Donor: Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade
Duration: December 2015 – December 2016
The ultimate goal of the project was to improve the status of refugees in Serbia by providing them with legal assistance and by monitoring whether Serbian asylum policy is meeting international human rights standards. (more…)
Refugees find that using Bulgaria to reach Europe is not an easy option: ‘First they beat us with batons, and then they released the dogs on us.’
SOFIA / DIMITROVGRAD, Bulgaria – As thousands of refugees fleeing from the war are trying to reach European shores of the Aegean Sea, some of them have decided to try their luck and take the route through Bulgaria, although according to reports by humanitarian organisations that is no less a challenge than other routes to Europe.
On this day, 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration, of which one of those most responsible for its drafting, Eleanor Roosevelt, said that it is ‘the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere’, for the first time reaffirmed at the international level the faith in fundamental human rights, as well as the dignity and value of human beings regardless of their race, the colour of their skin, gender, national or ethnic origin. (more…)
The Bulgarian authorities have been accused of brutality towards migrants.
“Safe Passage” Report conducted by the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights and Oxfam highlights the dangers which await refugees and migrants both near the Turkish-Bulgarian border and later as they try to cross into Serbia.
Refugees and migrants arriving in Europe through Bulgaria are claiming to have been abused by the country’s law enforcement officials. A survey of over 100 people conducted by the Belgrade Center for Human Rights revealed alleged incidents of abuse both at the Serbian-Bulgarian border and at holding centers in Bulgaria. The survey was funded by Oxfam and released today.
On Sunday, 25 October, representatives of the European Union, its member states and Western Balkan countries came to an agreement concerning certain principles to be applied in further efforts to handle the refugee situation in Europe. The plan involves, inter alia, increasing reception capacity in Western Balkan countries in order to accommodate up to 50.000 refugees, discouraing the secondary movement of refugees from the country they find themselves in and facilitating the efficient return of persons who do not meet the criteria for the granting of international protection to their countries of origin.[1] (more…)
