AYS Daily Digest 06/04/2021: Spotlight on Tuzla, forgotten city along on the Balkan Route
By: Are You Syrious
Tags: Digest, Migration, Migrants, Refugees, Deportation

Ušivak, Borići, Lipa, Velika Kladuša, Bihać… These names of Bosnian places are becoming more and more familiar in foreign news coverage about the situation for people-on-the-move. The first three places are camps, the last two are cities in the northwest of the country, where many people on the move are concentrated.

In comparison, Tuzla, Bosnia’s third largest city, gets scant attention, and ordinary locals — by now, seasoned in their daily tasks — have long carried the burden of feeding, clothing and providing other aid to the hundreds of people on the move who pass through their city.

Many of these volunteers don’t think of their jobs as a burden. This digest writer has personally met numerous PoM, who speak of Tuzla with stars in their eyes, remembering the generosity and outpouring of support they received there. In the dark days of winter 2020–21, a number of them even returned to Tuzla from places like Velika Kladuša and Bihać because they felt they would be better welcomed.

However, now in the fourth year of Bosnia’s “border crisis,” the people of Tuzla are perhaps losing some of their steam, as they continue to receive little or merely performative support from authorities whose actual job it is to handle the situation.

Thus, in this feature we hope to shed some light on the good work of the people of Tuzla, an under-reported way-station along the Balkan route, and express our support for them and their efforts.

According to local volunteers and NGOs, more than 200 people on the move are currently staying in Tuzla, the first station in Bosnia and Herzegovina after entering from the eastern side, from Serbia. It’s the fourth year that the same modus operandi continues.

Most of the people arriving in recent weeks are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Iraq. Families are mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, with several couples from Morocco. The majority are staying in abandoned houses, at the bus and train station, and all around the city.

The volunteer efforts continue to the best of their capacities, although their demand for a proper support system and setting up of a reception system has not faded, as currently the people receive one meal a day (and a number of uncoordinated distributions by the big organisations abundantly documenting their projects are occasionally taking place in a reportedly disorderly manner).

The Daily Centre is used for showering, and those deemed “vulnerable” by the “system” in most cases receive accommodation. Families with children are staying in two safehouses. Those who are wounded or wish to try and stay permanently in BiH reportedly also have a chance to receive accommodation from the volunteer organisations.

On top of the mentioned 200 people on the move, around 50 people are staying for longer periods of time in Tuzla in this way. According to those active on a daily basis in the reception system and providing direct support, the authorities and other big stake-holders are either still acting primarily as bystanders, not taking any responsibility for the ongoing situation, or keeping their own statistics and drawing up reports that may be important for their organizations but do not address crucial issues important for people-on-the-move.

Medical care is still only partially addressed. For instance, after being directed to the doctor, people are left on their own to find ways of getting to medical facilities. Naturally, mistrust is growing among PoM, regarding organisations such as the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children and other actors who took up the responsibility for particular areas like health protection. (For an example of this problem, check out this link, which you can Google translate.) When it comes to finding someone to translate the essential information people need (such as health information), this is also generally done by volunteers, even if it is beyond their capacities.

Ongoing distress among the citizens is caused by the (expected) occasional clashes between people on the move, particularly those who should be receiving psychological support or treatment for substance abuse or mental health issues. Their “acting out” in the midst of this hopeless situation excerbates the existing fear, stigma and discrimination. People have a lack of legal options when they come into contact with the law, even for simple misdemeanors.

Volunteers on the ground say the different support groups, from self-organised initiatives to independent volunteers to local NGOs, would benefit from a clearer focus and stronger coordination. Greater cooperation would have the potential to decrease the number of mishandled cases, unwanted reactions and mutual misunderstandings.

But in the meantime, there is no word from local, cantonal, federal or international officials on when the government will step up and open a proper reception system in the area. The situation can only grow more complicated in months to come.