16.03.2016 //
A round table organised by our grantee Miksaliste Refugee Aid expressed concern over the increasing problem of refugee/migrant smuggling.
More and more smugglers in Serbia take advantage of the large number of refugees/migrants willing to take risks in search of a better life when they cannot access legal channels of migration. This comes after the so-called Balkan route has been closed and Serbia is no longer a transit country.
Within the project supported by the Embassy, Miksaliste Refugee Aid organised on March 15, 2016 a round table where experts discussed to what extent the border closing will affect the safety of refugees and whether the Serbian government and civil society are ready for the next steps in the refugee crisis such as providing the asylum and their inclusion in the society.
According to the UNHCR data, there are about 2,000 refugees in Serbia now. As many as 400 of them applied for asylum in March alone.
The participants of the round table do not expect the number of migrants/refugees to grow but that they now need to have legal status and long-term support.
The head of the UN Refugee Agency in Serbia, Hans Friedrich Schodder,
warned of an increase in the number of illegal migrants coming to the country with the help of smugglers. According to him, the problem is even bigger as they are not visible, they are hiding. “Not only young men are coming, but the entire families, women, children and they are all exploited by traffickers,” Schodder said.
From the beginning of the refugee crisis, Miksaliste has been actively involved in providing help to the refugees who are reaching Belgrade. From August 2015 until present, Miksaliste provided help and assistance to more than 90.000 refugees with support of 1.200 volunteers from 55 countries worldwide. The Embassy has been supporting Miksaliste since December 2015, through the shared project of Mikser Organization and Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation.
After the round table, an exhibition on refugee crisis entitled “Between the dream and the reality” opened in Miksaliste.
