In pictures: The Balkans, the invisible wall of Europe

In pictures: The Balkans, the invisible wall of Europe
The Balkan route is the second most important migration route to Europe which has seen strong growth since 2019. But crossing the border of Serbia is one of the most difficult steps. Sonia Camélia documents the struggles of North African migrants.
4 min read
16 February, 2023

Subotica, located in northern Serbia, is about ten kilometres from the Hungarian border, and hundreds of migrants – who hope to join the European Union's Schengen – await there.

The Refugee Centre – mainly housing Afghans, Syrians and Moroccans at the moment – can accommodate a maximum of 150 people in winter while a large number of migrants live outside the city's refugee centre.

Many others end up living in abandoned houses. This choice is not a coincidence, by sacrificing comfort, they get closer to strategic places, in order to be as close as possible to the Serbian/Hungarian border.

This is where I met Mehdi, in an abandoned house near Horgos in Serbia.

"A mobile phone on the journey of a migrant is like a survival kit: it’s a flashlight at night, a map along thousands kilometres, a tool to translate, and the only way to contact someone"

“Look that’s why I came: I’m sick," he tells me. "All my family started to work so we can pay for doctors and medicines, but after several months, it was just impossible, so I left. It’s either I die in Morocco or I die trying to come to Europe. When my mum calls me, I lie saying everything is good. She doesn’t know I sleep outside, that the police beat me and I’m running out of pills.”

When I asked him where do you want to go, he answered: "Wherever I can have access to health."

Mehdi is living with 30 other North African migrants from Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. In the middle of January, the conditions are extreme and they can be found sleeping on the ground, rolled up in blankets, without drinking water or electricity and with temperatures often around 0°C

A mobile phone on the journey of a migrant is like a survival kit: it’s a flashlight at night, a map along thousands of kilometres, a tool to translate, and the only way to contact someone.

Unfortunately, here at the Balkans, police often destroy phones during arrests.

At night, they plan their attempts to cross the three-metre-high barbed wire border. There are several techniques: carrying a ladder, covering the barbed wire with blankets and climbing, or cutting through the metal and going under.

But so far, it has been impossible for these young men to cross the double barbed wire fence that separates Hungary from Serbia. Between the two fences, Hungarian border guard vehicles patrol regularly, on the alert for the slightest movement. To assist them, thermal cameras are linked to control screens.

Perspectives

They try to cross the border every day but very often return to their camp with various injuries, often caused by police violence. If they are spotted and arrested, the worst is yet to come

“We tried to cross the border by night but they caught us," explains Mohammed who came from Egypt. "Everyone started to run and hide but the field is flat. When they found me they pushed me down to the floor and dragged me to the others migrants. I was not moving and they started to hit me," he says. 

"He hit me with a stick and kicked me so hard. The only English word I know is please but the more you say please, the more they hit you. I know it’s illegal to cross the border, but is it legal to beat us like that," Mohammed confesses. 

In-depth
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What we see is the growing hatred and fear towards these people. This summer, clashes between groups of smugglers led to one death and one injury

Several migrants admit that they are no longer perceived as human beings. Many local cafés no longer accept migrants, taxis double their fares, they are asked to pay astronomical sums to charge their phones and are sometimes even robbed of the few personal belongings they have.

The harder the crossover becomes, the more tension increases.

Sonia Camélia Moussaid is a documentary photographer and freelance journalist. She travels around the world working for NGOs documenting social conflicts.

Follow her on Instagram: soniamsd