BRUSSELS -- The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, has published a research paper severely criticizing the migration policies of the European Union and the countries in the Western Balkans.



The paper highlights human rights abuses such as ethnic profiling at border crossings and the confiscation of travel documents.



It finds that such measures are particularly evident in the Western Balkans, where countries are under pressure to reduce the number of citizens applying for asylum in the EU under the penalty of seeing all citizens subjected to visa requirements.



The vast majority of the people restricted from leaving are Roma, with Muiznieks' text pointing out that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia prevented 7,000 Roma from leaving the country between 2009 and 2012.

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