(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Officials and criminal gangs are abusing and extorting thousands of refugees crossing the Balkans to reach the EU, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.
The human rights group said the refugees were being let down by the EU's asylum and migration system that leaves them trapped in Serbia and Macedonia.
"The situation is exacerbated by push-backs or deportations at every border, restricted access to asylum en route and a lack of safe and legal routes into the EU," Amnesty said in the report Europe's borderlands: Violations Against Migrants and Refugees in Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary.
"Refugees fleeing war and persecution make this journey across the Balkans in the hope of finding safety in Europe only to find themselves victims of abuse and exploitation and at the mercy of failing asylum systems," Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty's deputy director for Europe, said in a statement.
"Serbia and Macedonia have become a sink for the overflow of refugees and migrants that nobody in the EU seems willing to receive."
The report, based on interviews with more than 100 refugees between July last year and March, revealed the conditions endured by those travelling the western Balkans route, which has overtaken the dangerous Mediterranean crossing as the busiest road into the EU.
Amnesty said the numbers arrested on the Serbian-Hungarian border had risen by more than 2,500 percent over the last five years.
The route, which sees refugees and migrants cross from Turkey to Greece before heading through Macedonia and Serbia to EU-member Hungary, may be less perilous than the Mediterranean crossing from Libya but still carries a high degree of risk.
The report said 123 people had drowned in sea crossings between Turkey and Greece since January last year while another 24 were killed on rail lines.
Around 2 million refugees from Iraq and Syria have taken shelter in Turkey. The UN has warned that the number of refugees in Turkey could reach 2.5 million by the end of the year.
Migrants also face physical abuse at the hands of Serbian police officers. An Afghan refugee told Amnesty of Serbian police beating a five-month pregnant woman.
Those seeking a life in Europe also fall prey to people smugglers and criminals.
Two Nigerian men told Amnesty they were attacked and robbed by men armed with knives in Macedonia. When they reported the attack to police, the Nigerians were arrested.
Many refugees, including families, pregnant women and lone children, were arbitrarily detained for prolonged periods at a reception center in Macedonia known as Gazi Baba.
They are often held unlawfully for months in inhuman and degrading conditions so they can act as witnesses in criminal proceedings against people traffickers. Former detainees told Amnesty they had been beaten by police officers in Gazi Baba.
According to the report, when a group of Syrians threatened to go on hunger strike, a police officer told them: "If you die here, nobody will come and ask about you. We will throw your dead body out."
Urging the EU to ensure safe routes, increased resettlement and humanitarian visas for refugees, Amnesty also called for additional support for the Serbian and Macedonian asylum systems.
"Serbia and Macedonia have to do much more to respect migrants and refugees' rights," van Gulik said.
"As increasing numbers of vulnerable refugees, asylum seekers and migrants become trapped in a Balkan no-man's land, the pressures on Serbia and Macedonia are mounting. These stresses, like those on Italy and Greece, can only be resolved by a much broader rethink of EU migration and asylum policies."
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