Pandemic as an excuse for violating refugees’ rights
Inhumane practices towards refugees are also evident in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. Last week, refugees wrote an open letter (►https://www.facebook.com/transbalkanskasolidarnost/photos/a.121803256103331/130375228579467/?type=3&theater) problematising conditions at the Miral refugee camp and the work of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The refugees’ letter states: “They do not give us enough food and if we want to buy food with our own money, they do not allow us to enter the camp with food, if they catch us, they take the food we have bought and put it in the water. People go to bed hungry every night."
Criticism of the IOM’s work was also addressed by the Transbalkan Solidarity collective, launching the action “#Soaps_for_IOM” (▻https://transbalkanskasolidarnost.home.blog/sapuni-za-iom), which lasted from April 29th - 30th. This action consisted of sending a photo of the soap to the IOM to emphasise violence at refugees camps, inadequate food supply, worrying hygiene conditions and almost minimal health care. Transbalkan solidarity warned that the current pandemic has turned refugee camps into prisons, thereby completely restricting people’s freedom of movement.
In Croatia, the Ombudsman (▻https://www.ombudsman.hr/hr/potrebno-zastititi-i-osobe-pod-medunarodnom-zastitom-trazitelje-zastite-i-) also spoke about the lack of political will to recognise the refugees’ vulnerability during the current pandemic, emphasising the importance of ensuring an adequate health care, conditions for self-isolation and means of respecting all measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic at the Reception centres where refugees are housed. She also noted that a large number of refugees who have been granted international protection face existential problems, given that they have lost their jobs and are unable to pay their rent.
Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodosli, mail du 04.05.2020
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