6 yıl önce

Many migrants in Serbia refuse to register

Serbia is host to over 4,000 registered migrants, but there are many more who are hiding from authorities.

AFP

A migrant looks at his mobile phone in an abandoned printing factory in the western Serbian town of Sid, on December 7, 2017.

Winter brings extra hardship for migrants and the season can be particularly harsh in the Balkans. Serbia is host to more than 4,000 registered migrants, but there are many more who are hiding from authorities.

Afghan and Pakistani "undocumented" migrants refuse to register with Serbian Refugee Administration. If they did, they would enter the refugee centres, with decent heated accommodation, that is already home to 4,300 migrants. Authorities say they could take another 1,500.

But for registered migrants it's a long wait: just 10 a day are allowed into the European Union. Despite the prospect of waiting for many months here, the trade-off seems acceptable to families with children.

But not to the youngsters. After several night raids on their squats by the police trying to force them to register, they have now taken to sleeping in forests. They hide their tents from the media, even from their trusted helpers.

As winter sets in, TRTWorld's Zoran Kusovac reports from the Serbian-Croatian border.