Citizens’ Association Atina had an honor to take part in the international course Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center in Israel on combating violence against women and children which was supported by MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development. The course lasted for three weeks during which participants were learning about the system in Israel, but also examples of good practices throughout the world.

The summer school “Young refugees as actors for social inclusion and intercultural dialogue” was organized with the support of the Council of Europe Youth Department, Global Platform for Syrian Students, Kiron Open Higher Education for Refugees, and Voice of Young Refugees in Europe. The course was held at the end of August 2017, at the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal, and brought together more than 60 young refugees from Europe, students in forced mobility, and activists who are providing direct support to refugees.

Recent research of "Konrad Adenauer" Foundation, Association "Atina" and Macedonian Lawyers Association has shown that the refugee crisis is not over, that it simply changed form, and it implies new needs of migrants, given that they are now staying in our country for longer periods of time. Director of the Asylum Protection Center, Rados Djurovic, believes that the integration of migrants in our society is “much needed”, and that the system, plan and state must have the main role in the process of integration of migrants.

Within the project “Building Together – Community Monitoring and Advocacy“ recommendations on the position of asylum seekers, refugees and migrants in Serbia were presented on Monday, December 11, 2017, at the Cultural Center “Parobrod”. The event was opened by Norbert Beckmann-Dierkes, director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation for Serbia and Montenegro, who spoke about Germany’s experiences in the integration of migrants, as well as the role of Germany in the development of tolerance and democracy in Serbian society.

It is time for the integration of migrants into Serbian society

Institutions in Serbia can no longer treat migrants from Middle East as if they are passing through our territory, but need to take responsibility for their integration into Serbian society.

Belgrade, December 18, 2017, 23:25

That is the message of today’s conference of the Association for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings “Atina” and Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the Media Center.

Serbia should work on creating conditions for long-term support and integration of refugees and migrants, as they are not simply in transit any longer, but are staying in the country for up to 10 months on average - this is the conclusion of the presented research “Opportunities and obstacles for the inclusion of refugees and migrants into the main streams of society in Serbia”.

On Monday, December 18, at 11 o’clock, in the small hall of the Media Center, there was a presentation of the results of a research “Opportunities and obstacles for the inclusion of refugees and migrants into the main streams of society in Serbia” (Protection of refugees and migrants in Serbia from 2015 to 2017). The research represents an overview of data on the position of migrants and refugees in Serbia, with a special focus on the rights of women among the migrant population.

Representative of NGO Atina, Jelena Hrnjak, was a panelist at the event organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) titled “Strengthening the capacities of actors to improve the level of protection of migrants in everyday practice”. Other speakers at the panel were representative of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Svetlana Velimirovic, representative of UNHCR, John Andrew Young, Vesna Dejanovic from UNICEF, Emilija Joksic from the Asylum Office of the MoI of Serbia, and Miroslava Jelacic, representative of NGO Group 484.

Representatives of state institutions, local government, and civil society organizations completed the training on monitoring that was held in Presevo on the last day on November and the first day of December. These 12 colleagues are members of the informal network for monitoring and advocacy that has been created for a mutual goal - to improve the position of refugees and migrants in Presevo, and the quality of coexistence in this town.

Members of the Local network in Vranje completed the training on monitoring at the end of November. During the two days of work, 24 participants were introduced to the monitoring matrix, as well as each of the segments of the monitoring system dealing with refugees and migrants in Vranje.

The Local network in Vranje is made up of representatives of the health, education, social system, as well as civil society, Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Red Cross, National Employment Agency, and municipal administration.