps ease my mind," says Hossin Ghalanbari (28) from Afghanistan.

Hossin has experienced numerous violent episodes with the Croatian border police. The NGO ‘Border Monitoring Violence Network’ collects data and interviews from refugees and migrants. It reports that over 91% of all the pushbacks in the Balkan area happen with violence.

Marzyeh Ahmadi (38) feeds her youngest Marya Ahmadi with a bottle. They carry everything they own as they walk back through Bosanska Bojna. Marzyeh has mud all over her back after her family was sent back by the Croatian border police.

Marzyeh Ahmadi (38) and Ali Ahmadi (42) try to comfort their youngest child, Marya Ahmadi. They are on their way back from their 38th escape attempt to Croatia. According to the family, father Ali was beaten and humiliated by the Croatian police, in front of his family, before they were sent back to Bosnia.

All of a sudden, a car comes speeding with only one light on. The parents shoot their heads back: "Is that the police?!," the family yells. But inside the car a group from Germany sits. The car is filled with food and the group wants to hand it out to refugees and migrants.

It’s illegal to help refugees in Bosanska Bojna, so the Germans do a quick stop and hand out telephone numbers, so that the Ahmadi family later can get food and toilet paper.

A flat cardboard box with an EU sign on is lying on the ground in Camp Jungle near the bordertown Velika Kladusa. It has been used to sleep on by migrants from Bangladesh. 

"I believe that people should be able to move freely, just like me. That's my motivation for helping. We get all the goods from the countries whose population we in the EU close the borders to,” says an anonymous woman (22), who has traveled from Germany to help refugees and migrants with food.

The snow is falling and a group of refugees from Afghanistan stands in front of a former slaughterhouse, waiting for food and water in front of a car from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who send out aid to 120 locations in Northwestern Bosnia.

"Refugees and migrants have run out of energy over the winter and their long journey. Their situation is 'no man's land'. They are stuck, they have no money, and it is difficult to get through Croatia," says Željko Tadic (47), emergency aid worker at IOM.

IOM team Sehrudin Begic (31), Zeljko Tadic (47) and Amra Sedic (24) come with emergency aid in black sacks to a group of migrants living in a tent in an open field in Velika Kladusa.

The emergency aid contains chocolate bars, water, soup, noodles, pâté, canned sardines, canned meat and raisins. Every day, the IOM distributes emergency aid at the locations.

A children's jacket hanging on a bush in Bosanska Bojna, 500 meters from the border to Croatia.

Between two rooms with white tiles, in the former slaughterhouse, Afghan men are moving in and out from a dilapidated environment. Suddenly, a man hands out his arm from a room. It is filled with white boils.

"Sometimes refugees stab each other with knives. It can be a harsh environment internally. Some steal from each other. There have been refugees who have burned down houses in Bosnia. Many locals are tired of them," says Sehrudin Begic (31), emergency aid worker at the IOM.

A group of men from Pakistan has received shoes, food and water from the IOM. The men are happy and grateful for the help. They wade across the road and sneak back to a house they have been provided by local Bosnians outside Bihać.

Sehrudin Begic (31) (right) from International Organization for Migration (IOM) knocks on a metal wall. The IOM-team have crossed a frozen field and are looking for a specific family in a barn to provide them with food and water.

An Afghan man and father look out nervously from a crack. When he realises that it is the IOM and not the police, he is relieved. Sometimes, Bosnian police remove refugees and migrants from the buildings.

The mother of the family asks if they can bring a specific medicine. Amra Sedic (24) from IOM promises the family that they will provide it the next day.

Masood Mooman’s (17) breathing is bad. He has been beaten in the stomach by Croatian border police. Ajla Burina (25) from Save The Children has arrived to pick up Masood at an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna, to bring him to the hospital.

They are busy. He must be examined before the hospital closes. They have 45 minutes. The drive takes 25 minutes. Suddenly, Ajla stops on the hill. She slips. Masood grabs her arm and Alja sticks.

Rubbish at the entrance to an industrial building near Velika Kladusa where refugees and migrants live. Bosnia's northwest landscape between the metal factory in Bihać and the border town of Bojna shows traces of several years of the refugee crisis.

The International Organization for Migration teams usually distribute food and water to refugees and migrants living in this bus near Bihać. "They have been removed by the Bosnian police recently," says Zeljko Tadic (47), an emergency aid worker from IOM.

Atefeh Mohseni (10) lifts her little sister Nazanin Zainab Mohseni (3) and kisses her on the cheek. Nazanin calms down.

Atefeh and Nazanin have experienced 20 failed escape attempts of ‘The Game’ at the Croatian border with their father Hassan Mohseni (39). They live in an abandoned house in the bordertown Bosanska Bojna in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Earlier, Atefeh and Nazanin’s mother and brother were with the family. But the family split up to improve their chances of escape. Atefeh and Nazanin’s mother and brother managed to get to a refugee camp in the capital Zagreb of Croatia. “The only thing I think about is reuniting my family. I will never stop crossing the border,” says Hassan Mohseni.

Hassan Mohseni (39) tries to comfort his youngest daughter, Nazanin Zainab Mohseni (3). She suffers from a toothache. In 1979, Hassan flet Afghanistan with his parents. "Poverty, suffering and pain are what I remember from Afghanistan. We could not cope anymore, so we flet to Iran”.

In 2018, Hassan migrated towards Europe with his own family. Hassan couldn't offer any future for his children in Iran, so they traveled to give their kids an opportunity for education and a better life than they had themselves.

Atefeh and Nazanin have drawn animals from the jungle. And a lot of hearts. At 10 pm, Atefeh and Nazanin are exhausted. Their father Hassan lay his two daughters in bed.

In the industrial building, close to the border town of Velika Kladusa, lives a group of men from Algeria. Even if buildings or houses are empty, it is illegal for refugees and migrants to spend the night in them.

A cutting, hollow sound spreads in the corridors of the metal factory in Bihać from an Afghan group, who walks on glass shards and rubbish. The group moves into a room of raw bricks. Two compatriots receive them. They give each other big, long hugs. The group has been deported back from Croatia.

The three family’s Gope, Mohseni, Karimi and Hossin, who are alone, are enjoying a cup of tea. They dedicate their Sunday's to recharge their strength. The coming day, they will head out to try ‘The Game’.

Frustrations and anger are transformed into joy and intoxication when men from Afghanistan are playing football. Far from the thoughts of the Croatian police. Especially when the ball is sent into the box. Naqibullah Almas (17) celebrates it with handsprings and Hewad Piroz (23) with pirouettes at the metal factory in Bihác.

Barialy Karimi (32) and his son Musavar Karimi (8) is on their way into the winter cold to try 'The Game' at the border to Croatia. "I have lost hope. Completely. I wouldn't have left Afghanistan if I knew what awaited us in the EU,” says Barialy. Previously, Croatian border police forced Barialy to take his clothes off and ordered him to return to Bosnia. "It's the most humiliating thing I've ever experienced. I went for eight hours with my son, only in underpants. My toenails turned completely black. No one wanted to pick us up," says Barialy.

“But when I look my son in the eye, I know that I will not give up", says Barialy. Their escape attempt failed.

Hossin Ghalanbari (28) washes himself. He saves on the water for the others.

Many refugees and migrants would rather live outside, than register with fingerprints in the official camps. The country that has registered their fingerprints must process their asylum case.

Footsteps to abandoned houses in Bosanska Bojna. The route through Croatia is the shortest for refugees and migrants in Bosnia, who typically want to go to Germany or France. The Danish Refugee Council estimates that around 65,000 refugees and migrants have entered Bosnia since 2018.

Some try 'The Game' at night, others wait until it’s morning. Barialy Karimi (32) is sitting in bed with his son Musavar Karimi (8). They have a hard time getting out the door. They usually go out between 8:00-9:00am, but today they don’t have the strength before 11:00am.

Barialy feels trapped by the darkness. Both his wife and father have been killed by the Taliban. The Taliban also cut Barialy in his head and tried to kill him with a car bomb. He had to leave Afghanistan.

The abandoned house is empty. All families have left it to try ‘The Game’. The time is 08:30am. The house is the only one with electricity in Bosanska Bojna and it is located 500 meters from the Croatian border. It attracts families to live there, because it is hard for the children with their small legs to travel to the border initially before crossing it.

From this house, they continuously try to cross the border, which is their main focus. At this moment, there are 17 people living in the house.

Malyar Shakardara (19) has heart problems and has difficulty by breathing. Malyar has scabies along his arms, his back has a bulge. He says the bulge is from a bat from the Croatian border police.

Malyar will not tell his mother at home in Afghanistan where he is. She must not know that. In addition to fears of war, honor is another major factor that contributes to Afghan refugees not wanting to return home.

"In Afghanistan, it is a shame for a young man and his family when he is sent back from Europe, because there is a perception that you are only sent home if you have done something criminal. It is my impression that many in Afghanistan don't know what awaits them on the way to and in Europe," says Nanna Muus Steffensen, Afghanistan correspondent for Weekendavisen and France24.

The Gope family from Bangladesh are vulnerable. The youngest Splindora Gope is seven months old. Splindora has a special role in the house in Bosanska Bojna. Hope, love and life circulate around the child.

The family lacks baby food for Splindora and they are having trouble getting it. They have unsuccessfully contacted a friend on WhatsApp. The family has lived in Bosnia for two years. They felt compelled to travel from Bangladesh due to difficult economic conditions.

“The hardest thing is to be deported back when we have come a long way on the route. It's awful. We live in a permanent state of stress. The unrest in all of us stems from the treatments of the Croatian police, "said Sanjoi, the father of Splindora.

The family are the only ones in Bosnia who come from Bangladesh. "I'm constantly thinking about The Game and moving forward," says Sanjoi.

Dilwa Hossain and Jalal Mia from Bangladesh are preparing food in the unofficial Camp Jungle. They have lived in the camp for six months, together with 45 compatriots. Camp Jungle is located in the mountains near the Croatian border.

Atefeh Mohseni (10) in front of an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna, where she sleeps with her family and three other families from Afghanistan. Here, families are constantly replacing each other. Some escape through the Croatian border police into the EU, others find another abandoned house to escape from.

When they are not trying to cross the border, Atefeh likes to drive around in the area on one of the abandoned bicycles.

Hossin Ghalanbari (28) is a former construction worker in Afghanistan. He helps a family to move their sleeping backs to an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna.

"1,000 refugees in Northwestern Bosnia are constantly finding new places to sleep to get closer to the border," says Nataša Omeroviš, emergency aid coordinator from IOM.

The Mohseni family sleeps. At 3:00am Nazanin cries. Hassan picks her up to comfort her. She cries almost all night. The walls of the house are thin. Outside, the wild dogs of Bosanska Bojna run and bark.

The alarm clock is set for 5 o’clock. Then they will try 'The Game'.

View from route R401a, which refugees and migrants follow, when traveling through Northwestern Bosnia on foot towards the Croatian border.

At 05.00am the alarm clock rings. Hassan Mohseni (39) and Atefeh Mohseni (10) get up from bed and immediately get ready. Nazanin Zainab Mohseni (3) is still crying.

Hossin Ghalanbari (28) and Barialy Karimi (32) are making a fire from the tree they just cleaved with an axe, to prepare tea and dinner. A woman comes out from the abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna to check how far they are.

View from inside an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna.

Buhan Habibi (18) from Afghanistan looks down. He has been living in the metal factory in Bihac for 10 days. He ritually washes his face, feet and hands in the winter cold before he walks back towards his room and prays.

Refugees and migrants who come to Bosnia often cross the metal factory in Bihać before traveling further north towards the border with Croatia.

Isa Hassani (28) (left) and Qasim Hossaini (19) from Afghanistan are walking south, towards a refugee camp where they hope to rest. Isa and Qasim have been deported to Bosnia by the Croatian border police after their third escape attempt.

Footprints, heating blankets, rubbish and childrens jackets hanging in trees show that the area has been populated by refugees and migrants.

'Pushbacks' lies in contrast to the term 'deportation', which is conducted in a legal framework.

Afghan men are fighting friendly during cricket at the metal factory in Bihác.

Fawad Nasiri (23) (left) and Shabaz Khan (24) (center) cleans up and get ready to go in their sleeping bags. Every night they make naan bread and keep themselves warm by the bonfire. They get up at 08 and go to bed at midnight.

"We are afraid every time we try to cross the border," says Shabaz. He has tried The Game 14 times.

Hassan Mohseni put his daughter Nazanin's playsuit on. It’s 05.00am and they are almost ready to head out.

Hewad Piroz (23) (left) jumps and celebrates a goal with his Afghan countryman during a football game at the metal factory in Bihać.

Nazanin casts one last serious glance at her sister Atefeh. Now, the Mohseni family will try another escape attempt to Croatia.

An Afghan man walks inside the halls of the metal factory in Bihác, while another prepares eggs for dinner. On the right wall people have been drawing or writing.

Hassan Mohseni carries his daughter Nazanin. In front walks his daughter Atefeh, friends Hossin and Ahmed. Their escape attempt in the morning failed. The Mohseni family are now on their way to Velika Kladusa to try to cross the border into Croatia.

Fawad Nasiri (23) (right) is eating soup with his Afghan countrymen. He sleeps 3-4 hours at night. “The others say that I speak when I sleep. I've been having a hard time mentally after coming to Bosnia," says Fawad. They live in a disused metal factory.

Fawad fled the Taliban in Afghanistan. He went through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia before he came to Bosnia. One time, he got through the Croatian border police and made it all the way to Slovenia. He was three kilometers from the border to Italy. Suddenly, the Slovenian police took him. “They were relentless,” says Fawad.

The Slovenian police took him to Croatia. The Croatian police then deported him outside of the EU, back to Bosnia.

Fawad is waiting for the weather to be warmer. "It's too cold to travel in the mountains now. In about 45 days we will try again," says Fawad. He is deeply focused to achieve his goal.

The metal factory in Bihać. "Refugees and migrants all carry a story that is unhappy," says Nataša Omeroviš (47), aid coordinator from IOM.

Almost all from this group are from the same province in Afghanistan and carry the same last name 'Khost Al Zadran'. They plan to travel through the mountains from the metal factory in Bihác, when the weather gets better. Everyday they play football.

Clothes hanging in trees on a day with snow at the metal factory in Bihać.

Mahrab Fakhri (24) (left) and his Afghan brother Ibrah Fakhri (19) pour up water from the well to drink and bathe. The brothers have been in Bosnia for two years and have 20 escape attempts behind them.

Mahrab served in the Afghan army during the war in Afghanistan. Together with their other brother, they fought against the Taliban. But the Taliban surrounded his brother, undressed him, and he was given one option: "Either you are with us or we will kill you." Mahrab's brother refused, and the Taliban killed him.

A senior Taliban leader agreed that Mahrab could get his brother's body back if they paid. Mahrab did. He received his brother's body, but without his head. The Taliban had cut it off. Mahrab negotiated and also got his head back so the family could bury him.

Malyar Shakardara (19) stretches out his arm with scabies. He lives in a house with an elderly couple from Afghanistan, just outside the town Bihác.

Atefeh Mohseni (10) runs full of joy, from her father Hassan, towards Hossin and Ahmed on their way to Velika Kladusa, where they want to try to cross the border into Croatia.

An Afghan man standing in line for food and water in front of an IOM van at the metal factory.

View from inside an abandoned house in Bosanska Bojna.

Farid Shinwari (17) (right) leaves the metal factory with six companions on his way to 'The Game'. The flight through Croatia takes between 8 and 12 days depending on the weather and energy. Farid is joined by Jamil Khan (15), who is making his first attempt with at the Croatian border.

A gray, older car slows down. Two local Bosnians step out. They give Atefeh Mohseni (10) and her family new shoes. It's a great benefit. Atefeh puts her hands on her head, but gets a mental break.

The locals (left) have previously been threatened with a gun by other locals who do not want them to support refugees with aid.

Writings inside the metal factory in Bihác.

Arpita Gope (30) hums and wiggles with her infant, Splindora (7 months), who is born on the run, while tears run down her cheek.

Arpita Gope from Bangladesh has had abnormal uterine bleeding for a long time. "She is bleeding now. We do not know why. At the hospital in Bihać, they cannot find answers. Twice they have examined her", says her husband Sanjoi Gope (38). Arpita changes bandages 10 times a day. The family have lived two years in Bosnia.

"We have to go that way," says Sanjoi while pointing. In the same direction, three black silhouettes of Croatian police are seen with binoculars standing on top of a hill. They will without any doubt see the family as they cross the field. "It’s the only way," says Sanjoi.

Atefeh Mohseni (left) is ten years old, but already an adult. "Yesterday we walked 25 kilometers and then we were sent back by the police," says Atefeh in English.

"I got tears in my eyes when I looked at Atefeh during the trip. I thought: why should my little girl go through all these pains and problems?”, says her father, Hassan.

The Mohseni family, with Ahmed and Hossin, are on their way to another bordertown to try an escape attempt. Ahmed and Hossin's wives are also in Croatia like Hassan's. They are all determined to reunite with them.