New squat in Majdan and police presence
On 8th December 2020
During the visit to Majdan, a place on the border triangle of Serbia, Romania and Hungary, our team was hindered in carrying out its activities and providing support to refugees in that place. Refugees are mostly found in abandoned houses in Majdan, but recently they are also in the so-called "Factory", a former milk factory where the police take them so that they would not stay in abandoned houses in the village. There are around fifty of them in the village, while there are 90 of them in the Factory and they do not have electricity, drinking water, they do not receive blankets, sleeping bags or tents, or any other humanitarian aid. Also, they do not have access to medical and legal assistance, which they urgently need. The police patrol, which is now constantly in the village, told us, after they checked our identity and ID cards, that they have an order from their police station to tell us that we are not allowed to carry out our activities independently, but that we should first contact the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of Serbia (CRMS) and to carry out activities together with them only in camps which are run by CRMS. We emphasize that the Law on Asylum stipulates that legal aid is provided exclusively by non-governmental organizations, while CRMS is given the authority only to provide material conditions for reception, which means that CRMS is not competent to carry out the activities and assistance that we, as an NGO, provide. As an organization, we are registered with the Ministry of Justice as providers of free legal aid on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. According to the Law on Asylum, refugees have the right to free legal aid, and therefore we as an organization have the right to work everywhere on the territory of the Republic of Serbia to provide free legal aid. This is not the first such event for us in Maidan. A month ago, the police also checked our ID cards in Maidan, but then the policeman, after consultations with the PS Kikinda, said "that he recommends that we first contact CRMS and that we carry out our activity in refugee camps together with them later on." A police officer was much more careful in giving a statement at that time, telling us that he "recommended" us, which is the only thing he can do, considering that neither then, just like yesterday, we did not break any law. Of course, we continued our work back then, but yesterday, regardless of the fact that the police officers behaved correctly while interacting with us, after our lawyer explained that according to the Law on Asylum and the Law on Providing Free Legal Support, we have the right to continue with our activities, the policeman who received the order from his superiors only said that he knows nothing about the laws, but that he was just told to pass this warning to us. After this incident with the police, it was impossible for us to establish normal contact with the refugees because they were scared of the police presence all the time, since the police officers followed every step we made. When we went to the "Factory" a little later, which is located outside the village, ten minutes after us, an employee of the Commissariat for Refugees arrived again, and soon after him, an intervention unit of the police. After that, we left because we were worried that if we insist on continuing our work it might create further problems for the refugees with the police. Police officers on the ground, regardless of their correctness in conversation with us, showed that they have no knowledge of the law and with their rhetoric created almost impossible working conditions for us. This is a clear example of criminalization (even if it was involuntary and caused by ignorance) of humanitarian work, but we as an organization will not give up and will continue to provide legal and psychosocial support to all refugees who are on the territory of Serbia.
One of the abandoned houses in Majdan, used as a squat by the people on the move