Refugees in Serbia show resilience

Light floods into the refugee squat "The Barracks" in Belgrade, and the toxic smoke from burning rubbish crawls in, too. Before the site was cleared last month, the semi-collapsed structures provided shelter to 1,200 refugees. "When I was covering the crisis there, I spoke to hundreds of people. All the migrants had the same goal, however: to find a new, better life in Europe," Crawford told DW.

The Barracks were home to Afghans and Pakistanis who decided to flee poverty and terrorism in their countries. "When the western forces pulled out of Afghanistan, the Taliban came out of hiding and began to take reprisals on those deemed 'enemy collaborators' - the members of the Afghan National Army or anyone seen as having helped the West," Crawford explained.

Upon entering Europe earlier this year, the refugees had to cope with another problem: the cold winter and spring weather. The grey blankets handed over to these migrants by the UNHCR thus became essential for survival. One such grey blanket made of acrylic fibers or polyester can help people withstand temperatures as low as 0°C and shield them from the cold wind.

"In the Barracks, you could see thousands of blankets everywhere. The people slept under piles of them, others used them as additional coats to stave off the cold," Crawford said, adding that he had not met a refugee in Serbia who did not use one. To this man, the blanket was indispensable as it accounted for his only possession, apart from the clothes he was wearing.

Shaped into tents, curtains, and even torn apart and worn as socks - the blankets became not just a symbol of the refugee crisis, without which thousands would have died over the winter, but also an omnipresent item of migrants’ everyday life. Here Crawford captured a common scene: One man heats and pours the water, one passes the soap, and another stands by with the blanket to dry him off.

"Usually, the blanket follows people wherever they go in Serbia, but sometimes they leave them behind so as not to slow them down. The owner had left the blanket on the train tracks as he jumped on the train the previous night," said Crawford. According to Serbian authorities, several hundred of the camp inhabitants have been unaccounted for since May.

The situation is alarming, considering that the official numbers say that around 40 percent of the refugee camp population were children and teenagers. "This was a young man calling his mother. For me, it brought together the family aspect of the refugee crisis: All those men in the refugee camps are someone’s son, brother, or father," said Crawford.

Despite overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions, Crawford said the refugee camps in Serbia were basic but adequate compared to others in the Balkans: "I visited several of them during my time in Serbia and found them to be well-managed, given the situation." He also mentioned that the Serbian Commissariat of Refugees tried to always have translators, doctors, and other trained staff present.

Although he views the situation as stable for now, Crawford criticized the EU’s attitude toward the crisis: "Serbia should receive a lot more funding to contain the situation and construct camps to house asylum seekers in humane conditions. With Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary refusing to accept refugee quotas, the idea of a European-wide refugee resettlement policy is in tatters."

Crawford called for a speedier asylum application process to make it easier to enter the EU legally. But what do the refugees need to improve the situation? "One answer stands out: 'People in Europe complain about us and our behavior. Why don’t they give us teaching while we are here now? Tell us what is acceptable and what is not, tell us the consequences of our actions if we break the law!'"