A Day in the Field with Klikaktiv
Since the beginning of 2022 our team has regularly visited 21 locations in the northern border area of Serbia and Croatia, Hungary and Romania. Compared to the previous year, we have found 6 new locations where refugees stay in squats (informal settlements). The number of refugees in squats has constantly increased, as well as diversity of countries they come from. At a squat we might meet people from 6 or 7 different countries. Our team visits several of these informal settlements on a weekly basis in order to provide free legal counseling and psycho-social support. Additionally, we occasionally monitor borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Field work is our core activity through which we gather information on trends and changes in situation of refugees, while also providing basic services in form of psychological first aid, legal counseling and humanitarian aid distribution. While on the field, we also gather information on push backs in the field – illegal and often violent collective expulsion of people on the move to Serbian territory without proper procedure and documentation. For our field work we use a van adjusted to accommodate a private, safe space for confidential interviews and counseling. Our time is comprised of a legal advisor, a social worker, a psychologist, a cultural mediator for Farsi and Pashto, a cultural mediator for Arabic and Farsi, and a logistician. All team members have years long experience in working with people on the move.
Here is how a day at work looks for us:
We gather early in the morning in Belgrade and pack up specific amount of humanitarian aid, based on the specific location we visit that day and needs assessment. The aid is primarily comprised of: blankets, tents, sleeping bags, raincoats, shoes and hygiene items. Here it is important to note we never have enough aid for all people on the move in the field, nor the van can accommodate enough items to cover everyone's needs. Generally, it is always uncertain if there would be enough supplies of humanitarian aid in the future. Usually, we have barely enough supplies to cover the next month or so. Yet, humanitarian aid is an important resource for covering basic needs of people in difficult situation of displacement.
In a day we usually manage to visit three to four squat locaitons. When we reach a squat, we present ourselves and establish contact with people on the move we meet. After the introduction, we start a conversation focusing on their legal status, while sharing information on their rights and duties while on the territory of Serbia. Generally, refugees have scarce and invalid information about Serbia's asylum system and right to apply for asylum. Klikaktiv's legal advisor supported by cultural mediators informs them about their rights and ways to access them, and answers questions relevant to their stay in Europe as a whole. People on the move are usually interested in details on the Dublin agreement and consequences of leaving a fingerprint in a EU member state, given that majority of them has already stayed in a EU member state, most commonly Greece or Bulgaria. After that, we gather testimonies on violent push backs from EU, and on police violence over refugees. We spend a significant proportion of time on this part as our advocacy to prevent these violent practices is based on these testimonies. Refugees feel helpless and defeated because they are regularly subjected to beatings and other forms of physical and psychological violence. One of the most common questions we hear in the field is: Why the police are doing this? Why do they beat us and steal our belongings?. After the conversations and answering questions, we do needs assessment. We pay particular attention to unaccompanied children, women, and families with young children. We share relevant information so they can make better, independent and informed decisions about their journey. In the end, we conduct a humanitarian aid distribution. One of interventions as described lasts from an hour and a half, to two hours.
We finish up by sharing printed mateirals with Klikaktiv's contact in case they need representation before public authorities in legal proceedings, or any information while they are in Serbia. In some of the squats there is up to 200 people, so the whole intervention may last longer and leave all of the team members very tired. Yet the situation at the border is such that we have to move on to the next squat where we go through all of the steps again. After we provide services in two or three such locations, we return to Belgrade usually shortly before midnight.
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This field report is prepared within the Project "Protecting Civic Space – Regional Civil Society Development Hub" financed by Sida and implemented by BCSDN".
The content of this document, and the information and views presented do not represent the official positions and opinions of Sida and BCSDN. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in this document lies entirely with the author.