Author/source: SEEbiz / Deutsche Welle 
Published on: 28.01.2017. - 22:28:52 

BELGRADE - Refugees have heard about the park across the Belgrade bus station while still in Istanbul or Sofia – that is where the smugglers are always present. The price of their services grows with despair. Many people who are stranded in Serbia see them as the only lifeline.

David McAllister, European Parliament Rapporteur on Serbia and chairman of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, visited NGO Atina and our Bagel Bejgl shop.

After the support to programs of social inclusion of the victims of human trafficking NGO Atina is implementing, Hyatt Regency Belgrade rewarded Atina’s efforts and commitment in the community this year as well, through Hyatt Thrive Leadership Award.

A Transnational Anti-Trafficking Training Seminar for anti-THB stakeholders from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Moldova was held in Tirana, Albania on 6 – 7 December 2016.

Migrant women, Roma women, women with disabilities and the elderly are the most vulnerable social groups, and often suffer domestic violence as well. Although there are cultural and traditional inequalities between women who ran from war-torn African countries and women in Serbia, when it comes to violence - there is almost no difference at all. Because of fear, or because they have been taught from an early age that they are property of their families and husbands, they rarely dare to report the perpetrator.

Despite the closure and militarization of many of Europe’s borders, hundreds of refugees continue to enter using transnational smuggling networks in the Balkans. Reporter Andrew Connelly has more from the Serbian capital Belgrade.

In a muddy stretch of land in the Serbian capital, colloquially termed Afghan Park, smugglers and potential clients rub shoulders and illicit journeys to northern Europe are bought and sold. The lucrative black market transactions occur, appropriately, in the shadow of Belgrade University’s economics department.

During the past decade, European Union supported 250 projects of various civil society organizations, as it was pointed out at a panel discussion “For a stronger voice of citizens: Support of the European Union (EU) to civil society of Serbia”, held at the stand of the EU Delegation to Serbia and EU Info Center at the International Book Fair in Belgrade. “In the past 15 years, European Union has provided 30 million euros for civil society organizations in Serbia.

Several thousand refugees in Serbia, after the closure of the West Balkan route they were passing through, is waiting for Europe to open the borders, or to try and reach the desired country with smugglers, risking their own lives. Refugees, whose number in Europe has not been this high since the Second World War, are finding ways to avoid border crossings because they cannot pass them legally. Smugglers are earning money on other people’s misfortune, and organized crime has been flourishing.

Without the voice of citizens there is no democracy, and it therefore needs to be strengthened; this was announced today at a panel discussion For a stronger voice of citizens: Support of the European Union (EU) to civil society, at the Book Fair