Tamara Vlaskalin

”The importance of individual and social solidarity and the need for accurate and timely public information and awareness raising are two lessons that, I hope, we have all learned during the Covid 19 emergency, and these are two important postulates that we should start from when we talk about migrants as well. We must work harder on information and education, starting from local communities in the border areas that host migrants, all the way to children and young people who have to learn from an early age about tolerance, equality, non-violence, respect for others and those who are different. In addition, it is of key importance to work on improving responsible media approach to this problem and promote positive examples”, states Brankica Janković, Commissioner for the protection of the equality.

The job of the guardians of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children is to act in their best interest. On the feelings that drive them, their deep empathy, the desire to help children who find themselves in the most difficult circumstances, but also on their love for them – on everything caretaking entails, from another angle, here to discuss are guardians Ana Antanasijević and Mediha Lakota.

When asked what Serbia is like, I always answer – Serbia is simple, but it has everything one needs to lead a decent life. It’s all sort of organized, the rules are clear. When it’s time to work, they work with dedication. But there’s also time for pleasure. Although the paychecks aren’t as large as those in the Western European countries, the people are kind and beautiful on the inside. That may well be what I love the most about Serbia, says the twenty seven-year-old Luna, a young doctor from the Middle East, who has been living in Belgrade for the past eleven years.

Save the Children in the Northwestern Balkans, Refugee Aid Serbia (RAS) and Centre for Youth Integration (CYI), organisations dedicated to helping children and vulnerable groups have joined the Coalition for the Protection of Refugee and Migrant Children from abuse and neglect. The Coalition was founded in 2020 with the aim of ensuring safety of one of the most vulnerable groups of children.

The entire world is faced with mass migrations and, according to UNHCR’s estimation. The intensity of migrations is four times higher than a decade ago. With the rising number of refugees and migrants all over the world, xenophobic comments in public, hate speech and discriminatory reporting are growing ever more frequent. Serbia is no exception to such practices.

Country report was written by Nikola Kovačević independent expert and refugee lawyer from Serbia and with the help of the A11 – Initiative for Economic and Social Rights (A11), the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), Center for Research and Social Development IDEAS, Psychosocial Innovation Network (PIN) and Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and was edited by ECRE.

Značaj individualne i društvene solidarnosti i neophodnost tačnog informisanja i razvijanja svesti kod građana i građanki, dve su lekcije koje smo, nadam se, svi naučili tokom krize izazvane pandemijom kovida 19, i to su dva značajna postulata od kojih treba krenuti i kada govorimo o migrantima. Potrebno je pojačano raditi na informisanju i edukaciji, od lokalnih sredina u pograničnim područjima gde su smešteni migranti, do dece i mladih koji moraju od malih nogu da se uče toleranciji, ravnopravnosti, nenasilju, poštovanju drugih i drugačijih.

Posao staratelja deci izbeglicama i migrantima bez pratnje jeste da doprinose ostvarivanju njihovog najboljeg interesa.O emocijama koje ih pokreću, dubokoj empatiji koju osećaju, želji da pomognu deci u najtežim životnim trenucima, ali i ljubavi prema njima, o starateljstvu iz jednog drugačijeg ugla govore starateljke Ana Antanasijević i Mediha Lakota.