Playing ping pong with people in the asylum system
During the conference held yesterday at the Human Rights House, the “Welcome” Initiative has warned of serious human rights violations and creation of legal insecurity, as a result of problematic practises of returning refugees from Slovenia to Croatia, and from Croatia to Serbia. They have also presented a report, created by the “Moving Europe” Activists, who were talking to individuals “stuck” in the border areas of Serbia and Croatia, in the vicinity of Adaševci and Šid, as well as those in Belgrade, from 11 to 25 January, which offers testimonies of police violence.
Alarming decisions made by the EU, allowing passage only to individuals from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who explicitly state that they will seek asylum in Austria or Germany, make certain number of people come back to Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, as well as other countries along the route. Some of the returned individuals are also refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of their testimonies, we have been made aware that frequently they are not even given the opportunity to seek asylum in Croatia, but are returned to Serbia, to where they travel on foot, without any support. We are again witnessing hundreds of people sleeping outdoors, and based on the reports made by activists, police violence towards refugees is not a rare occasion.
Despite the series of EU measures aimed at slowing the pace of refugees’ arrival to Europe, migration cannot be stopped, and narrowing the asylum legislation in the EU member states causes the domino effect in the other countries along the so called Balkan Route. Activists of the “Welcome” Initiative have met a person from Syria who wants to go to Denmark, because his wife and son are there, but he was stopped in Slovenia and returned to Croatia, then from Croatia to Serbia and is now probably on his way to Macedonia, although only few days before he has gone all that way to try and reach his family. This type of “ping pong” with people is unacceptable and leads to the state of legal insecurity where individuals are not made clear on what their options are.
The “Welcome” Initiative invites the EU Heads of State to reach for more humane options and use the temporary protection mechanism, that has been envisaged for cases like these, when there is a mass influx of displaced people who are seeking protection in Europe. Instead of allowing the asylum system to collapse, denying the existence of an ongoing humanitarian crisis and not accepting the current situation as permanent, member states should demonstrate solidarity and cooperation, as is already being done by their citizens. We invite all the member states to participate in resolving this humanitarian crisis, in a way that all of them take part in accepting the refugees seeking protection, build quality and long term integration systems, as well as contribute to resolving the causes of this crisis by putting an end to wars that cause people to flee their homes.
