Bartz documented the humanitarian emergency of refugees and migrants on the border with Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The report was constructed together with cameraman Mike Elsen and editor Chris Quaegebeur.
In a first reaction, Bartz said he was honoured and motivated by the prize.
“For this story, we spoke to refugees who were travelling on the so-called Balkan route, which is falsely claimed to be closed. The situation was bad enough last winter, and this winter looks even worse because nothing has changed. Europe turns a blind eye and Croatia continues to violate human rights with the poor treatment of refugees. We wanted to document these violations, which is why we drove to Bosnia-Herzegovina on the Croatian border,” Bartz explained.
A jury composed of five journalists and human rights experts, including Christina Fabian (President of ACAT Luxembourg), Jean-Claude Franck (Editor-in-Chief of Radio 100,7), Thérèse Gorza (Representative of ASTM), Claudia Monti (Ombudsman) and Paula Telo Alves (Journalist, winner of 2019 prize), selected Bartz’s report.
The other two finalists were Silbila Lind from Luxemburger Wort (“Schwarz ist meine Hautfarbe”) and Melody Hansen of the Tageblatt (“Sterben macht Angst, alleine sterben zu müssen ist unmenschlich”).
