Migrant population in local communities in Serbia

Publication “Migrant population in local communities in Serbia” is produced within the project “Opening a dialogue in local communities between citizens and migrants on mutual tolerance and non-violence”, which was realized from November 2013 to December 2014 by Citizens’ Association for Combat against Trafficking in Human Beings and all Forms of Violence against Women Atina, in partnership with AsylumProtection Centre, and with the support of the European Union and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The goal of the initiative was to develop effective models of response and reduce xenophobia and prejudice in local communities in Serbia. A goal formulated in such a way can also be understood in the light of creating an adequate mechanism for prevention of human trafficking and other forms of exploitation and violence which migrant population in Serbia is potentially exposed to. Project activities were focused on strengthening capacities of civil society organisations and professionals whose engagement is directed towards providing support to, and protection of, migrants. A general situation in which the research took place is characterized by an increase in the number of migrants and asylum seekers, and by the obligation of Serbia to build an asylum system that would effectively enable admission, accommodation, exercise of rights to financial assistance, access to healthcare and education, etc. It certainly entails a coordinated approach of different sectors and different levels of government, including increased demands set in front of actors at the local level. At the same time, fundamental reform processes have been taking place for years now, in all the sectors relevant both to assistance and integration of the migrants - social welfare sector, healthcare, education, the police - and which, among other things, include gender sensitivity, orientation towards preventive programmes, approach based on human rights, as well as increased responsibilities of local governments when it comes to care for particularly vulnerable groups. The specific research goals are defined as follows: i) Understanding international standards of protection, in the fields of migration and asylum issues, relevant to national context; ii) Understanding national legislative and regulatory frameworks in the field of migrations, with a focus on standards in protection of the rights of migrant population; iii) Gaining an insight into the understanding of the migrations and vulnerability of migrant by professionals; iv) Gaining an insight into characteristics of the response of local systems to migrations and the status of migrants, as well as into the quality of cooperation between different actors; v) Understanding challenges and obstacles in the implementation of existing regulations and in exercising the rights of migrants, and particularly vulnerable groups of migrants, in local communities, with a special focus on attitudes towards migrants; vi) Formulating recommendations for improvement of the response to the needs of migrants. As the local context in which migrants interact with citizens has not been a subject of special studies so far, it was particularly important to combine different sources of qualitative and, to a lesser extent, quantitative data. Thus, responding to the first specific goal we used primary documents of international and national system which regulate the area of migration and asylum. In answer to other specific research goals, the analysis is primarily made on the basis of data obtained from focus-group interviews with representatives of different systems that have the authority to provide assistance, or work on measures of integration of migrant population at the local level. Their insights - primary data obtained from interviews, were combined with the data provided by state agencies and institutions.