APC claims that the policy of fences and pushback creates and strengthens smuggling

Source: APC, RTS, BBC
Foto: Armend Nimani/AFP

Belgrade, September 29 - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently stated that migrants attacked the joint border patrol of Serbia and Hungary using automatic weapons. He also stated that migrants have crossed the Rubicon and that the Brussels Migration Pact has failed.

After this, Hungary organized an emergency meeting with Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Vienna. Peter Szijarto, head of Hungarian diplomacy, emphasized that pressure has increased on the country's southern border and that smugglers and migrants are shooting at border guards with automatic rifles. He stated that European politicians have been delusioned since 2015, and that migrants should not be distributed among EU countries, but should be stopped at the border.

Orban points out that instead of encouraging migration, Europe should strengthen border protection.

The area around Serbia's borders with Hungary and Croatia is "affected by violent and cruel clashes between criminal gangs", explains Radoš Đurović from Asylum Protection Center. He also adds that some citizens of Serbia are also involved in this crime, through logistics, transportation and organization.

He emphasizes that it is necessary to make a distinction between migrants and criminals, that is, migrants are not criminals, but bandits from criminal groups who are from the migrant population are clashing.

Đurović states that criminal gangs, in which there are also some migrants, actually got stronger thanks to pushbacks, i.e. the wall policy of the Hungarian authorities.

He points out that the Hungarians are "pushing people over the fence, without the right to seek asylum and any help, to the Serbian side, in violation of the readmission agreement and legal regulations, in violation of international and bilateral regulations."

In this way, the migrants were pushed into the hands of smugglers, considering that Serbia does not have enough space for their reception.

Đurović says that in the reception centers in the north of the country, in Subotica and Sombor, there is space for only 300, 350, and 250 people, respectively.

Smuggling has been going on since 2015 and is linked to the Hungarian fence. When the Hungarians built a wall towards Serbia, along the entire length of our border, and since they started returning people who want to seek asylum in their country them back to Serbia, then those people need someone to transfer them further, and then smuggling is created and strengthened, which is showing its peak at the end of last year and this year.

Since last year, the number of people who are coming has increased. Because of this, as well as because of pushbacks from the Hungarian side, enormous smuggling is also increasing. Those smuggling groups are getting so strong that in the middle of 2022, and especially intensively this year, emerge conflicts between them. Such conflicts were present before. However, the predominant use of firearms is now present.

Asylum Protection Center reacts to the misconceptions of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban through objective information in numerous media and TV shows, such as Tanjug, Radio Belgrade 1, BBC, Politika, RTS, Nedeljnik, SRNE, Danas, N1, RTCG, as well as a guest appearance on Kurir TV and the show Uranak on K1...

It is clear that this is only the beginning of the regional APC/CZA and European campaign, all with the aim of sending a picture of the actual development of events to the public, as well as to decision makers. In other words, informing the general public about the completely wrong policy of the wall and pushbacks implemented by Hungary, which has the serious consequence of creating and strengthening the smuggling of refugees.