Tens of thousands of refugees and other migrants in the Balkans are only partially accommodated in official collective centers, while a large number of people fall outside the system, surviving through the help of the local population. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the already difficult…
Tens of thousands of refugees and other migrants in the Balkans are only partially accommodated in official collective centers, while a large number of people fall outside the system, surviving through the help of the local population. With the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the already difficult situation is becoming detrimental and demands urgent action of local and international actors – and solidarity from all of us. The State of Emergency now in force in many countries of the region reinforces social inequalities. However, this exceptional situation must not become an excuse for continued policies of exclusion, restriction and expulsion, suffering and distress. These uncertain times lead us to radically question the system of geopolitical hierarchies, racial and class divides, producing a population of undesired and rejected people across the world and in our countries alike. We must work towards the removal of imposed inequalities based on social and national status. We, therefore, call for an end to all official and unofficial discriminatory and dehumanizing practices, for the legalization of everyone’s existence, for the closure of all forms of detention and collective centers that restrict freedom of movement and fail to secure humane and hygienic conditions. As individuals we call for an affirmation of the values of equality and freedom, appealing to acts of care and solidarity. More, we demand of the member governments of the European Union, the states of the region, and all relevant institutions and international organizations to ensure that all who are forced to live on the street, in abandoned buildings without minimal sanitary conditions, or in inadequate collective centers are systematically provided accommodation in humane, safe, and sanitary conditions as well as quality nutrition. We demand that all people be equally afforded critical information on pandemic and unrestricted access to the health care system, that refugees and migrants are treated without discrimination, and that concrete measures for their protection are made part of all measures for the protection of the population as a whole. No one is safe until we are all protected! Transbalkan Solidarity Group
Source: transbalkanskasolidarnost
