Abandoned refugees in Belgrade

A year after tighter border controls sealed off the Balkan route for people seeking asylum in Europe, many continue to stream into Serbia where a bottleneck has formed due to tough security measures to the north. Mostly of Afghan and Pakistani origin, 6,500 asylum seekers are currently in Serbia, a thousand of whom have occupied an abandoned train depot in Belgrade.

Those interviewed inside the train depot expressed distrust of state institutions, believing they would be deported if they accepted shelter in government-run camps. Deportation accounts are hard to verify, but Zedran Kahn, a 20-year-old Afghan, said he was "kicked around like a football" while being transferred more than 18 times between Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia.

Rehan, 28, a marketing manager from Kabul, holds a photo taken on his last day in Afghanistan. "I want to register for asylum, but they only take families," he told DW. "They think refugees are Daesh [Arabic term for "Islamic State" - the ed.], but why would Daesh come to live like this? Daesh has enough money to go to Europe by plane … these problems make a man old."

People began inhabiting the abandoned warehouses over the summer, but numbers increased dramatically when winter set in. Scabies, body lice and other health conditions have become rampant as a result of the crowded living quarters. Humanitarian organizations have worked to treat outbreaks for several months, but admit the only solution is to relocate the inhabitants.

In response, warehouse inhabitants rigged a communal bathing area by filling oil barrels with water and heating them from below with campfires. Three indoor showers are provided in Belgrade’s Refugee Aid Miksaliste center, but priority’s given to those with confirmed cases of scabies or body lice, and facilities remain insufficient for the 1,000 people living in the train depot.

People line up once a day for food provided by independent volunteers. In an effort to discourage asylum-seekers from living in the warehouses, the Serbian government has recommended humanitarian organizations stop all aid distribution to push people into state-run camps with better living conditions. But Christian and other groups have continued to provide food and clothing.

Ivan Miskovic, spokesperson for the Commissioner for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia (KIRS), says humanitarian groups must work with the Serbian government to move warehouse inhabitants into state-run camps: "The real and only information for those people residing in the parks [and abandoned buildings] is that they should be accommodated in the centers."

While the Serbian government has pledged to provide at least 6,000 beds within its camps, humanitarian workers have questioned whether such spaces have been made available. The notion of inhabiting "closed camps" has also kept asylum-seekers out of state institutions, but Miskovic says free movement was only limited at night in some camps to contain scabies and body lice outbreaks.

Daniela Korac-Mandic, coordinator of the Novi Sad Humanitarian Center, said she wanted to work with the government, but progress has been slow in Belgrade. "Emergency shelter could be provided, but of course we need authorities to authorize that, or allow that, which is why we are just waiting to see what decision will be taken," she told DW.

As they await government decisions, the inhabitants of Belgrade’s abandoned train depot have become overwhelmingly pessimistic as a result of their experiences. Tensions run high and fights break out regularly in the smoke-filled warehouses. "Europe's attitude toward refugees changed, but that doesn't change the fact we still have wars in our countries," said Sulaiman, a 15-year-old Afghan.