Within the project “Improving the protection of unaccompanied minors in the region” which NGO Atina carries out together with the Permanent Mission of France to the UN and other international organisations in Vienna, a two-day training was held in April for the representatives of the Association for the Social Support of Youth - Arsis from Greece and the Association for action against violence and human trafficking - Open Gate: La Strada from Macedonia, which are in their own countries engaged in providing direct support to the refugee population.

Russian prima ballerina, Irina Kolesnikova, visited refugee camps in Tabanovce, Preševo and Krnjača and announced a new version of “Carmen” of the St. Petersburg Ballet Company, which seeks to highlight the problems of refugees in Europe. With the support of the international humanitarian organisation Oxfam, Kolesnikova wants to show how the answer to one of the biggest crises in Europe can also be provided through art, and she will, together with the choreographer of the St. Petersburg Ballet Company, set up a new “Carmen”.

Within the project “Local support for the most vulnerable refugees”, which is implemented by the Association Atina in cooperation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on April 14 2016 a meeting was held in Vranje with representatives of relevant institutions and organisations from Vranje and Preševo, i.e. actors who are involved in solving the problem of refugee crisis and providing assistance and support to the most vulnerable among them - those who have experienced human trafficking and gender-based violence.  

In March 2016, Association Atina organized two two-day trainings for a total of 21 employees from Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières - MSF) engaged in providing direct assistance to the refugee population in Serbia.

We are pleased to launch the report Women Refugees at Risk in Europe prepared by Nobel Women's Initiative.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic has thanked the Duchess of Cornwall for taking the time to visit one of the projects supported by his foundation.

The world number one player took time out of his busy schedule to record a video message for the Duchess which was played when she visited the Zvecanska Centre in Belgrade, Serbia.

Camilla was at the centre as part of a six-day tour of the Balkans with the Prince of Wales, and she met representatives of Unicef and the Djokovic Foundation who have been providing family outreach workers.

Belgrade non-governmental organisation Atina has been fighting against human trafficking and all forms of gender-based violence since 2004, and dedicates a special place in their programmes to the assistance to refugees, and the protection and advocacy, especially of women and children refugees. In Kontrola leta, we talked with Jelena Hrnjak from NGO Atina.

Human trafficking, violence against women and position of women refugees are not subjects easy to talk about or advocate for as they raise many uncomfortable issues about societal inequalities and injustice. NGO Atina has obtained an unexpected ally in advocating for resolution of these problems in our society, but globally as well. We had opportunity to meet Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall who actively advocates for the rights of women who have survived violence since 2009, when she visited the center for women rape victims and learned about their lives. 

In the last few days I have met a new phalanx of Heroes. Traveling through Serbia with the International Rescue Committee, we followed the refugee route from Presevo (Macedonian border) to Belgrade and up to Sid (Croatian border). Along the way I met with the partners of the IRC aid network - in my experience with international aid (which is admittedly neither unbiased nor vast) a new paradigm has evolved in Serbia due partly to the ingenuity of the IRC leadership teams and partly due to Serbia's unique history.