We visited Collective Aid who provide a laundry/ shower service at The Wash for 30-40 refugees per day in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Local homeless people are welcome too.
Serbia is an important transit country for people on the move (POMs). It is estimated that 60,000 people moved through there in 2021, heading to the EU to seek safety from war, persecution, poverty and many other human rights violations.
How sad it is to see how these refugees are being hunted down, treated like street animals, ignored and forgotten…
How hard it must be for them to go through all this humiliation and hardship on top of all the trauma of war and persecution they have already experienced in their own country…
How shameful to see that the EU heavily funds the border police in Croatia, Hungary and Romania to use such cruel methods to push refugees back into Serbia and Bosnia …
Access to Essential Services: The Importance of a Wash
Thankfully there is a little safe haven where refugees can have a tea, charge their phones, have a wash and clean their clothes.
But I can’t help feeling it’s just a moment in time and God knows what lies ahead of them.
How the EU and the U.K. can be so hostile towards refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and many others is completely beyond me …. why so very different from the welcoming attitude towards Ukrainians?
