Serbian police announced on Sunday that they had discovered an "illegal migrant camp" on the border with Hungary and Romania. The police said that they had detained "suspected people smugglers" at the camp.
Vaccinating migrants is, in the opinion of most authorities in Europe, an imperative. However, in many countries, the rhetoric clashes with the reality of undocumented migrants' lives on the ground. They find they sometimes have to run an obstacle course to get vaccinated.
In northeast Serbia, hundreds of migrants are sheltering in the hope of being able to cross the border to Romania. The route is seen as an easier and cheaper way to reach Europe.
A new report has placed a spotlight on the migrant smuggling business and other illicit activities running through the Western Balkans, including drugs and money laundering. The report estimates that the migrant smuggling business alone could be worth up to €50 million per year in the region.
Serbia’s decision to secure a range of Covid-19 vaccines, including China’s Sinopharm and Russia’s Sputnik V, has seen the country reach the record highest per-capita inoculation rate in mainland Europe. Now the Balkan nation has started vaccinating the residents of migrant and refugee camps, where social distancing is a challenge.
According to a new ECRE report, Serbia rejected applications from nearly three in four asylum seekers last year. A major reason were anti-coronavirus measures, the author of the report said.
The number of individuals seeking asylum in Austria has risen by roughly 10% in 2020. During the same period, the overall number of people seeking protection in the EU dropped by 31%.
Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin has defended his country's treatment of migrants in a speech to the parliament. He also warned that Serbia does not intend to become "a parking area for migrants".
Adama* contacted InfoMigrants to talk about what he experienced on arrival in Romania. Beaten and humiliated by Romanian police after crossing the border from Serbia, the 36-year-old Malian is still traumatized by the violence he suffered.
The European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary's deportation of refugees to Serbia was unlawful. But Viktor Orban's national-conservative government is ignoring the judgement — and continuing to deport refugees.
Six young Afghans, including four minors, were rescued by Carabinieri police on January 28. According to police, they had been on the road for the last eight months.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, along with various other human rights advocacy groups, have been busy collecting evidence documenting Hungary’s continual flouting of EU law with regards to pushbacks. Since the EU Court of Justice declared Hungary’s pushbacks illegal in December 2020, a recorded 4,903 people have been pushed back to Serbia.