#serbie

[Google Translate] 

Army in front of all hospitals, controls all border crossings, bus stops, asylum centers

As of today, the Serbian Army controls all border crossings, provides and controls all reception and asylum centers, as well as all hospitals, based on the decision to introduce a state of emergency throughout the territory of Serbia.

The specific engagement of members of the Serbian Armed Forces is governed by the decisions and orders of Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, General Milan Mojsilovic, from their competencies to support civilian authorities in preventing the spread of the KOVID-19 viral infection, the Ministry of Defense said.

In order to prevent the uncontrolled movement of persons who may be carriers of the virus and to arbitrarily leave the asylum centers and reception centers, the Serbian Armed Forces, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, will execute enhanced surveillance, control of entry and exit and external security of these facilities. .

▻https://www.blic.rs/vesti/drustvo/vojska-ispred-svih-bolnica-kontrolise-sve-granicne-prelaze-autobuske-stanice-centre/25m9btr

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Serbie #Camp #Armée

The other sad news arriving from Serbia concerns the boat which capsized on the Danube, on the Serbian-Romanian border. The boat was carrying 16 migrants from various countries and was piloted by 2 people-smugglers. Two persons drowned after the capsizing, eight were declared missing, and eight were saved.

Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodosli, mail du 29.04.2020

PREVRNUO SE ČAMAC NA DUNAVU Na rumunskoj granici poginuo Srbin, za osmoro se traga

https://i.imgur.com/bGWjskC.png

Jedna osoba je poginula, a osam osoba se vode kao nestale nakon što se na Dunavu, na granici sa Srbijom i Rumunijom prevrnuo čamac.

Prema izjavi rumunske policije, čamac se prevrnuo u noći između četvrtka i petka, nakon što su migranti napustili Srbiju, i to kada su putnici ustali, jer je voda počela da prodire u plovilo, prenosi “lavanguardia”.

Šesnaest migranata iz raznih zemalja i dvojica osumnjičena za trafiking, srpske nacionalnosti, bili su na tom čamcu, kako prenose rumunski mediji.

Spaseni su četvorica Sirijaca, dvojica Iračana, Jermen, Palestinac i Srbin, pre nego što je otkriveno da je jedan od putnika, takođe iz Sriije, mrtav.

▻https://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/prevrnuo-se-camac-na-dunavu-na-rumunskoj-granici-poginuo-srbin-za-osmoro-se-traga/k5p50m0

#décès #morts #mourir_aux_frontières #Balkans #asile #migrations #réfugiés #morts_aux_frontières #Danube #Serbie #Roumanie #fleuve #rivière

–---

Autres articles de presse sur l’événement:
▻https://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/sprecena-tragedija-vatrogasci-spasli-pecarose-kod-trstenika-prevrnuo-se-camac/hz555b9
▻https://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/tragedija-na-dunavu-iz-reke-izvucena-tela-dve-zene-jos-se-traga-za-cetiri-utopljenika/nns59sn
▻https://www.blic.rs/vesti/hronika/prevrnuo-se-camac-na-dunavu-utopilo-se-sest-osoba-od-kojih-dvoje-dece/035t7zx

ping @isskein

Migranti lungo la Rotta, quarantena permanente versione testuale

A partire da marzo, mano a mano che il coronavirus dilagava per l’Europa, alcuni stati disposti lungo la dorsale balcanica hanno messo in atto provvedimenti che hanno interessato non solamente la popolazione locale, ma anche e soprattutto la popolazione migrante che vive all’interno dei centri di transito e per richiedenti asilo, allestiti e istituiti lungo la cosiddetta Rotta balcanica a partire dal 2016.
Dopo il 2015, anno della “crisi dei rifugiati”, che ha visto arrivare in Unione europea quasi un milione di persone (di cui oltre 850 mila transitate dalla Grecia), a partire da marzo 2016 la Rotta balcanica è stata dichiarata ufficialmente chiusa, in base al controverso accordo turco-europeo, che prevede fondamentalmente che la Turchia – in cambio di 6 miliardi di euro versati dall’Ue e di un’accelerazione nelle trattative legate all’ingresso in Europa – gestisca i quasi 4 milioni di richiedenti asilo che si trovano nel suo territorio.
Di fatto, però, quell’accordo (in realtà una dichiarazione congiunta tra le parti coinvolte) non ha fermato il flusso di persone on the move, ma lo ha solamente rallentato e reso più pericoloso; si calcola, in effetti, che tra il 2016 e il 2019 siano comunque passate circa 160 mila persone lungo questo corridoio migratorio.

Confini incandescenti
I paesi maggiormente interessati dalla presenza dei migranti in transito sono Grecia, Serbia e – a partire dal 2018 – Bosnia Erzegovina, diventata nella zona nord-occidentale il collo di bottiglia prima di entrare in Croazia e da lì nei Paesi Shengen, la meta cui maggiormente aspirano le persone, che provengono principalmente da Afghanistan, Pakistan, Siria, Iran e Iraq.
Poco prima che la pandemia prendesse piede a livello globale, a partire da fine febbraio, la Rotta balcanica era tornata sui principali giornali e siti di notizie, perchè il presidente turco Recep Tayyp Erdo?an aveva annunciato di aver aperto i confini del paese ai migranti intenzionati a raggiungere l’Europa. Quella che sino a poco tempo prima sembrava solo una minaccia si è fatta realtà; nel giro di pochi giorni almeno 10 mila persone hanno raggiunto il confine terrestre tra Turchia e Grecia e hanno provato a sfondare i cordoni di sicurezza greci, trovando una risposta violenta, anche con il sostegno delle polizie e dei militari di altri governi europei.
La situazione incandescente sul confine, che faceva immaginare uno scenario simile a quello del 2015, con migliaia di persone in transito lungo la rotta, si è però interrotta bruscamente con l’arrivo del virus e le misure di chiusura, limitazione di movimento e autoisolamento messe in atto in pratica da quasi tutti gli stati del mondo.
Gli stati posti lungo la Rotta balcanica hanno non solo imposto misure restrittive alla popolazione locale, ma hanno chiuso la popolazione migrante all’interno dei campi, dispiegando forze speciali a controllarne i perimetri: nessuna nuova persona entra e nessuno esce, in una quarantena permanente.

Prendono la strada dei boschi
In Grecia si calcola una presenza di oltre 118 mila tra rifugiati e richiedenti asilo; circa 20 mila abitano nei 30 campi dislocati sul continente, molti vivono in appartamenti o shelter e oltre 38 mila sono bloccati nei campi ufficiali e informali sulle isole di Lesvos, Chios, Samos e Kos.
In Serbia sono oltre 8.500 i richiedenti asilo e i migranti distribuiti nei 17 centri in gestione governativa all’interno del paese. Durante il mese di marzo polizia ed esercito locali hanno portato le persone che vivevano negli squat delle periferie di Belgrado e di Šid all’interno dei campi, che sono ora sovraffollati.
Infine si calcola che in Bosnia Erzegovina ci siano circa 5.500 persone alloggiate in 9 campi per l’accoglienza, ma che almeno 2 mila vivano dormendo in edifici e fabbriche abbandonati o in tende e accampamenti di fortuna nei boschi lungo i confini con la Croazia. L’ampia presenza di persone che vivono fuori dai campi ufficiali ha fatto sì che il 17 aprile il consiglio dei ministri della Bosnia Erzegovina decidesse che ogni straniero che non ha un documento di identità valido e un indirizzo di residenza registrato presso l’ufficio stranieri del comune di competenza, verrà obbligatoriamente portato nei centri di ricezione, dove dovrà risiedere senza possibilità di uscire.
Per questo motivo già dalle settimane precedenti, in località Lipa, cantone di Una Sana, territorio di Bihac, sono stati avviati di gran lena i lavori per mettere in piedi un nuovo centro temporaneo di transito. Il campo, costituito da ampi tendoni in cerata con letti a castello, container sanitari e toilette chimiche, è stato fortumente voluto dalla municipalità di Bihac per spostare dalle strade e da edifici diroccati le migliaia di persone che vagano tra le rovine senza cibo, acqua corrente, elettricità e vestiti. A partire dalla mattina del 21 aprile sono iniziati in maniera pacifica i trasporti dei migranti, scortati dalla polizia locale, al nuove centro in gestione all’Organizzazione mondiale dei migranti e al Danish Refugee Council. Al tempo stesso, decine di persone che non vogliono vivere nei centri e rimanere bloccate in quarantena a tempo indeterminato, hanno deciso di prendere la strada dei boschi e tentare di andare verso la Croazia o rimanere tra le foreste, in attesa che si allentino nei paesi europei le misure anti-Covid.
Le preoccupazioni nutrite dalle diverse organizzazioni non governative e associazioni in tutti i contesti citati sono le medesime: i campi sono sovraffolati e non permettono di prevenire la diffusione del contagio, in molti centri i servizi igienici e i presidi sanitari sono insufficienti, in alcune realtà l’acqua non è potabile e fondamentalmente è impossibile mantenere le distanze. Le persone passano le giornate chiuse dentro strutture nella maggior parte dei casi fatiscenti, costrette a lunghe file per ricevere i pasti e sotto il controllo o della polizia e dell’esercito (come in Serbia e Grecia), che impediscono i tentativi di fuga dai campi, o delle imprese di sorveglianza private nei campi in Bosnia (campi gestiti da Iom, a differenza di Serbia e Grecia, dove sono in gestione governativa).
Naturalmente, se già per la popolazione locale è difficile trovare mascherine usa e getta e guanti, per i migranti nei campi è pressochè impossibile, al punto che sia in Grecia che in Serbia, in alcuni dei centri i migranti hanno cominciato a cucire mascherine in stoffa, per la popolazione dei campi ma anche per la popolazione locale, supportati da alcune organizzazioni.
In tutti i campi le organizzazioni che non si occupano di servizi primari, ma per esempio di interventi psico-sociali come Caritas, hanno dovuto sospendere o modificare le loro attività e instaurare una modalità di lavoro degli staff a rotazione, per preservare i propri operatori.

Distanziamento impossibile
Nonostante in Serbia e in Bosnia Erzegovina non siano stati ufficialmente accertati casi di persone positive al Covid19 tra i migranti nei centri, la stessa cosa non si può dire della Grecia, dove sono scoppiati almeno tre focolai, il primo a Ritsona, una ex base militare a 70 chilometri da Atene, che ospita oltre 3 mila persone, il secondo nel campo di Malakasa, dove è stato trovato un caso positivo tra gli oltre 1.600 residenti, il terzo nel sud della Grecia, a Kranidi, dove 150 su 497 persone di un ostello che ospita famiglie monogenitoriali sono risultate positive al test. In tutti i casi i campi sono stati posti in totale isolamento e quarantena per 14 giorni, e le persone non sono autorizzate a uscire dai loro container, stanze o tende. Per evitare che il fenomeno esploda soprattutto nei contesti come le isole, dove i campi sono sovraffolati e le condizioni di vita più miserevoli, il governo greco ha previsto lo spostamento di almeno 2.300 persone considerate più vulnerabili al virus sulla terraferma, in appartamenti, hotel e altri campi.
In generale le reazioni dei migranti alle misure che sono state messe in atto sono state simili in tutti i luoghi. In primis vi è la sincera preoccupazione di ammalarsi nei campi; le persone sono consapevoli che igiene e misure di distanziamento sociale sono impossibili da tenere. Per fare un esempio, il Bira, un campo in Bosnia Erzegovina per uomini single e minori non accompagnati, che ha una capacità ufficiale di 1.500 persone, ne ospita più di 1.800 e nei container abitativi vivono non 6 persone, ma almeno il doppio. In luoghi così è impossibile fisicamente mettere in atto tutte le procedure necessarie a evitare il contagio.
Altro punto che risulta particolarmente frustrante, soprattutto nei campi in Serbia e in Bosnia Erzegovina, è l’impossibilità di uscire fisicamente dai centri. Questo significa non poter esercitare nessuna libertà di movimento, non poter andare a comprare beni e cibo, magari non necessari per la sopravvivenza, ma di aiuto per resistere psicologicamente. Significa non poter andare a ritirare i soldi che i parenti mandano tramite Western Union e Money gram e ovviamente significa non poter tentare il game, il “gioco” di recarsi a piedi, da soli o guidati dai trafficanti, verso i confini, per cercare di valicarli.

Gli interventi Caritas e Ipsia
La frustrazione di rimanere bloccati a tempo indeterminato è molto alta; in molti dei campi sono scoppiate risse a volte anche molto violente, tra gli stessi migranti ma anche con le forze di polizia e di sicurezza preposte al controllo dei centri. Questi episodi, in Bosnia Erzegovina, sono avvenuti tra i minori non accompagnati del campo Bira, al Miral di Velika Kladuša, a Blažuj vicino a Sarajevo. Stesse dinamiche, con conseguente intervento pesante della security, a Krnja?a, Preševo e Adaševci in Serbia.
Le organizzazioni impegnate nei centri per migranti potrebbero avere un importante ruolo di stress-relief (supporto in situazione di pressione psicologica) in un contesto di frustrazioni e violenze così diffuse, ma le organizzazioni che gestiscono i campi e i governi locali preferiscono una dimesione di chiusura quasi totale, senza capire che sarebbe importante prevenire la crescita di ulteriori tensioni.
Caritas e Ipsia Acli, partner dei progetti lungo la rotta dei Balcani dal 2016, continuano – nella misura del possibile – le loro attività in Grecia, Serbia e Bosnia. Gli operatori locali sono portavoce e testimoni dei bisogni delle persone; anche se, a seguito dell’emergenza sanitaria, i ragazzi e le ragazze in Servizio civile all’estero hanno dovuto tornare in patria per non rimanere bloccati, e ciò ha tolto forze ed energie ai team locali, gli operatori sul terreno continuano il supporto alla popolazione migrante lungo la Rotta. Un piccolo apporto, in un mare di bisogni, ma il segno di un’attenzione e una prossimità che non devono essere cancellate dal virus.

▻https://www.caritas.it/home_page/attivita_/00008790_Migranti_lungo_la_Rotta__quarantena_permanente.html

#route_des_balkans #Balkans #Grèce #Croatie #campement #hébergement #camps #forêt #masques #distanciation_sociale #Grèce #Serbie #Bosnie #fermeture_des_frontières #frontières #coronavirus #covid-19 #Lipa #Bihac #OIM #IOM #Danish_Refugee_Council #Ritsona #Athènes #Malakasa #Kranidi #Bira #confinement #liberté_de_mouvement #Miral #Velika_Kladuša #Velika_Kladusa #Blažuj #Blazuj #Preševo #Adaševci #Krnja #Presevo #Adasevci

ping @luciebacon

AYS Daily Digest 22/04/20 ~300 people protest in Moria for safety against COVID-19

GREECE
There is reporting that Wednesday evening two people were shot after guns were fired at the camp. The two people were taken to the hospital. AYS will continue to follow these unfolding developments…
Wednesday marks the second year anniversary of the Sappho Square Racist Attack in Mytilene, Lesvos. HIASGreece remarks:
“Today marks second years after the Sappho Square Racist Attack in Mytilene, Lesvos. On 22 April 2018, c.150 persons attacked c. 200 protesting refugees with stones, petards and bottles, while at the same time insulting them for their religious and ethnic background. In 11/2018, 26 persons were identified as suspects for the attack & in February 2019 criminal charges were pressed. However, until now none of the 26 had been summoned for the judicial interrogation. HIAS Greece which is representing a number of the victims of the attack, as civil party in the criminal proceedings, condemns the unjustified delays in the criminal investigation of the racist attack and calls on the competent authorities to proceed with the full and timely investigation of the case without any further delay.”
Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL released a report on Malakasa camp and the government’s lack of a response to COVID-19:
“Over 1,600 refugees and asylum-seekers are locked-up in Malakasa refugee camp during Covid-19 quarantine with more than half of the residents unregistered [1] and near 250 of them living in common areas and make-shift shelters.
Throughout last year, the refugee camp in Malakasa, has been extensively used by homeless refugees to find emergency shelter — most of them newcomers from the Evros region. As of February 2020, near 250 people resided in common areas and makes-shift shelters in dire conditions and more than half of the camp’s population were not registered as residents by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum. In the midst of this situation, on 5 April 2020, the first Covid-19 case was detected in Malakasa and the camp has been locked down for a 14-day quarantine. Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) and PRO ASYL have documented 27 cases of asylum-seekers who sought shelter in the camp without official referral. The vast majority of the interviewees arrived from the Evros region and some from the islands. They described vividly the harsh living conditions and the challenges they face during the pandemic. The failure of the Greek authorities to refer those arriving in the Evros region to a shelter following their release from detention means that many remain unregistered and in precarious accommodation for some time and face more risks for their mental and physical welfare particularly at the time of the pandemic.”
Human Rights Watch published a detailed report on how Greece is not ready to handle COVID-19 in refugee camps.
You can read the full report here.
“Ultimately Greece, with the support of EU institutions and countries, should end its inhumane containment policy and facilitate the transfer of asylum seekers from the Aegean islands on a regular basis and provide them with fair and efficient asylum procedures.
‘Covid-19 exposes that the lack of EU solidarity on addressing the congestion in the Greek islands has not only made the situation worse but is now putting thousands of lives at risk,’ Wille said. ‘The Greek government and the EU should show they can win this race against the clock while addressing in a humane way the massive overcrowding that has been a problem for years.’”
HRW also interviewed a pharmacist, who’s lived in Moria the past five months. See a video here of their interview with him while he explains the efforts to protect and educate people in the camp about the virus.
This guide on COVID-19 is not perfect, but that’s because the situation many refugees find themselves in doesn’t allow for strict adherence. Yet it’s available in Arabic and French and can provide useful, basic information.
Here is another guide in even more languages.
Three amazingly helpful organizations need your support now to help people in Greece from COVID-19:
“Greek Forum of Refugees is trying to raise some funding and collect some supplies for the most vulnerable people who suffer the most the COVID19 pandemic consequences. We need your support in this effort so we can keep up being useful for the people in need.” Donate here.
“Mobile Info Team is asking you to help out, without having to leave your house! Unable to leave the overcrowded camps, refugees in Greece are vulnerable to the spread of COVID19 and are without the protection of the states and societies they once knew. Our work is more is more critical than ever. We publish regular updates on Greek asylum services and information on detection of and protection from COVID19, as well as the pandemic’s presence in Greece. Now more than ever, information is power and Mobile Info Team is working day and night to equip vulnerable migrant communities with the facts they need to protect themselves.” Donate here.
Join Movement on the Ground’s campaign to help the 2,000 people living in the olive groves outside of Moria! They are trying to raise money to improve their resources. Join here.

SERBIA

In an update from NoName Kitchen:
“Upon the arrival of the coronavirus, the government limited the movement of migrants and left the detention of those who lived outside the official camps to the police and the military. Since then, no one can leave and there are members of the army guarding the perimeter of each property. Meanwhile, the police are stopping foreigners on the streets of Belgrade on suspicion that they are migrants based on their faces, skin colour, clothing… and asking where they come from and where they are staying.
Good news in this scenario is that there were no registered cases of Covid-19 contagion in any of the camps. Further good news is that at least 35 young people who tried The Game in recent days were able to cross the border and are healthy and safe in different European countries. In contrast, we heard from three people who were unable to do so and suffered pushbacks to Bosnia by the Croatian police.
Seven weeks after the arrival of the virus, the number of infected people is growing by about 400 cases daily average, much higher than registered during March. Serbia has become the country with the most cases on the entire Balkan route, second only to Romania in the region.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-22-04-20-300-people-protest-in-moria-for-safety-against-cov
#Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #Balkans #Serbie #Camp #Grèce

[google translate]

Tensions rise in camps: Some migrants who have been without freedom of movement for more than a month announce complaints

Following the introduction of the state of emergency due to the coronavirus epidemic in Serbia, the government has quarantined migrants. For more than a month, the reception centers of almost 9000 migrants can only leave individually with a written permit and for a fixed period of time. This has led to a rise in tensions and increasingly frequent incidents at reception centers. While government officials on the one hand argued that such measures were necessary, the A11 initiative had submitted to the Constitutional Court an initiative to review the constitutionality of such a provision, and complaints were allegedly announced by some of the migrants in detention centers.

A mass brawl recently erupted in the Obrenovac barracks housing migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and others, prompting the army and police to arrive in Obrenovac.

As refugee commissioner Vladimir Cucic said at the time, a fight occurred when about 50 younger migrants “behaved” vandally because of their dissatisfaction with not being able to leave the facility and fighting with each other, while the rest were quiet.

There were reports in the media that there were fights and incidents at other reception centers, such as a recent one at the Adasevci reception center when a migrant tried to jump over a fence.

The KIRS for Insider states that it is true that the incidents occurred at several reception centers, and so far, “this was mainly an attempt by the persons located in the centers to leave the centers, and they were prevented in accordance with the current situation and authorities.”.

"Movement restriction measures in force since the introduction of the state of emergency, as well as a significant number of long-stay detainees who have been irregularly staying in Serbia and who have refused accommodation services, have the effect of increasing tensions among migrants housed, protests about restricted movement, in one case an attack on people and property, ”KIRS said in a response to Insider.

However, they add that in order to prevent such events, various activities are organized so that most of the time all persons are engaged in some way.

A11: Refugees, asylum seekers and migrants illegally detained
The Economic and Social Rights Initiative A11 has launched an initiative to initiate the constitutional review procedure for Article 3 of the Emergency Measures Regulation, which imprisoned migrants. They recall that such a provision is justified by “preventing uncontrolled movement”, as well as by the fact that these persons may be carriers of the virus.

"Bearing in mind that any person can be a carrier of the virus, and that there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus among the population of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers, and that persons from the same population living in private accommodation are not subject to any special rights restrictions, we emphasize that in this case, it is discrimination based on legal status, origin and place of residence, "states A11.

As they added, they were denied the right to an individualized and reasoned decision on deprivation of liberty, which would be followed by communication of the reasons why they were detained in the asylum centers and reception centers by the competent authority.

They also point out that they have been denied the right to decide, by way of a complaint about the legality and merits of deprivation of liberty, of a judicial body, as well as the right to a legal representative and other rights belonging to persons deprived of their liberty.

Nikola Kovacevic of the Insider A11 initiative says several migrants plan to complain about deprivation of freedom of movement.

“Next week, we will ask the Commissariat to enter camps where the conditions are most difficult, because there is great dissatisfaction at the centers in Adasevci, Presevo and Obrenovac and Sombor,” Kovacevic says.

He adds that the A11 initiative will seek to represent those who wish to complain about their deprivation of liberty and that “everyone can claim compensation for each day they spend at the camp.”

Protector of Citizens: Control procedure initiated at the Asylum Center in Krnjaca
Asked by Insiders whether and what actions were taken by the Protector of Citizens on the situation in the migrant centers, the institution stated that, together with the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), the competent institutions had been drawn to the absolute prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

"The recommendation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) of 20 March 2020, which outlines the principles governing the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty during a coronary virus pandemic and all authorities, has been submitted to all that they adhere to them, as does the WHO recommendation, ”the insider’s office said.

They added that they also collected data on reception and care and organized visits to asylum centers. The Protector of Citizens team visited the Krnjaca Asylum Center on April 22.

“Unattended interviews were conducted with some of the persons present there, as well as with officials, a medical examination of individual persons was carried out, and relevant documentation was inspected. Accommodation conditions have also been monitored, in particular the way in which measures are being taken to combat the spread of coronaviruses and how, in these circumstances, the exercise of these persons’ fundamental rights is ensured, ”the response said.

They point out that an incident was initiated at an asylum center in Krnjaca and a request for information was requested.

In two cases, additional information was requested from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Commissariat for Refugees regarding the received information on the treatment of migrants, and after their submission a decision will be made on the further course of the procedure, the reply states.

They also said that a visit was also made to the Alien Shelter in Padinska Skela. A separate telephone line was launched, and in addition to conversations with persons deprived of their liberty on that telephone number, the collection and verification of data relating to the places where they were located increased, and third parties were contacted (lawyers, family members of persons deprived of their liberty). freedom, non-governmental organizations, etc.).

“In this way, their treatment is monitored and data are collected on the basis of which future visits to the NPM are planned or control procedures initiated on complaints filed,” the Ombudsman concludes.

Vulin: Whoever tries to break the order and does not obey the law will be stopped
In the meantime, Defense Minister Alexander Vulin visited members of the Army who provide a migrant reception center in Adasevci. He also commented on the latest incident when a group of migrants tried to escape from a migrant camp.

"The Serbian army and its members acted in accordance with the law, in accordance with the rules of service. No one was injured, but it was made clear that anyone who tries to disrupt the order and does not obey the law will be stopped by appropriate use of force, ”Minister Vulin said.

He stressed that migrants will be detained in their camps for 24 hours, until another decision is made, which will be made on the basis of the decision of the competent health authorities.

In addition to its regular duties, the Serbian Army provides 20 detention camps and centers for migrant accommodation.

Source: Insider

▻https://insajder.net/sr/sajt/tema/18102/Rastu-tenzije-u-kampovima-Neki-od-migranata-koji-su-du%C5%BEe-od-mesec-dan

#Covid-19 #Migrants #Migrations #Balkans #Serbie #Camp

AYS Weekend Digest 11–12/04/20

GREECE

Coast guard ordered to prevent any crossing from Turkey
Following news from Turkey (see above), Greek media went into a frenzy on a possible second wave of what they like to call “the Turkish invasion”. According to these racist and colonial rhetorics, people on the move are nothing more than pawns used by Turkey to destroy Greek and European civilisation. The Greek coastguard has received orders to stay alert, “prevent any vessel carrying migrants from entering Greek territorial waters” and avoid any crossing from Turkey “on grounds of national security and public health”, Giorgos Christides reports.
Since early February, Greek media have embraced war-like rhetoric and fake news in their coverage of people on the move in the country. Not only have they been described as ‘biological weapons’ armed by Turkey, but the number of positive Covid-19 tests are constantly given in separate figures for “citizens” and “non-citizens”. A racist attitude that is expanding to other groups:

Criminal complaint filed against Greek coast guard for push-backs from Samos coast

Greece: CHIOS
No running water in Vial camp, Chios
From Jenny Zinovia Kali, in the Solidarity in Chios group:
Μessages keep coming from the residents of Vial about the unacceptable conditions they are experiencing in the camp despite the pandemic.
As of yesterday, VIAL does not have running water. People can neither shower nor wash their hands. The mothers have no water to clean the little ones.
Even worse, the administration has also banned the distribution of basic necessities to voluntary groups outside Vial, but no distributions have taken place since the pandemic started from Vial’s first reception. So the residents do not have any sanitary ware, diapers, sanitary napkins, etc.
How do you ask 6000 people — roughly — to follow the protection measures when they don’t provide them with the basics ??????

Greece: LESVOS
Hunger strike in Moria’s PRO.KE.KA carries on
As reported by Deportation Monitoring Aegean, the prisoners detained in Moria pre-removal detention centre (PRO.KE.K.A) in Lesvos have been on hunger strike since 5th April 2020. The PRO.KE.K.A hunger strikers demand their immediate release to avoid the disastrous consequences of a virus outbreak in the prison.

As we previously reported, this week one boy was killed in Moria camp. Violence and fights erupted in the following hours. Nonetheless, the self-organised Moria White Helmets and the Moria Corona Awareness team are continuing to do what they can to improve the conditions in the camp. People are reportedly scared to line in queues for food and water and on Friday they held a large peaceful protest demanding safety, protection and the evacuation of everybody.

While UNHCR is reportedly looking for hotels and ships on the eastern Greek islands to house vulnerable people from RICs, it is also reported that West Lesvos Municipality “grudgingly” accepted to restore and reopen the “old” Stage-2 transit camp in Skala Sykamnias as a quarantine facility to house new arrivals. This was used until the beginning of the year, but it was closed following a decision of the same municipality. It was later attacked by arsonists in March.

GREECE: Samos
Med’EqualiTeam is looking for doctors and nurses on Samos
We need your help!
Med’EqualiTeam is the only medical NGO on the Greek island of Samos offering primary healthcare to the 7000+ refugee population. Focusing on triage, treatment and wound care, the team sees currently up to 100 patients per day.
The team are urgently looking for doctors and nurses who can stay 1 month or more.
(All new team members must self-isolate for 2 weeks upon arrival to ensure safety of patients.)
Please apply on ▻https://www.medequali.team/de/volunteer/application

GREECE: Athens
More reports of racial profiling and police violence during so-called Covid-19 checks
One young man was stopped, beaten, humiliated and had his papers destroyed in Athens. Read the full report (in Greek and English) HERE

SERBIA
People are once again being placed in Miratovac and Krnjača camps.

A local solidarity group reports that the situation in Serbia is increasingly tense. Corona virus has allowed the Government to close the camps, turning them into jails. The army is stationed outside while inside there are the Comisariat, a department of the police. There are reports that a child was hit by one of the workers this week, which was followed by the presence of armed police using tear gas as we reported last week. Local activists are calling on people to spread the news of what is happening.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Violence Continues in camps and at borders
Local groups report that workers from the private security agency that is involved in the camp Blažuj have physically attacked people staying at the camp. When they stood up against this violence, the police were brought in.
When people try to leave these conditions and cross over into Croatia, further violence awaits for them.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-weekend-digest-11-12-04-2020-how-many-have-to-die-for-europe-sins-7157f1

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Xénophobie #Chios #Vial #Camp #Lesbos #Moria #Grèvedelafaim #Révolte #Violence #Quarantaine #Skalasykamnias #Samos #Athènes #Miratovac #Krnjaca #Serbie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Blažuj

AYS Daily Digest 10/04/2020: Police violence in Serbian refugee camp

Feature
The Asylum Protection Center in Serbia reports that a 14-year-old boy from Syria approached camp administrators at the Krajaca refugee camp, located 10km from Belgrade, to request his pyjamas but was then physically assaulted by the employee.
The news of the young boy’s assault by the staff at the refugee camp angered many of the camp’s residents, who headed to the gate of the camp to complain and wait for the police under the belief that the police would assist them in seeking justice.
At 3 pm a large group of police officers arrived at the camp entrance, with initial reports indicating the arrival of 10 police cars. An announcement rang out across the camp demanding that everyone return back to their rooms.
The police marched through the camp and started to arrest people. It is believed they were using a list provided by the camp officials to find and locate individuals. Reports from inside the camp indicate the police used gas and excessive violence resulting in multiple injuries including a suspected broken arm. The videos show people including women and children running from their buildings coughing and covering their faces because of the gas, with one woman fainting outside the building.
The Asylum Protection Center reports the camp residents did not get an explanation of what the gas was and why the use of this gas and violence was necessary. Two buses of people were taken from the camp, but it is unclear as to why or where they were taken.

Greece
After placing two refugee and migrant camps into lockdown, the Greek health authorities have additionally placed quarantine measures onto a Roma settlement in Larissa. The Roma settlement houses an estimated 3,000 people of which 18 people have so far tested positive.
Speaking to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Mayor Apostolos Kalogiannis said this incident “confirms the worst-case scenario”.
Info migrants have recently published a list of helpful services, NGOs and aid groups that migrants and refugees can turn to in times of need. The full list includes organisations that can assist unaccompanied minors, help facilitate medical care for people without documents, provide food distribution and general outreach.
Caritas Greece: The Catholic charity provides social support services to migrants and refugees. Their activities include the distribution of food and clothes as well as educational and psychological support services. The main office is in Athens, and 10 additional regional offices are spread throughout Greece. Contact them on Facebook — CaritasHellas — or call +30 210 52 47879.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has expanded its activities in Greece in response to COVID-19. The organization is active on Lesbos and Samos as well as in Athens. Their activities include “vaccinating migrant children against common childhood diseases, providing sexual and reproductive healthcare, treating chronic diseases and providing care for victims of torture and sexual violence.” Contact MSF on Facebook or call +30 21 0520 0500
Solidarity Clinics (KIFA): The solidarity clinics operate throughout Greece and are funded by NGOs and private donations. They offer free treatment and medicines to undocumented migrants as well as to people who have insurance but still cannot afford medication.
For a full list of organisations please follow the link:
Help for refugees and undocumented migrants in Greece
Many migrants and refugees are struggling to get by in Greece. The coronavirus pandemic has made things even worse, as…

Following the death of a young boy in the Moria camp, hundreds of people have decided to peacefully protest against the camp’s current security situation. Demonstrators held banners saying “Moria is not safe for Hazara people” and “We want rights and security”. The anger and frustration of the camp residents come after a continuing deterioration of the situation within the camp, with three tents having caught fire and one young boy tragically dying within the last 24 hours.
Videos uploaded by the Moria Corona Awareness team show people peacefully sitting on the ground. One participant of the protest explains:
“We are here together to make a peaceful demonstration, as there are a lot of problems inside the camp. So we don’t want any more fighting, war and anarchism inside the camp. So our demand from the Greek organizations, the Greek government, from UNICEF and other organizations that are all working for the refugees, our demand is that Moria is not safe for every refugee from every camp. Last night we lost a young boy, a minor aged 16 because we didn’t have good medical care here, the boy was bleeding a lot. Because of the bleeding, he died.”

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-10-04-2020-police-violence-in-serbian-refugee-camp-71f045fa

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Krnjaca #Incident #Révolte #Grèce #Roms #Larissa #Moria #ilesgrecques

AYS Daily Digest 09/04/2020

GREECE
Greece Asks for Help to Manage COVID-19 Crisis
Camp residents and NGOs such as MSF have been warning that an epidemic of COVID-19 in Greek camps would be a catastrophe and that the Greek government by itself is unprepared. The Greek government asked other European governments for support in creating medical isolation facilities to manage crowded camps among other things. Austria committed to sending 181 shipping containers, which will become housing and healthcare centers.
Austria is one of the richest countries in Europe yet is notoriously unwilling to grant asylum. Accepting asylum seekers so they do not have to live in crowded camps would be far more helpful than sending shipping containers, but hopefully this can make conditions in the camps a little bit more bearable.
Other European countries are gradually accepting people held in camps. Plans to resettle unaccompanied minors are set to begin next week. This week, five minors won their family reunification cases. However, even after children receive a positive answer, it often takes months for them to actually be reunited with their family. We hope these children will be able to leave Moria soon.

SERBIA
Strict Quarantine Makes Life Difficult For People on the Move
All of Serbia has been under strict quarantine measures for almost a month to try and stop the spread of COVID-19. However, these measures are hitting the most vulnerable, such as people on the move, the hardest. They are isolated and denied freedom of movement while housed in conditions that make stopping the spread of disease almost impossible.
There is an almost complete ban on movement in and out of refugee centers, which makes it impossible for NGOs to provide basic services or even accurate information to those trapped inside. The confinement has increased tensions within the camps, especially since people no longer have access to mental health support, and violent clashes have broken out. The camps are so crowded that proper social distancing measures are impossible to implement.
The situation in neighboring Bosnia & Herzegovina is similar — people on the move are confined completely to overcrowded camps. So far, there haven’t even been any cases of coronavirus among people on the move in Bosnia, so locking people in camps has no clear medical benefit. Limiting freedom of movement in such extreme ways is unfortunately motivated by xenophobia.

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-09-04-2020-yazidi-teenager-stabbed-to-death-in-germany-f2e7

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Serbie

CoVid-19 dans les #pays_méditerranéens

En collaboration avec les ingénieurs de la plateforme universitaire de données d’Aix-Marseille (PUD-AMU), l’Observatoire démographique vous propose ci-dessous des ressources #statistiques officielles concernant la situation de l’#épidémie. (Merci aux chercheurs qui nous ont fait des retours pour améliorer cette page : Hala Bayoumi, Eric Verdeil, Philippe Sierra).

Pour chaque pays, nous donnons le lien vers la ou les sources officielles : #Albanie, #Algérie, #Bosnie-et-Herzégovine, #Bulgarie, #Chypre, #Croatie, #Egypte, #Espagne, #France, #Grèce, #Israël, #Italie, #Jordanie, #Kosovo, #Liban, #Libye, #Macédoine, #Malte, #Maroc, #Monténégro, #Palestine, #Portugal, #Serbie, #Slovénie, #Syrie, #Tunisie, #Turquie

https://demomed.org/images/CoVid19/210420_Quotidien.png https://demomed.org/images/CoVid19/210420_cumule.png

▻https://demomed.org/index.php/fr/ressources-en-ligne/coronavirus-situation
#Méditerranée #comparaison #chiffres #graphiques #contamination #décès #coronavirus #visualisation

ping @simplicissimus @reka

InfoPark
15 – 21 April 2020
Weekly Flashback

Serbia
➢ A heavy presence of police and military troops continued in and around centers in Serbia, failing to yield any improvement of the situation. Some of the recent repressive actions can only be described as an open intimidation of migrants without
any clear reason and against international humanitarian laws – using surveillance drones flying low above the tents or parading with heavy vehicles in camps both during the day and during the night.

➢ During his visit to Obrenovac RTC on April 16, Serbian Minister of Defense Aleksandar Vulin stated that migrants present a security and health risk to Serbian citizens, stressing that the camps will remain locked until the end of pandemic, guarded by the Serbian Army. Soon after, Obrenovac migrants demolished an internal CCTV system installed for camp’s surveillance, continuing tense relations
with the authorities.

➢ According to local media, another massive incident occurred on Easter Sunday in Adasevci Reception Center when approx. 50 migrants tried to leave (as an act of nonviolent protest). This protest also came as a result of dissatisfaction over being locked in overcrowded government run centers, inadequate services and in this case,
repeated complaints over poor food quality. The riot was halted when an officer of the Serbian Armed Forces fired warning bullets into the air. This is the second time that live bullets were used in Serbian camps against non-armed refugees and migrants in the state of emergency.

➢ In the 7th week of COVID-19 outbreak, the centers are not yet capable of fulfilling the universal recommendations on social distancing, quarantine requirements and
voluntary isolation.

➢ A boat with migrants capsized on the Serbia-Romania border last week, according to Romanian police. Allegedly, the boat carried 2 Serbian smugglers and 16 migrants of different origins (Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Palestine). Two persons drowned,
eight were reported missing and eight were rescued. Official report on the incident has yet to be issued, however it has been shown once again how illegal movement through Serbia is still very strong despite the lockdown.

➢ Deutsche Welle (DW) in Serbia reported on a mysterious international agreement between Austria and Serbia, which allegedly gives an option to Austria to return rejected asylum seekers on behalf they have previously passed through Serbia and their deportation to countries of origin is not possible. The Austrian Ministry of Interior confirmed that there is such a “working agreement” However, details have
been marked as secret and it is unclear whether or not the agreement has been implemented so far. Info Park expects this information to cause additional stir on Serbian political scene, since several right wing, anti migrant parties were accusing the government of “a secret agreement” between Austria and Serbia that has now
been formally confirmed. The right-wing groups accused Serbian authorities of secretly implementing the agreement in the first days of camps lockdown, bringing busloads of migrants from Austria to RTCs overnight. No reaction from the Serbian officials was noted so far.

➢ Serbia faced the longest general lockdown of 84 hours during the weekend. Results of fight against COVID-19 on Monday, 20 April, in Serbia are: Confirmed cases - 6,630, Deaths - 125, total number of tested people: 41,812. None of the 8,900 refugees, asylum seekers or migrants in Serbia have tested positive for COVID-19.

Bosnia and Herzegovina
➢ Although displacement of asylum seekers and other migrants to the new camp Lipa near Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, was announced in March, it has not yet occurred. However, according to local B&H media, the first migrants should be accommodated this week, due to the coronavirus crisis. Fifty tents in total were erected on this site, which should accommodate 1,000 migrants.

Greece
➢ Following the closure of the migrant camps due to coronavirus pandemic, the restrictions on the movement of refugees and migrants thought Greece have been extended until 10 May. Meanwhile, a fire destroyed parts of one of Greece’s largest migrant camps on the Aegean island of Chios. The fire tore through Vial camp
destroying some accommodation and administrative facilities leaving a few hundred homeless. Three migrants have been arrested, according to Infomigrants portal.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Serbie #Grèce #Camp #Obrenovac #Adasevci #Roumanie #Lipa #Bihac #Chios #Vial #Révolte #Incendie #Accordderéadmission #Autriche

Info Park Weekly 8– 14 April 2020

Flashback

Serbia
➢ In the reporting period, Info Park identified 109 new arrivals to Belgrade - mostly from Afghanistan, followed by Pakistan and Syria. The number shows that COVID- 19 pandemic and the imposed state of emergency did not prevent migrants from coming to Serbia. Given no local or national public transport, the new arrivals completely depend on smugglers’ networks. This was proven by the arrest in Vranje of a local with 9 migrants he transported. In the reporting period, 90 of the newly arrived benefited from Info Park services and a provision of a warm meal during waiting time for transportation to camps. All of them were temporarily accommodated overnight in OSP Miksalište, expecting adequate referral, mainly to a new makeshift camp in Miratovac for 28 days long quarantine, or to a newly open tent camp in the village of Morović (Vojvodina, near the border with Croatia) originally planned to quarantine the locals, with dubious hygienic standards. Given that the overcrowding remained the main issue with nearly 9,000 residents in the camps originally built for 6,000, it was not surprising that Miratovac RC got filled up with 280 migrants in mere 24 hours upon opening.
➢ Serbia registers a constant rise of confirmed COVID-19 cases (tested: 20,958; confirmed cases: 4,054; deaths: 85) making refugees and all other migrants even more concerned about their safety. Dr. Predrag Kon, lead Serbian epidemiologist, said that Roma and migrant population are at higher risk from COVID-19 since they are accommodated in collective centers often lacking adequate conditions for successful prevention. So far, there are no infected among these communities. However, it is encouraging that medical workers continued testing migrants, treating them as equal as Serbian nationals.
➢ Situation in some of the Serbia’s biggest reception and asylum centers did not get any calmer in the past week. On contrary, a further rise of tensions has continued in Krnjača AC, peaking with a riot police intervention on Saturday 12 April which was carried out with an aim to detain the perpetrators of Monday 7 incident we already reported in Weekly 012. Unfortunately, as reported by various witnesses, the police used excessive force including tear gas in an inappropriate manner so unnecessary stress was put on vulnerable population, including children. Two buses of “troublemakers” were sent to newly open camp Morović. It seems that a relation of trust between beneficiaries and authorities is currently on an extremely low level; most of the refugees and migrants in Krnjača AC complain that MoI special units sadly continued intimidating beneficiaries with loud night visits of riot police or helicopters flying low above the camp.
➢ After a long break, the first serious pushback from Serbia was reported on the border with North Macedonia. A group of migrants from Tutin AC (from Algeria, Morocco and Iran) was told by the camp authorities they will be transported to Preševo RC, south of Serbia; instead they were pushed 350km away to a North Macedonia territory near Lojane village. This was a regular practice before 2018, especially with mischiefs from Preševo camp. Lojane village is a long-term smuggling hub and organize crime stronghold.
Hungary
➢ A number of intercepted attempts to cross the Serbo-Hungarian border remained
low, with 48 attempts for 7 days, ranging between 1 and 11 per day.
Info Park
➢ Info Park remained its daily presence in Belgrade Savamala area and continued the outreach operations in Pirot and Bujanovac camps with 4 information sharing workshops last week. We are happy to report a reasonably peaceful atmosphere in these camps where almost none of the gaps and issues typical for big camps are noticeable thanks to significant efforts of the SCRM staff and proactive approach of the clients.
Last week, Info Park organized the 7th coordination meeting online, with the participation of representatives from Atina, Praxis, CYI and CRPC. The main topics included current state of emergency and Covid-19 crisis response. None of them have plans of coming back to the field work in the coming weeks, at least not before May.
Greece
➢ The emergency suspension of asylum applications between 1 and 31 March has ended and got replaced by general suspension of activities of the Greek Asylum Service until at the end of April. Meanwhile, Malakasa camp, north of Athens has been quarantined due to a confirmed corona virus case. This is the second Greek camp which had to be closed over the pandemic.
Europe
➢ Nine European member states (Germany, France, Portugal, Finland, Lithuania, Croatia, Ireland, Belgium and Bulgaria) pledged in early 2020 to accept a total of 1,600 unaccompanied children to be relocated from camps on the Greek islands. Germany is the first to fulfil the promise. According to DW, German officials have expressed regret over the lackluster response from other eight EU states on resettling unaccompanied boys and girls. Two non-EU countries, Switzerland and Serbia, also pledged to do the same, but with no follow up so far. Serbian authorities agreed to relocate 100 unaccompanied children from Greece.

Info Park Weekly 08-14 April 2020 5

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Serbie #RépubliquedeMacédoine #Refoulement #Frontières #Camps #Transfert ##Belgrade #Miksaliste #Morovic #Croatie
#Miratovac #Presevo #Krnjaca #Encampement #Tutin #Lojane #Pirot #Bujanovac #Malakasa #Suspensionasile #Allemagne, #France, #Portugal, #Finlande,#Lituanie, #Croatie #Irlande, #Belgique and #Bulgarie #Révolte

BALKAN REGION REPORT – MARCH 2020

▻https://www.borderviolence.eu/balkan-region-report-march-2020

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Turquie #Slovénie #Serbie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Camp #Frontières

Greece confirms first coronavirus case in migrant camp

▻https://www.ft.com/content/cee3c95d-f2cd-4529-828f-637a1a9ab380

Greece has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in a migrant camp on the mainland, as public health workers warn of a humanitarian disaster if the highly contagious disease takes hold in the overcrowded settlements.

On Tuesday, an asylum seeker who had been living in a camp outside Athens tested positive for the virus after giving birth at a clinic, the first recorded case among an estimated 60,000 refugees and migrants living in camps on the eastern Aegean Islands and remote areas of mainland Greece.

It is not clear where the woman contracted the virus.

Migrants describe a climate of fear as they live packed together with little water, sanitation or information about the coronavirus crisis that is raging across Europe. 

“What hope do we have of defending ourselves from corona? ” said Ahmad, on the phone from a camp under lockdown in northern Greece. He shares his small living space with five other men, his cooking facilities with dozens of people, and his camp recently had no running water for 10 days. 

Six people have also tested positive for coronavirus on the Greek island of Lesbos, home to the 20,000-strong Moria camp that activists say is particularly ill-equipped to handle an outbreak.

Residents have been ordered not to leave the camp, even to collect their monthly stipend in the nearby town as police step up patrols on the roads nearby.

“There are areas in the Lesbos camp […] where there is one water point for 1,300 people. There is one toilet for 167 people. And there is one shower for 200 people,” says Apostolos Veizis, head of mission in Greece for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders. “So when we call for people to stay home, this is the paradox: what home?”

Public health experts say the situation is not only a humanitarian failure, it risks undermining the fight against the pandemic in Europe. 

“Either we include everyone in this strategy, or we strategically fail. Not including these populations is a recipe for failure for our whole society,” said Karl Blanchet, a public health professor and director of the Geneva-based Centre for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action.

Human Rights Watch and MSF are calling for the immediate evacuation of overcrowded island camps. Sea Watch, a search and rescue group, has proposed that decommissioned cruise ships could house those who have been evacuated. 

The European Commission says the risk of a coronavirus outbreak in the migrant camps is “of concern to us and to the Greek authorities” and is seeking to speed up the transfer of people from Greek islands — which host some 41,000 in camps — to the mainland. 

Athens has also announced measures to improve screening and limit groups or visitors, measures Mr Dr Veizis said would do little good given the already unhygienic, overcrowded conditions.

Meanwhile, despite coronavirus being spread by close human contact, other countries in south-east Europe have been accelerating moves to corral migrants into camps.

Editor’s note

The Financial Times is making key coronavirus coverage free to read to help everyone stay informed. Find the latest here.

Migrants have been forced into makeshift settlements in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Serbia some migrants said they had no access to disinfectants or gloves and that camps were under military guard. In some camps, those with a fever said they were left among the camp population while others were whisked into isolation. Some anxious residents wondered whether a coronavirus outbreak had begun.

“The scariest thing is we have no idea who might be sick and who isn’t,” said Mohammed, living in Serbia’s Sombor camp.

Many Balkan states appeared to be trying to push migrants across their borders and into Serbia, where the migrant population in its camps climbed from 5,000 to 8,000 in just a few weeks.

“They [other Balkan states] have taken note of Serbia’s relatively open stance and are pushing migrants into their territories as they try to get rid of migrants in this Covid-19 crisis period,” said Stefan Lehmeier, the deputy director of International Rescue Committee in Europe, “I’m not sure what governments intend to do — the migrants cannot make themselves disappear.”

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Camp #Lesbos #Moria #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Serbie

All migrants in Serbia quarantined, authorities confirm

▻http://rs.n1info.com/English/NEWS/a585590/All-migrants-in-Serbia-quarantined-authorities-confirm.html

All migrants, who were on Serbia’s territory at the moment when the authorities declared the state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, have been put into the centres secured by the Army of Serbia, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migrations said on Saturday.

Some 8,700 migrants are currently accommodated in the migrant camps across Serbia, according to the Commissariat, and they were practically placed into a full quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak. The entry is not allowed either.

The Commissariat said it was necessary to clarify this information after the allegations that migrants are being brought to Serbia overnight and that they are settling down in the country.

The videos that appeared on social networks, showing the migrants being accommodated in the centres, are old recordings, said the Commissariat.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Camp #Quarantaine #Armée #KIRS

Serbia stops commercial flights from Belgrade airport
Border crossings to be closed, says President Aleksandar Vucic

▻https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/serbia-stops-commercial-flights-from-belgrade-airport/1772174

BELGRADE, Serbia

Serbia on Thursday suspended all commercial flights at its main airport in the capital, Belgrade, as part of efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Transport Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said flights to and from Nikola Tesla Airport would be stopped at 12 p.m. (1100GMT) Thursday.

“Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade remains open for all humanitarian flights and cargo traffic, and Serbia’s air space remains open for all flights. The recommendation to passengers is to contact the airline for more detailed information on exercising their rights,” the minister said.

The last flight will be Turkish Airlines TK1084 to Istanbul at 20.25 (2125 GMT) for Turkish citizens.

Special permission was obtained from the Serbian authorities for the flight.

All border crossings for entry into Serbia by road, rail and river traffic will be closed Friday, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

“As of tomorrow, no one can enter the territory of Serbia except transport trucks. In the coming days, we are likely to make further decisions on curfew,” Vucic said.

There are 103 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Serbia, according to Vucic.

The government declared a state of emergency Sunday and imposed a curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. (1900GMT to 0400GMT) starting Wednesday.

The country also shut its borders to foreigners, while schools, colleges, sports halls and gyms are closed.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Frontière #Fermeture #Couvrefeu

Balkan Countries Close Border Crossings to Stop Coronavirus

▻https://balkaninsight.com/2020/03/13/balkan-countries-close-border-crossings-to-stop-coronavirus

To slow the spread of the coronavirus, several Balkan countries have closed most of their border crossings with neighbouring states, making travel in some parts of the region practically impossible.

Serbia, Albania and Romania have closed many of their border crossings in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, leaving some parts of the Balkans practically cut off for civil traffic.

All countries of the region have either banned entry or introduced special restrictive measures for passengers arriving from countries with mid to high to risk of coronavirus.

Serbia has closed 44 border crossings with neighbouring Romania, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia, so that its border police can focus on the main and most frequently used crossings. Crossings have been closed mainly to increase staff numbers on the main crossings that remain open. Most closed borders are road border crossings but river, railway and ferry transport is also affected.

Romania has closed several crossing points that connect the country by land with its neighbours. The closures affect crossings to Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Moldova, the Interior Minister, Marcel Vela, announced on Thursday night. He also said the Serbian authorities had unilaterally closed several crossing points, presumably without informing Romania first. The crossings at the Iron Gates, Moravita and Jimbolia remain open on the border with Serbia, Vela added.

Albania has unilaterally closed several border crossings with neighbouring Montenegro, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

North Macedonia has not closed any borders so far, but, as a result of the unilateral moves made by its neighbours, two crossings with Serbia and three with Albania are closed. Traffic with Serbia continues only through the main Tabanovce crossing.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has not closed any of its borders, though passenger control measures have been strengthened and a temporary entry ban has been imposed on arrivals from the countries worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Croatia has also not closed its borders, even with Italy, the worst affected country in Europe. A government session on Friday was expected to clarify whether the crossings will remain open or not.

In Montenegro, the border crossing with Albania at Sukobin-Muricani was closed on Friday morning on the request of Albania. Border crossings with Serbia in Jabuka near Pljevlja and at Godovo near Rozaje were closed on Thursday at the request of Serbia.

Moldova has not closed border crossings, but its neighbours, Ukraine and Romania, have closed some crossings, making travel there harder. Bulgaria also has not closed any border crossings, except those closed from the Serbian side.

#Covid-19 #migrant #migration #Balkans #Serbie #Albanie #Roumanie #Bulgarie #RépubliquedeMacédoine #Monténégro #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Kosovo #Croatie #Frontière

Are You Syrious Daily Digest 6/4/20

▻https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-6-4-20-riot-police-violently-raids-a-detention-centre-in-gr

70members of the riot police stormed a detention centre and were beating the confined people confined with batons. Reportedly, there are five people in a critical condition, many were injured and people had not been given food for a long time, according to the first reports that AYS and other groups received.
The most comprehensive report of the incident reads: The government and the Minister of Civil Protection are responsible for the barbaric crackdown on migrant protests over food in the midst of the corona pandemic. Not only are they cynically indifferent to the human lives of the 450 migrants held in the PRO.KE.K.A (Pre-removal Detention Centre), but they are endangering their health with bad food and that of poor nutrition quality.
On April 3, when the food arrived, they found that it was not eatable, and refused to eat it. This kind of food was simply “not for humans”.
Officials have promised that this will change, which did not happen, however.
Then, starting with a large group of Arab protesters came out of the cells, almost everybody went to the rooftop and started a hunger strike. This was followed by an attack of the police in full battle gear. The police took them out of the cells, hitting them with batons, while they also used electric tasers, as the people complained. Dozens of people were beaten for taking part while lying in the yard, it is reported.
They smashed the cameras on their phones so they can’t take pictures of the injuries. And they haven’t given them food since then. According to police sources, a man was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Underlying racism in official reporting

There is underlying racism in the way Greece reports about COVID-19, separating the report on the general number of infected people and the number of infected people inside the camps. It is clear that if COVID-19 is present in the camps, it came from outside the camps. These types of reports leave room for interpretations, and all kinds of conclusions and conspiracy theories that connect people on the move currently trapped in the camps with COVID-19. In this way they spread a dehumanizing rhetoric very present in governmental reporting, but also within the bureaucratic reports of the big organisations following their lead.

Illegal Deportations and Pushbacks to Turkey, Ordered by the Greek Government, Executed by the Greek Coast Guard
Aegean Boat Report reports:
“While the eyes of the world are occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek government seems to be taking advantage of the situation, a new tactic to tackle flows towards the Greek Aegean islands has been implemented.
In the last weeks at least nine incidents of people being found drifting in the sea, in life rafts without propellant, has been reported by Turkish coast guard. This could easily have been disregarded as Turkish propaganda, if it hadn’t been for the evidence from Samos.
April 1th at 08.00 a boat landed on Mourtia Beach, Samos east, carrying approximately 25 people. There where several people on the beach this morning witnessing the landing, pictures, and videos was taken. Port police were called by a person on-site, later port police denied having received any information on such incident, and that no new arrivals had been reported on Samos.
Witnesses report that two boats from HCG arrived in Mourtia bay after the landing, the refugees were taken on one of the boats from port police, a boat took off heading southeast. A picture taken by a local journalist shows that two boats from HCG were in fact in Mourtia bay this morning, but port police deny that any of their vessels were in the area this morning.
The last boat that landed in Mourtia beach was February 19th, nevertheless, later this very day people who walk on this beach every day, found a rubber boat, engine, a fuel tank and clothes that weren’t there the day before. Port police told people who contacted them about this that there had been no arrivals, and that they should remember that it was April fools day.
Turkish Coast guard picked up 26 people 13.30 this same day, in a life raft that had drifted towards Aydin national park, 10 children, 6 women and 10 men. According to the statement from the passengers, obtained by TCG, they claimed that they had crossed to the island of Samos; were later rounded up by the Greek Coast guard, put on a life raft, and dragged to Turkish waters.
Pictures taken by locals from Mourtia Beach, compared to pictures taken by Turkish coast guard leaves no doubt, people photographed on Samos is the same that TCG found drifting in a raft outside Aydin national park. When we also take into account the statements from locals regarding this landing, the evidence is overwhelming.
If this had been an isolated incident, this could have been an HCG crew taking things in their own hands, but it’s not. Nine known cases in the last two weeks, from Simi in the south to Lesvos in the north, shows that this is not an isolated incident, this is boat crews acting on orders from the top.”

Due to a dispute between local government and the Greek Ministry of migration, 152 new arrivals on Lesvos are still stuck out in the open without any sufficient infrastructure which meets basic needs, such as electricity, toilets or other sanitary facilities, @f_grillmeier (Twitter) reported. 25 people of those 152 who also arrived after March 1 have been staying in a discarded bus at Mytilini Harbour close to an old swimming pool, but have now been tranferred to Kara Tepe.

56people are in tents and underneath broken boats close to Petra, 32 people are reportedly in staying tents at mountain-region of Agios Stefanos, 39 in a chapel close to Kliou, north. According to the media, the local government has not indicated a safe temporary place for those who have to quarantine for 14 days after arrival. The Ministry of Migration says that it is the responsibility of local authorities.

Anxiety and Despair Among People Confined in Camps Across the Country
As a consequence of the locked camps’ regime that seems to be unsustainable in the long run, as it is now, there is growing despair among the people held in the centres across Serbia, guarded by the army. The people staying in these camps are complaining that they are not allowed to provide their families and themselves with enough proper food for a healthier survival within the facilities in which they are held. They say that in the Krnjača camp there is a small shop with no clear pricing, and everything is much more expensive than in the other shops outside of the camp. They are forced to buy food in these shops which they claim are owned by some of the staff, and even there not everyone gets to have a chance to shop.

The SCRM introduced obligatory isolation for new arrivals sent to Preševo camp, which with a population of 1,501 making it the largest camp .
Growing mental health issues, gaps in service provision and supply, conflicts between different groups and the toxic influence of smugglers’ propaganda inspiring some to protest violently, these are some of the issues InfoPark documented from the testimonies of people held in these centres.

CROATIA
Pushbacks continue
Although the official sources claim the “pressure on the border” has reduced, and that there are not that many people trying to cross the green border into Croatia, the reports on pushbacks have not ceased. AYS has received information on several cases of pushbacks in the area close to Velika Kladuša in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, L’ ALTRA VOCE have recently shared an account of a pushback of a group of boys who tried to enter Croatia, but were beaten up and had their belongings taken away, they say. The images they sent them display heavily bruised arms and extremities on the boys’ bodies.
Sixteen cops beat them with great violence using steel bars. They insulted and beat them. Then they took everything away from him: cell phones, money, shoes, jackets. And they pushed them into the cold water of a river.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grèce #Détention #Camp #Racisme #Refoulement #Merégée #Turquie #Samos #Mourtia #Mythilène #karatepe #Agiosstefanos #Petra #Kliou #Klidi #Sintiki #Privatisation #Serbie #Armée #Presevo #Krnjaca #Santémentale #Croatie #Refoulement #Velikakladusa #Bosnie-Herzégovine

INFOPARK Weekly : 1 – 7 April 2020 - 012

Serbia

Beginning of April was marked with a significant deterioration of atmosphere in some of the camps, especially the big ones. Two massive fights occurred in Obrenovac RC (5 April) and Krnjaca AC (6 April) centers, involving up to 150 persons. In both incidents, the migrants tried to escape, the SCRM staff was attacked so gendarmerie and army had to intervene, including shooting live bullets in the air in Krnjača. Since yesterday, Obrenovac camp is loaded with a heavy presence of Ministry of Interior (MoI) forces controlling the situation, while Krnjača is guarded by armored vehicles. In many camps security forces scaled up the measures to prevent migrants from attempts to escape, although in smaller centers the situation remained calmer.

Info Park believes that negative developments came as a consequence of locked camps’ regime that seems to be unsustainable on a long run as it is now. Info Park learned from migrants about growing mental health issues, gaps in service provision and supply, conflicts between different ethnic groups and toxic influence of smugglers’ propaganda inspiring some to protest violently. At the end of this bulletin please kindly find enclosed an appendix on Mental Health of Refugees and Migrants written by Info Park protection expert Ivana Anđelković (PhD candidate at University of Nis, department of psychology).

As Serbia registers constant rise of COVID-19 cases (8,552 tested, 2,200 infected and death toll of 58), fortunately there is still no confirmed coronavirus among migrants in the country, even though migrant population is at higher risk being with limited access to information and healthcare services. Until this weekend, 8 migrants were tested, all negative. The SCRM introduced an obligatory isolation for new arrivals sent to Preševo camp which is the largest camp with 1,501 migrants currently placed.

Number of migrants in Serbia continued to slowly rise due to pushbacks from Hungary, returns from Bosnia and new arrivals. Currently, 8,743 migrants are in 17 camps. The Miratovac makeshift camp is completed but is still waiting for the first visitors.

The recently established anti-migrant Facebook group “STOP Naseljavanju migranata” (Stop Populating Migrants in Serbia) stirred a lot of controversy due to high presence of hate speech and fake news. One of the group founders from Obrenovac was detained for 48 hours following a report from a CyberCrime unit of MoI, after he publicly called for murdering migrants. The group was joined by 265,000 members in mere 10 days, marking an alarming rise of extreme right wing focused on migrant issue in Serbia.

After Bujanovac, Adasevci, Vranje and Principovac, migrants in Sombor Reception Center have also started sewing protective face masks for the employees of the Serbian Commissariat and themselves. This way they are not only contributing to the COVID-19 response but also sharing and returning solidarity and care.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

According to the Bosnian authorities and International Organization for Migration, there are no COVID-19 cases among thousands of migrants and refugees hosted in B&H centers. However, several hundred of those recently arrived are placed in isolation as a precautionary measure.

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Camp #Obrenovac #Krnjaca #Armée #Gendarmerie #Violence #Infopark #Santémentale #Presevo #Refoulement #frontière #Hongrie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Miratovac #Xenophobie #Violence #Bujanovac #Adasevci #Vranje #Principovac #Sombor

MIGRANTS AND STATE OF EMERGENCY IN SERBIA

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#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Infopark #Etatdurgence #Camp

INFO PARK COMMUNITY - VIBER PLATFORM

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#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Infopark #Viber #Camp

UNHCR Serbia Special Weekly Update 23-29 March 2020

▻https://reliefweb.int/report/serbia/unhcr-serbia-special-weekly-update-23-29-march-2020

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #UNHCR

COVID 19 ET FRONTIÈRES EUROPÉENNES EXTÉRIEURES : LES PERSONNES EXILÉES ENCORE PLUS PRÉCARISÉES ET EN DANGER

►https://www.lacimade.org/covid-19-et-frontieres-europeennes-exterieures-les-personnes-exilees-encor

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Grece #Turquie #Serbie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #camp #étatdurgence #suspensionasile #frontière

WELCOME TO PRISON : We are treated like animals in the zoo !!!

Tuesday, 17th march in the morning. Workers came with building equipment and started putting up a fence around Porin, one of the camps (prisons) for asylum seekers in Zagreb. What was until now a symbolic prison (the rules imposed on people forced to stay inside including no visiting rights from their friends or loved ones, limited exit, extreme surveillance with cameras, counting at bedtime, complete denial of autonomy to organize one’s everyday existence, apart from long and dehumanizing process of applying for asylum and waiting for an answer etc.) is now becoming, with every meter of the fence being built, a true gated prison. This is sending a very clear message reinforcing racist imaginary of the outside world: the camp is a space of Other, of danger and threat to the community, a space (and this sticks onto people that stay inside as well) that needs to be controlled, regulated, locked to protect the community. So even if people manage to avoid push back, survive the beatings, intimidation and other forms of violence and actually apply for asylum, they will be punished by staying behind a fence. Their only “crime” being freedom of movement. Financed with EU money, Croatia continues to fulfill perfectly its role of watchdog of fortress Europe.

The erection of the fence is being done quietly, without notifying the people staying inside the camp or explaining to them what this will mean for their lives, without a sound of protest by local NGO’s (scared, not unjustified, of losing funding and possibility of continuing the support work), like it’s a reality we have to accept and can’t do anything about it. The timing could not be more perfect – with the health scare creating a state of emergency, it’s an ideal opportunity to divert attention from repressive and restrictive policies being carried out in the background (let’s not forget Greece suspending the right to apply for asylum, for example). Some lives are worth care and saving, others deserve to be left to die. One of our brothers in the camp who got deported to Croatia from Austria was infected with corona virus. Instead of providing him healthcare, they took him to detention center (closed camp) Ježevo, with pretext that there are empty rooms there where he can get better. White lives matter, others not so much.

Even though we can not stop the fence from being built, we can at least raise our voice and not allow it to go completely unnoticed. We want to say that we noticed the workers coming, we noticed how they started to build the fence, dehumanizing and humiliating us again and to this we say WE ARE ANGRY and sick of being prisoners of racist Europe, sick of fences and violence and being treated like less than human.

Some residents of Porin and their friends from the outside world.

http://komunal.org/images/90526975_2785758098157646_6833042567047675904_n.jpg http://komunal.org/images/89926132_2588858244722817_7276241212984524800_n.jpg

Sur cet hôtel transformé en centre d’accueil pour réfugiés, pas mal d’info sur seenthis :
►https://seenthis.net/tag/hotel_porin

ping @luciebacon

Migranti e Covid-19: la profezia che si autoavvera prima del tempo

Stiamo assistendo in queste ultime ore ad una delle peggiori e becere strumentalizzazioni legate alle politiche e alla propaganda d’odio verso le persone migranti che tentano di andarsene dalla Libia o viaggiano attraverso i Balcani.

A seguito delle misure che tutti gli Stati nazione stanno via via assumendo all’interno dei propri territori e verso l’esterno, uno pare essere il leit motiv. A priori incolpare il rifugiato, il richiedente asilo, il migrante per la diffusione del #Covid-19.

https://lungolarottabalcanica.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/confine-italia-svlovenia.jpg?w=616#.jpg

Come riporta Amnesty International, il presidente degli Stati Uniti, Donald Trump non ha perso tempo ordinando di respingere sia verso il Messico che verso il Canada tutte le persone entrate negli Stati Uniti, senza dare loro il permesso di essere ascoltate nelle istanze di richiesta di protezione.

In Olanda il ministro della Giustizia Ferd Grapperhaus ha dichiarato che il parlamento ha decretato di non ammettere più nuovi ingressi all’interno dei centri di accoglienza. “Non possiamo sapere in quanti e quali altri Paesi queste persone siano passate prima di giungere a destinazione e con chi possano essere entrate in contatto”, questa la motivazione alla base della decisione.

In Serbia il presidente Vučić ha proclamato in conferenza lo stato d’emergenza nazionale elencando le varie misure adottate tra cui il dispiegamento dell’esercito a controllo degli ospedali, delle frontiere e dei centri collettivi per richiedenti asilo e il divieto a chi vi viene registrato di poter uscire. Misura che ha ricevuto il plauso da parte dell’Assessore alla Sicurezza del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Pierpaolo Roberti, dato che servirebbe a prevenire il contagio anche nella regione del nordest italiano. Nell’ ultimo report dell’UNCHR sulla situazione in Serbia si evidenzia un aumento delle persone registrate all’interno dei 16 campi governativi, salito dai 5912 a 8328 in una settimana, sebbene alla data del 25 marzo ancora non siano emersi casi di Covid-19 tra i richiedenti asilo. Da qualche settimana, in diverse città serbe tra cui Subotica e Belgrado, erano state autorizzate manifestazioni pubbliche contro la presenza e l’accoglienza di migranti

La Grecia già il 27 febbraio, prima dell’annuncio dell’apertura dei confini da parte della Turchia, aveva deciso di aumentare i controlli alle frontiere per impedire ai migranti potenziali portatori di coronavirus, di entrare in territorio ellenico. “Adesso la migrazione include una nuova dimensione, dato che i flussi verso la Grecia comprendono anche persone provenienti dall’Iran – dove ci sono stati molti casi – e altre che sono passate per l’Afghanistan” aveva dichiarato il primo ministro Mitsotakis. “Le nostre isole, già gravate da problemi di salute pubblica, devono essere doppiamente protette”. Due settimane dopo, lunedì 9 marzo, è stato confermato il primo caso di COVID-19 nell’isola di Lesbo. A portare l’infezione in Grecia è stata una greca di ritorno da un viaggio in Israele, non un richiedente asilo.

Anche per il governo greco il coronavirus è diventato un pretesto non solo per rafforzare le frontiere ma anche per dare avvio alla detenzione di massa dei richiedenti asilo, sia nelle isole dell’Egeo sia nella Grecia continentale. Nei due campi profughi di Lesbo, Moria e Kara Tepe, le autorità hanno annunciato che si potranno muovere solo 100 persone all’ora, dalle 7 alle 19. Su una popolazione totale di 20 mila persone significa che solo una su 20 ha il diritto di muoversi ogni giorno. Inoltre in tutti i campi della Grecia sono state cancellate le attività ludiche ed educative, è stato vietato l’ingresso agli esterni ed è stato messo i coprifuoco dopo le 19. Nulla, a parte campagne di informazione sul coronavirus e allestimento di cliniche ad hoc, è stato fatto per prevenire un possibile focolaio all’interno dei campi. I tanti appelli delle organizzazioni umanitarie greche e internazionali che chiedevano l’evacuazione delle persone dagli hotspot delle isole dell’Egeo sono rimasti inascoltati. A questo, si è aggiunta la linea dura che la Grecia ha portato avanti dall’1 marzo, a seguito dell’annuncio turco dell’apertura delle frontiere: sospensione del diritto d’asilo fino al 31 marzo per chi è entrato in territorio ellenico in maniera illegale, respingimenti di massa al confine marino e terrestre, e detenzione per chi è riuscito a varcare la frontiera.

L’Ungheria, negli stessi giorni, ha interrotto l’accesso dei richiedenti asilo ai campi collocati nelle zone di transito al confine con la Serbia, giustificando la misura per questioni sanitarie e sostenendo che l’arrivo del contagio in terra magiara fosse da imputare ad iraniani universitari. Ma nella decisioni di Orban ha avuto peso anche il timore di un nuovo flusso di arrivi dopo il confronto telefonico con Erdogan.

In Bosnia e Erzegovina sia la Federazione che la Repubblica Serba di Bosnia hanno separatamente dichiarato lo stato d’emergenza. Anche in questo caso, particolare attenzione è stata data al tema dei migranti e dei richiedenti asilo presenti all’interno del territorio, con la conseguente apertura di una nuova tendopoli nel Cantone Una-Sana, precisamente a Lipa, dove verrrano coattivamente trasportate le persone che vivono in aree informali fuori dai campi gestiti dall’OIM.

Come avvenuto in Serbia, anche in Bosnia l’esercito è stato incaricato di controllare le frontiere e di monitorare i campi vietando l’uscita delle persone; nel frattempo anche la tendopoli alla stazione di Tuzla è stata sgomberata e le persone portate a Blazuj nei pressi di Sarajevo, dove già si viveva in condizioni di sovrannumero.

All’Hotel Porin di Zagabria, prima del terremoto del 22 marzo, è stata montata una rete a circoscrivere l’area attorno al campo.

A Gorizia, nell’area di Trieste e lungo i valichi di confine, sono stati eretti posti di blocco sulle vecchie frontiere che sono tornate ad esistere per iniziale volontà del governo sloveno. Al confine opposto ha disposto invece nuovi container dove trattenere i migranti catturati per poi consegnarli alle forze dell’ordine croate. Il presidente della regione Friuli ha ottenuto il dispiegamento di polizia e militari sul confine sloveno per fermare chi arriva dalla rotta balcanica, dopo che già da gennaio Salvini aveva chiesto il blocco delle frontiere per evitare l’arrivo di migranti.

Filippo Grandi dell’Alto Commissariato delle Nazioni Unite per i Rifugiati (UNHCR), in una dichiarazione del 20 marzo sulla crisi COVID-19 ha dichiarato:

“Sono sempre più preoccupato per le misure adottate da alcuni Paesi che potrebbero bloccare del tutto il diritto di chiedere asilo […] queste misure non devono portare alla chiusura delle vie d’asilo, né costringere le persone a ritornare in situazioni di pericolo”.

Solo qualche giorno prima a Ginevra gli esperti ONU riuniti avevano rilevato i rischi dell’utilizzo dei poteri speciali come misure repressive. “Pur consci della gravità dell’attuale crisi sanitaria e riconoscendo che l’uso dei poteri in stato di emergenza è consentito dal diritto internazionale in risposta a minacce significative, ricordiamo con urgenza agli Stati che qualsiasi risposta all’emergenza coronavirus deve essere proporzionata, necessaria e non discriminatoria”

L’Alto Commissario per i Diritti Umani delle Nazioni Unite aveva espresso perplessità simili.

Il Portogallo il 29 marzo ha dichiarato l’intenzione di regolarizzare chiunque abbia inoltrato domanda di permesso di soggiorno retroattivamente dalla data d’inizio dell’emergenza, il 18 marzo. Tutti saranno trattati come cittadini ed avranno lo stesso diritto di ogni portoghese all’accesso alla sanità e cure.

Ad oggi il Portogallo è l’unico Paese a compiere un’azione normativa, e quindi politica, che anzitutto guardi alla crisi legata al coronavirus come a un problema globale per tutti gli individui e nel fare ciò amplia le maglie del diritto e dei diritti anzichè restringere e rinchiudere come si è visto fare in tutti gli altri contesti.

▻https://lungolarottabalcanica.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/migranti-e-covid-19-la-profezia-che-si-autoavvera-p
#Balkans #fermeture_des_frontières #frontières #migrations #asile #réfugiés #coronavirus #route_des_Balkans #mobilité #immobilité #Hongrie #Serbie #Bosnie-Herzégovine #Bosnie #Gorizia
ping @luciebacon

SERBIE : À BUJANOVAC, LES RÉFUGIÉS PROPOSENT LEUR AIDE POUR LUTTER CONTRE LE CORONAVIRUS

29 mars - 19h30 : Les réfugiés du Centre d’accueil de Bujanovac, dans le sud de la Serbie, ont écrit aux autorités, pour dire qu’ils pouvaient aider à faire face à l’épidémie. « Parmi nous, il y a des infirmiers, mais nous sommes prêts à faire tous les travaux utiles - des soins médicaux à la quarantaine en passant par le nettoyage des rues. Le virus ne fait pas de différence entre les citoyens autochtones et les réfugiés. » Les réfugiés ont notamment commencé à coudre des masques, sous la conduite du couturier Habib Soheli, originaire d’Iran.
Le Centre d’accueil de Bujanovac abrite environ 250 réfugiés.

►https://www.courrierdesbalkans.fr/Les-dernieres-infos-o-Refugies-Balkans-Covid-19-la-Bosnie-Herzego

#Covid-19 #Migration #Migrant #Balkans #Serbie #Camp #solidarité