Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM
Human Rights House
Kneza Milosa 4, 11103 Belgrade, Serbia
Project Progress and Financial Report – No 7-8.
Date of the visit: 21-22/01/2016
Place of the visit: Prihvatni centarPreševo i Kamp u Miratovcu, Republic of Serbia
Project: “Aid to refugees and migrants – from legal aid to conditions assessment”
Persons responsible for reporting: Ana Janković Jovanović and Momčilo Živadinović
Project Progress
General impressions:
A team consisting of Momcilo Zivadinovic and Ana J. Jovanovic, accompanied by an interpreter for Arabic, conducted a two-day visit from January 21st to January 22nd 2016 of the shelter for refugees/migrants in Presevo and the refugee camp in Miratovac.
The day prior to our visit the Macedonian authorities closed the borders towards Greece and it was due to this that on the first day of our visit there were no refugees at the shelter in Presevo or in the Miratovac camp.
The conditions at the shelter in Presevo have improved and they are now substantially better then they have been in the previous period. Shelters from the rain have been made, along with two toilets and several montage houses have been erected for the accommodation of the refugees. Doctors are on site and are working in two shifts. All the tents were provided with heaters. At the shelter the refugees are provided with food, a hot drink, clothes, footwear, and free wireless internet and there is a children’s room as well. Overall the hygienic conditions at the shelter were satisfactory.
The refugee camp in Miratovac had been relocated and is now about 1 km closer to the border. In contrast to the previous visits, when the camp consisted of only several tents, a large number of containers with heating have been installed. Hygienic conditions at the camp are satisfactory.
On the second day of our visit to the Center in Presevo 30 refugees were present, with about additional 20 still in the bus in front of the Center. We have talked to 7 of the refugees, 6 male and 1 female, originating from Syria. They were all Muslims of various age categories. The education structure among them is quite diverse, ranging from those who completed basic education to those who graduated from college.We have observed over the course of our visit a large number of families with small children. According to the information we received from the officers from the Ministry of internal affairs, there were eight refugees with mange among the residents of the Center but they haven’t managed to isolate them and they mingled with the other refugees.
The respondents reached Serbia by Macedonia. All of them wish to continue their journey towards their desired destination, most often Germany or Italy. They cited busses, cars, trains and ships as means of transport to Serbia. Based on the information we received, their travel expenses to reach Serbia amounted to about 1.200,00 EUR.
Project Progress Report No7-8 21.22012016
