Balkans, the stories of the 8,000 migrants trapped on the doorstep of Europe
Rights — di Simone Santi
They come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco: these are the migrants on the Balkan route, trying to enter Europe from Bosnia.
Balkans, the stories of the 8,000 migrants trapped on the doorstep of Europe
They come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Morocco: these are the migrants on the Balkan route, trying to enter Europe from Bosnia.
What they need most is for their story to be told, "for what happens here not to be ignored"; then, naturally, everything else too — all the material things needed to survive. A small fire warms the pot for dinner on the top floor of the squat overlooking the River Una: a crumbling building a stone's throw from the centre of Bihać, Una-Sana canton, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a few kilometres from the border with Croatia. From the border with Europe.
Around 8,000 migrants are concentrated in the area between Bihać and Velika Kladuša, near the border, roughly half of them outside the centres managed by the International Organisation for Migration. Those not registered in formal camps have no access to first reception services, the already virtually non-existent medical and healthcare assistance, or meals. In addition to the family centres at Sedra and Boriči, unaccompanied minors account for 40 per cent of residents at the Bira centre, which is dedicated to adult men. The presence of unaccompanied minors is a continuously growing phenomenon, with partial provision of care that exposes them to abuse and violence.
This is just one of the many precarious shelters where thousands of migrants who have left or never entered the formal circuit of IOM-managed camps take refuge. Young men and children sleeping in the warmth of burning plastic, in unbreathable air that makes the eyes water and the throat burn. They are Afghans, Syrians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Moroccans.
Read also: From Bosnia to Trieste, the migrants' journey along the new Balkan route
Here everything is lacking: food is scarce, medicines are in short supply, hygiene conditions are appalling, clothing is worn through. And yet they welcome us into their makeshift beds, offer tea, with a desperate need to tell their stories, to bear witness to the torments of the journey, the misery of their failures and the violence of pushbacks: it's called the game — the losing game, the game that has nothing fun about it, the desperate attempt to cross the borders with Croatia and reach Europe where they can exercise their right to exist.
The desperate voices of migrants
There are so many fragments of stories, almost never destined to become real interviews because all too often these people have no voice. Here are a few echoes: "My name is Hamid, I come from Pakistan, I'm 15 years old and tomorrow night I'll try to cross the border again: it's my tenth attempt. See these wounds? I carry one for every failure."
"My name is Mohamed, I was born in Egypt, I've tried the game 5 times and been pushed back just as many times. The Croatian police took everything from me: money, shoes, phone, dignity." And then: "I'm Ahmet, Syrian. I've been stuck here for a few months. They broke my ankle and forced me to walk back down the mountains barefoot. I'm waiting to be able to walk again. I'm waiting for the spring thaw to try my luck once more."
"I'm Abdel. I come from Bangladesh. On my twelfth attempt I had managed to get within a few kilometres of Trieste, but I was caught and handed back to the Croatian police. They took everything from me: money and soul. My family no longer sends me money: they don't believe me anymore; they don't believe what is happening here. They think I'm lying." And finally: "My name is Kalam. I'm 20 years old. I come from Morocco and I'd like to reach my brother in France, but every time I try I'm pushed back. At night there are raids by the Bosnian police: they tell us we have to go to the camp, but at the camp they tell us there's no room and to come back here."
Baobab Experience, a mission to build a network
In January, a group of activists from Baobab Experience went on a humanitarian mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The initiative made it possible to build an internal network with local activists working on the ground to provide support and comfort to migrants trapped in Bosnia's legal limbo. Thanks to funding from Help Refugees, essential goods were purchased to give a lifeline to the free shops and warehouses of local volunteers in Bihać, Tuzla and Sarajevo who, individually or in small groups, help migrants, often under conditions of systematic intimidation and growing repression. A way of laying the foundations for a long-term project that aims to move beyond an solidarity approach that is external, sporadic and welfare-based.
No one should have to live in a place like this. But while governments turn their back on these people, we are so grateful for these volunteers for stepping up to help. #chooselove (3/3)
Here more than anywhere else, it "seems fundamental both to build and network with small grassroots associations and with individual solidarity activists who dedicate themselves personally and daily to supporting migrants, and to narrate and denounce the continual abuses by the Croatian police. The attempt is to give a voice to those who have none – explains Andrea Costa, coordinator of Baobab Experience – In Bihać and Tuzla, just as in Ventimiglia, Ceuta or Rome, there are important sections of civil society organising themselves to fill the void in the field of reception and to denounce abuses and inadequate, needlessly cruel legislation, as resistance but also as a decisive push towards an ever more urgently needed change in European migration policies at their very ideological foundations."