Are they putting up a fence around your house these days?
In Zagreb’s neighbourhood Dugave on Friday, 13th of March, the installation of a wire fence around the Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers has commenced. The fence was planned earlier and for its installation HRK 693,000 has been provided (▻https://www.jutarnji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska/pritisak-raste-hrvatska-se-priprema-za-novi-veliki-val-migranata-policija-ce-braniti-nasu-granicu-sa-5-bespilotnih-letjelica/9496424). Considering the psychological panic that’s been present this week in Zagreb over coronavirus - this fence will at the moment create even more division, panic and intolerance. On the komunal.org web site (▻http://komunal.org), some of the residents of Porin hotel as well as friends who aren’t residents posted a letter stating (komunal.org/teksti/542-welcome-to-prison-we-are-treated-like-animals-in-the-zoo?fbclid=IwAR20Y3VlB_eGrb_TOIJ0jWMxBrlsCKpm0GZMyENNOOdtttGDMRwtzpcMFvI): “Workers came with the equipment and started installing a fence around Porin. What has hitherto been a symbolic prison is just becoming a real fenced prison. The fence has been installed on the hush side, without the people living in the camp being informed or explained exactly what it will mean for their lives, and with no protest from local NGOs. The timing is ideal - the health threat has set a state of emergency, which is an ideal opportunity to distract from the repressive and restrictive policies being implemented in the background." * find the photos attached.
Persons seeking international protection who reside in the Zagreb and Kutina shelters are under constant medical supervision. In addition, asylum seekers located in Reception centres have been warned about the occurrence of the disease and the measures that need to be taken to prevent its further spread. A doctor is present at the Reception Centres every day and all international protection seekers are constantly monitored by healthcare staff. People accommodated in the Reception Centres are advised to stay inside, and measures are taken inside the facilities to protect them (i.e. markings on the floor for distance, hygienic supplies, medical staff).
One person was taken to the #Ježevo Detention Center, in self-isolation (▻https://www.24sata.hr/news/sirijac-mora-u-samoizolaciju-u-porinu-je-to-tesko-provesti-681083), due to suspected coronavirus. This is a person who has been deported from Austria under the Dublin Decree and has previously been granted asylum in the Republic of Croatia. Why is this person, who has approved international protection and almost equal rights with Croatian citizens, not placed in self-isolation in some of the facilities that the City of Zagreb intended for this purpose - such as facilities in Sljeme?
The treatment and prevention of COVID-9 in a pandemic are a medical emergency, which means that medical treatment is free of charge for all refugees, asylum seekers, foreigners who are in the so-called irregular status and others, which was pointed, among other things, in an open letter of Trans-Balkan solidarity (►https://transbalkanskasolidarnost.home.blog) - No one is safe until everyone is protected! signed by the Inicijativa Dobrodošli with over six hundred organisations and individuals from across the region.
The letter, which is based on the knowledge of the needs in the field in countries along the so-called Balkan routes, calls for legalisation of all existences. In contrast, the opposite is already being done in practice: segregation and discrimination (prohibition of the movement of migrants in the public space within the Una-Sana Canton) (▻https://www.facebook.com/VLADAUSK/posts/2688585911360765?__tn__=K-R&_rdc=1&_rdr), stigmatisation (Tuzla’s civil protection headquarters called for self-isolation for all residents who were in contact with migrants without any indication that any of the migrants were actually infected) (▻https://www.rtvslon.ba/gradski-stab-civilne-zastite-tuzla-zatrazena-samoizolacija-za-gradjane-koji-) and militarisation (the Army of the Republic of Serbia will be safeguarding entrances and exits at the Migration Reception Centers in Šid) (▻https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=650566652409128).
This week, a number of initiatives have written public letters calling for measures to be applied to the most vulnerable. Croatian Right to the City (▻https://pravonagrad.org) has drafted four home security requirements (▻https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/4-zahtjeva-za-sigurnost-doma) - a moratorium on all evictions and foreclosures, a moratorium on mortgage repayments, an urgent measure to release rent payments, and an urgent organisation of housing for the homeless. The European Network Against Racism (▻https://www.enar-eu.org/Leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-crisis-ENAR-network-calls-for-system-change-no) has called for a systemic change for the EU to achieve full equality in the current crisis. "It is symbolic to see that in times of crisis, equality measures become empty words for marginalised groups - although some of the most precarious jobs have become crucial right now.”
Forum 2020 responded to EU moves (▻https://crosol.hr/hr/reakcija-foruma-2020-na-poteze-europske-unije-usmjerene-na-suzbijanje-pandemi) to combat the coronavirus pandemic, noting, among other things, the need to "show solidarity with refugees and migrants at the EU’s external borders and overcrowded camps, which are a particularly vulnerable group given the inadequate hygiene and health conditions’’. Meanwhile, activists in the field are reporting an extremely tense situation at the Turkish-Greek border crossing - Pazarkula. According to the people on no-man’s land, food shortages have occurred in recent days. The cessation of food distribution puts people in a state of starvation - some 14,000 people are at risk, including 12,000 adults and 2,000 children. Likelihood of new conflicts (▻https://insajder.net/sr/sajt/vazno/17366/Novi-sukobi-gr%C4%8Dke-policije-sa-migrantima-na-granici-sa-Turskom.htm) escalating in this area is strong. Also, MEPs Tineke Strik and Erik Marquardt warn of the situation in Greece - you can listen to their discussion at the following link: ▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poMbvCsxKcU&feature=youtu.be
. Greece is “on fire” and a death of one child has been reported on the island of Lesbos at Camp Moria.While numerous appeals are being made to protect refugees during this extremely sensitive period, UNHCR and IOM have announced (▻https://www.iom.int/news/iom-unhcr-announce-temporary-suspension-resettlement-travel-refugees) the suspension of their resettlement program - due to coronavirus. Refugees are now left without the only safe and legal path they had.
The Border Violence Monitoring Network published a report for February 2020 (▻https://www.borderviolence.eu/wp-content/uploads/February_Report_20.pdf). New testimonies of refugees and other migrants speak of collective expulsions from Northern Macedonia carried out by Czech police. Cooperation between Northern Macedonia and the Czech Republic was established back in 2015 (▻http://www.praguemonitor.com/2018/02/20/over-1200-czech-police-help-tackle-migration-abroad-2015) with the aim of preserving the EU’s external border - this practice is a direct indicator of the implementation of the EU’s border externalisation policy, where Frontex is a major player. Police dogs used in violent expulsions are repeated in Hungary, and new testimonies are coming from families of violent expulsions from Romania to Serbia (▻https://www.borderviolence.eu/violence-reports/february-21-2020-0000-kikinda).
Reçu via la mailing-list Inicijativa Dobrodosli, mail du 26.03.2020
#Croatie #Zagreb #coronavirus #asile #migrations #réfugiés #grillage #clôture
ping @luciebacon
