Women activists from the Western Balkans and Turkey determined to change the way they prevent violence against migrant women

ATINA’s Program Coordinator Jelena Hrnjak speaks to UUSC about their crucial work to support refugees in Serbia during the 2015 refugee crisis.

“Women’s solidarity can make anything happen.”

UUSC: Could you tell us about ATINA and its work?

Sharon Gesthuizen, a member of the Dutch Parliament and the Socialist Party, met with the representatives of NGO Atina during the SCI visit to Serbia. The meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and resulted in a fruitful discussion about the refugee crisis, as well as the situation in Netherlands regarding national policies and integration.

Published on April 13, 2017

INTRODUCTION

Activists of NGO Atina have prepared the comprehensive report on the experiences of women refugees, including their own insights and lessons gained during months of work on providing direct assistance and support to women refugees. Since the beginning of work on the ground in the summer of 2015, NGO Atina’s mobile teams were in contact with, and provided assistance to, more than 35,000 women and 7000 children.  

NGO Atina gave its contribution to the International Training of Trainers in prevention and response to the challenges of human trafficking, which was organized by the Red Cross of Serbia and Centre for the Cooperation in the Mediterranean, by presenting its work and experience in the field of protecting women and children migrants and refugees, as well as recognizing victims of human trafficking and gender-based violence among this population.

Fatima, 47, and her daughter Maisa 19, who traveled from Pakistan are seen standing on the coast of Lesbos, looking toward Turkey, next to the remains of a boat. As Fatima and her husband were Syrian, they had few rights in Pakistan and their nationality wasn’t recognized. OXFAM

Due to an increasingly restrictive border regime along the ‘Balkan route,’ the business of people smuggling is on the rise.

 Migrant smuggling and trafficking routes through the western Balkans that went dormant during the latter half of 2015 and early 2016 when migrants and refugees were allowed to move freely between Greece and northern Europe have re-emerged in the wake of border closures imposed nearly four months ago.

Border closures have led to a migrant smuggling boom in the Balkans

At the upcoming European Council, European Union (EU) leaders will discuss the European Commission’s Communication on a new Partnership Framework with third countries.The Communication proposes an approach which aims to leverage existing EU and Member States' external cooperation instruments and tools in order to stem migration to Europe. The undersigned organisations express their grave concern about the direction the EU is taking by making deterrence and return the main objective of the Union's relationship with third countries.