Forced into the Shadows: The impact of surveillance and harassment on access to support service

As winter approaches in Serbia and the numbers of people sleeping outside show no signs of lessening, access to potentially life-saving essentials like tents, warm clothing, and food become more crucial than ever. However, in recent months, our team in northern Serbia has had to work harder than ever before in order to access the people who so desperately need these items. Escalating police surveillance and harassment has created an environment of fear, which is driving people on the move underground. In addition to the huge risks that people are now taking in order to evade detection, arrest, and violence, this has given rise to a new question: how can we continue to reach people who need to take more and more drastic measures not to be found? 

Prior to 2024, the Serbian-Hungarian border was a key crossing point for people on the move looking to reach Europe, with 1500 people crossing every day at one point last year. As a direct entry point into the EU, this route shortens people’s journeys on the so-called ‘Balkan route’ by hundreds of miles, and allows them to avoid the dangerous rivers and mountains to Serbia’s west. But following last year’s special police operation, the number of people using this border reduced significantly. With increased police surveillance, the destruction of informal settlements, and the forcible removal of people to the south of the country, people on the move were forced to head to Bosnia instead. As a result, Collective Aid saw drastically fewer people along this border for the first four to five months of the year. 

It was only in August when we began to hear more testimonies from people who had experienced pushbacks from Hungary again. In response, we gave people information so they could contact us if they needed access to water, showers, tents, or clothing. As one of the only NGOs working along the northern border, we were well placed to provide this crucial support to the hundreds of people there - on the 25th of August, the Asylum Protection Centre reported that there were 300 people on the Serbian side of the border. The problem was, we were not able to access them anywhere near as easily as before. We set up a fixed distribution site near a busy informal camp, but regular distributions remained difficult.

In late September, when we arrived at the distribution spot with 200 litres of water, jackets, and bedding, we couldn’t find a soul. After waiting for an hour, it was only by chance that two people on the move walked by. Our presence initially startled them, but once we communicated what we were doing, they told us that there was in fact a big group of men, women, and children as young as 10 staying in the forest nearby. They desperately needed clothes and water but wouldn’t dare come out of hiding. Being only a stone’s throw from the border with Hungary, they were all too afraid of what might happen if they were discovered by police.

We have heard of multiple recent reports of police surveillance and harassment along this border. In September, we heard of a mother who was pushed back and driven 500 km to Presevo camp in the south of Serbia. She was separated from the rest of her family, including her children, who remained in the north. At the end of October, people told us that they had spotted a drone flying over their living site. Shortly after, three police cars arrived, and seven displaced people were arrested, including three women. The police reportedly beat members of the group, and stole their food and water. Stealing essential supplies and using violence against displaced people is not only cruel, but more widely, this type of harassment forces people to hide in the shadows. No one is willing to risk being arrested, beaten, or potentially driven 500km away from where they need to be  - not to mention the obvious psychological toll this would take. So to avoid this, people are becoming invisible - and in doing so, facing increasing difficulties accessing NGOs like ours for desperately needed support.

With temperatures dropping and the winter closing in, it is essential that people feel safe enough to meet us to collect items such as tents, blankets, or warm clothing. As it stands, the majority of camps in the north of Serbia remain closed, so the majority of people are forced to sleep ‘rough’ and have no access to essential items or services that should be provided by the state.Whereas in previous years, people could - at least - use abandoned buildings for shelter, increased police surveillance means this is no longer a viable option.  At the moment, people are reliant on NGOs to fill vital gaps in their needs. If  they cannot reach us, the dire winter conditions will put many at risk of hypothermia- or worse. People along the northern border have even reported a reluctance to put up tents out of fear they will be spotted by drones, so the ability to access them in order to provide warm clothing and blankets could be life-saving. 

It is not only the northern border which has seen tightening police controls. Across the country, police surveillance and harassment are becoming more insidious. In October, we collected a testimony from a man who was violently pushed back from Serbia to North Macedonia by police. After crossing the border, he was picked up by the police who briefly detained him and took his personal details. When he resisted giving his fingerprint, one of the officers kicked him in the chest and he was driven back to North Macedonia and left alone, without any signal or internet on his phone, in the dark. Reports of police robbing people in Belgrade’s ‘Afghan Park’ have continued since we initially reported on it in September, and police are now allegedly taking people from the park to camps in the south. Local community organisation InfoPark, who support thousands of refugees per year and regularly hear stories of police harassment, are now telling people to stay out of the park after 6pm, when risk of this apparently increases. In Obrenovac, an informal camp near the city, we hear reports that police are regularly entering the camps and removing people. As a result, people are setting up camps in smaller, more scattered areas in order to reduce the risk of mass arrest.

In addition to the multitude of consequences discussed above, these heightened measures also force people to take extreme risks in order to pass through the country undetected. One man told us how he clung to the underside of a lorry for hours in an attempt to reach the north undetected, and others have travelled in the back of trucks with dozens of other people.

When we last wrote about police violence against people on the move in Serbia in September, we said that harassment, theft, and violence from the police will not change the political landscape that forces people to make these journeys towards Europe. This is a fact, and one that we reiterate now. We denounce the consistent police harassment, violence, and intimidation of people on the move in the strongest possible terms, and call for the police to be held accountable for the violence they perpetrate. People should not be forced to hide away when they are in desperate need of support, and whilst the state continues to support people’s basic needs, they must have unobstructed access to our services  - without risking criminalisation for doing so.  The people that are exposed to these conditions are not there out of choice. They are forced out of their homes by violence, conflict and persecution, and take dangerous journeys intensified by harsh weather, state authorities and poor access to necessities.

At Collective Aid, we see this hardship first-hand. With the arrival of winter, the urgency to provide warmth and essential services has never been greater. That is why we are launching our winter appeal fundraiser. Through your generosity, we can keep our projects running and deliver vital support to those on the move during the coldest months of the year. Your support will help people be warmer, safer, and more protected as they endure these incredibly difficult conditions. Please visit our website to find out more.