Stranded migrants in Serbia face cold winter as shelters overflow and conditions deteriorate

Record ID: 162693

  • Title: Stranded migrants in Serbia face cold winter as shelters overflow and conditions deteriorate
  • Date: 30th December 2016
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (DECEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS AT "SAVE THE CHILDREN" CENTRE IN BELGRADE MIGRANT SLEEPING AT TABLE WITH CHILDREN AROUND HIM CLOSE UP OF BOY NEXT TO MAN SLEEPING CHILDREN DRAWING CLOSE UP OF CHILD DRAWING A CHRISTMAS TREE BOY EATING A SANDWICH BABY EATING ON MOTHER'S KNEES VARIOUS OF CHILDREN DRAWING AFGHAN FAMILY AT ENTRANCE TO CENTRE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN PLAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) AFGHAN MIGRANT, WIZHMA LAQA, SAYING: (ACCORDING TO PASHTO TRANSLATOR) "Even though I had a kidney removed and find it hard to walk, I managed to get here. I do it all for my children, to secure a better future for them." CLOSE UP OF HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AFGHAN MIGRANT, MOHAMMAD SAMI LAQA, SAYING: "Serbia, I know, Serbia itself has a lot of problems. I want to go (to the West) because of my children, to study school and learn." WALL COLLAGE AT CENTRE SHOWING EU, GERMAN AND SERBIAN FLAGS AND READING (English): "I LOVE THIS" VARIOUS OF "SAVE THE CHILDREN" ACTIVIST TANJA RISTIC SHOWING CHILDREN'S COLLAGE DRAWING ON WALL SHOWING THE BORDER FENCE BETWEEN SERBIA AND HUNGARY (SOUNDBITE) (English) "SAVE THE CHILDREN" ACTIVIST, TANJA RISTIC, SAYING: "Our estimated...According to our knowledge, there is around, up to 100 arrivals per day. We're meeting and supporting 30-50 new people per day in Belgrade and Presevo (refugee camp on Serbia's border with Macedonia) and almost half of this number are children." COLLAGE ON WALL SHOWING JOURNEY FROM SYRIA TO SERBIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) "SAVE THE CHILDREN" ACTIVIST, TANJA RISTIC, SAYING: "And from this number, from the number of children that we support and meet, at least every tenth child is actually a child travelling alone." CHILD LEAVING THE SAVE THE CHILDREN OFFICE IRAQI FAMILY WALKING DOWN A BELGRADE STREET KELEBIJA, SERBIA (DECEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) MAKESHIFT CAMP AT SERBIA'S BORDER WITH HUNGARY HUNGARIAN POLICE AND ARMY GUARDING BORDER GATE MIGRANTS AT GATE WAITING TO BE NAMED TO ENTER HUNGARY AND EU MAN AND CHILD SLEEPING NEXT TO FENCE MAN SLEEPING NEXT TO FENCE CRYING WOMAN HOLDING A BABY AND WAITING IN LINE VARIOUS OF WOMEN CRYING TOMPA, HUNGARY (DECEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) A FAMILY WITH SIX CHILDREN ENTERING HUNGARY CLOSE UP OF MOTHER CRYING CHILDREN GOING THROUGH GATE FATHER WAVING TO THOSE STAYING IN SERBIA KELEBIJA, SERBIA (DECEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CRYING WOMEN STAYING IN SERBIA TOMPA, HUNGARY (DECEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) FAMILY THAT CROSSED TO HUNGARY SEEN THROUGH GATE KELEBIJA, SERBIA (DECEMBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LIBYAN MIGRANT, FARUQ, SAYING: "We came to Serbia and registered our names at the camp, expecting to be able to leave legally. When we got to the border we found that there was no electricity, no water, it is very cold, the children are freezing, there's no food, we have to buy things from the supermarket but we are running out of money, we've been here for seven months. There is no justice, they ask for a list of 1,100 but we are 1,500 (referring to entry applications numbered by Hungarian police)." WOMAN HOLDING A BABY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI MIGRANT, SAHER, SAYING: "There's no water, no toilets, nothing, we have nothing. They give us a small piece of bread, without knowing what's in it. We are tired my brother, we are very tired. We want you to let us through, may God have mercy on you. These are all young people escaping from misery". SAHER SHOWING HIS TENT CLOSE UP OF ICE ON SLEEPING BAG INSIDE TENT VARIOUS OF MEN GATHERED AROUND FIRE AT MAKESHIFT CAMP VARIOUS OF FAMILY WAITING AT GATE
  • Embargoed: 14th January 2017 10:32
  • Keywords: Serbia Hungary overflow migrants shelters borders influx
  • Location: BELGRADE AND KELEBIJA, SERBIA AND TOMPA, HUNGARY
  • City: BELGRADE AND KELEBIJA, SERBIA AND TOMPA, HUNGARY
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0015F2RN7R
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Many migrants in Serbia are setting up tents on the streets, abandoned warehouses and makeshift camps as shelters in the Balkan country are full, according to activists and NGO's who every month observe how a relentless stream of those pushing from the south piles atop of those waiting to cross the border to Hungary and wealthy EU countries.
    At least 7,000 migrants mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria are trapped in Serbia, many spending months in a country culturally and financially ill-equipped to care for them and where few of them want to stay.
    Despite the official closure of the so-called Balkan route, which has eased pressure on rich nations like Germany, aid agencies estimate more than 100 new migrants are entering Serbia every day, while only around 20 are allowed to enter Hungary - Serbia's only neighbour in Europe's Schengen visa-free area.
    "According to our knowledge, there is around, up to 100 arrivals per day. We're meeting and supporting 30-50 new people per day in Belgrade and Presevo and almost half of this number are children," Tanja Ristic, an activist at "Save the Children" told Reuters at an overcrowded Belgrade centre where the international NGO encourages children to take part in activities to help them come to terms with their trauma.
    "And from this number, from the number of children that we support and meet, at least every tenth child is actually a child travelling alone," she added.
    Serbia has pledged to make 6,000 beds available and has reached almost that total but has appealed for more help from the European Union to help it ease the crisis.
    An estimated 2,200 of the migrants stuck in Belgrade have found at least some shelter in abandoned railway warehouses, where they live for months without basic amenities, mostly limited to a single tap of water.
    Many of those registered and with a place in shelters who patiently wait for months to have their number called up for legal passage to Hungary and the EU have to endure a long wait in makeshift camps until they are actually called to walk through a turnstile gate and leave Serbia.
    "We came to Serbia and registered our names at the camp, expecting to be able to leave legally. When we got to the border we found that there was no electricity, no water, it is very cold, the children are freezing, there's no food, we have to buy things from the supermarket but we are running out of money, we've been here for seven months." Faruq, from Libya, told Reuters at the border, adding that his family is number 1,500 on the list, but that only number 1,100 had been called so far.
    That could mean another four weeks of waiting for them under a tent at a makeshift camp along the barbed-wire border fence.
    The seemingly endless wait has also led many migrants and refugees to try their way into Hungary or Croatia through smugglers.
    Serbian authorities found 77 migrants hidden in two cargo vehicles on Monday (December 26) and on Thursday (December 29) three Afghan migrants including a child died when the car smuggling them along a highway crashed in southern Serbia.
    Earlier in December, Croatian police saved more than 60 migrants from suffocation in a van.
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