Back Mission to Serbia and the transit zones in Hungary, and synergies with CoE standard-setting bodies

Mission to Serbia and the transit zones in Hungary, and synergies with CoE standard-setting bodies

From 12 to 16 June 2017, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Tomáš Boček, conducted his fifth fact-finding mission to Serbia and two transit zones in Hungary. In Serbia he visited a number of temporary reception centres (in Adaševci, Principovac, Subotica, Sombor and Obrenovac), the asylum centres in Krnjača and Bogovađa, the border with Croatia in Sid, and a day centre in Belgrade. In all of these places, he had the opportunity to engage at length with many migrants. He also had meetings with: Nebojsa Stefanovic, Minister of Interior; Siniša Mali, Mayor of Belgrade; Milos Jankovic, Acting Ombudsperson; State Secretaries at the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy, and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development; the leadership of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, and of the Ministry of Health; representatives of the EU and all major international organisations present in Serbia; as well as all relevant NGOs. Discussions focused on short and long-term solutions for the thousands of refugees and migrants who are now stranded in Serbia and covered a range of issues, including their legal status, improvements in the reception infrastructure, the protection of unaccompanied minors, the education of children and possibilities for co-operation with neighbouring countries. It is in connection with the latter that the Special Representative also visited the Röszke and Tompa transit zones in Hungary. There he met a number of officials and again interviewed numerous asylum-seekers.

The Special Representative also attended three events in Strasbourg, to develop synergies with major Council of Europe standard-setting bodies: the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) and the European Committee on Legal Cooperation (CDCJ).

Thus, on 7 June 2017 he held an exchange of views with the CDDH. Although mass migration had put the system of human rights protection in Europe to a major test, it was pointed out that the Council of Europe standards continued to provide appropriate guidance in this connection. One of the issues explored was CDDH’s participation in the Council of Europe Action Plan on Protecting Refugee and Migrant Children in Europe.   

Moreover, on 22 June 2017, the Special Representative opened the consultation hearing on Conditions of Administrative Detention of Migrants organised by the CJ-DAM. He used this opportunity to identify some of the key challenges for the future work of the group and provide input on some of the outstanding issues. 

Finally, on 23 June 2017 the Special Representative participated in the International Conference on Smuggling of Migrants, organised by the CDPC. The central message of his speech on Protection of the Rights of Smuggled Migrants was that  restricting the right to seek asylum pushes more migrants into the hands of smugglers, ultimately creating  a serious security risk for Europe.

SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY GENERAL ON MIGRATION AND REFUGEES
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page