Erased in Life and Death: Intersecting Injustices faced by People on the Move in Serbia: Summary 6/7

A knowledge-mapping report

Case studies

Friday 4 July 2025

Introduction:

Our full report ‘Erased in life and death: intersecting injustices faced by people on the move in Serbia’ explores the systemic neglect, institutional silence, and structural violence surrounding the deaths of people on the move in Serbia. It is not a new intervention, nor a pioneering effort. Rather, it builds on the longstanding work of civil society organisations, cemetery workers, communities of faith, journalists, researchers, and families who have long documented, buried, and remembered the dead. Our aim is to contribute capacity, coordination, visibility, and documentation to efforts already underway.

Following Tuesday’s release, this sixth and final summary section released before the final report publication on Thursday 10 July focuses on  a number of locations case studies undertaken during this research and mapping project.

The case studies section will consider the following locations, looking at causes of death and burial sites for people who have been identified, and remain unidentified, in each location:

Subotica

The administrative centre of the North Bačka District, adjacent to Serbia's northern border with Hungary. The border is significant as simultaneously being the external border of the EU and the Schengen area. As the administrative centre, in theory, Subotica is where the both state-led burials of named and unnamed people who die in the municipality should be buried. 

Sid

The Sid municipality lies at a tri-confluence of borders between Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. For this reason the area of Sid is a common exit point of migration routes through Serbia. Routes go either directly from Serbia to Croatia, or Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia - this depends on the trends in patterns at the time. There are currently 2 SCRM facilities open within the municipality; Adasevci RTC (standby since December 2023), Principovac RTC. Formerly, a third facility was open in Sid but this was permanently closed in August 2024. 

Sjenica

Sjenica hosts an AC with a capacity of 350 people however only around 50 people are staying inside at the time of writing, mostly single men from Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Ethiopia and other Northern African countries. Some of them have been in Sjenica for years, still waiting to hear about their asylum claims. Others have not applied for asylum in Serbia but still live in the AC. Highlighting discrepancies between rule and practice regarding the registration for asylum and reception within SCRM facilities. From a survey of individuals staying in the Sjenica AC, conditions are reported to be poor regarding access to legal aid, psychosocial support, healthcare, hygiene, and food autonomy. A number of participants highlighted a preference to cook their own meals, using an abandoned hangar opposite the facility where some old pots and a fireplace make for an improvised kitchen. They reported camp meals to be “not enough” and of bad quality. Some residents present severe signs of psychological distress, including being non-verbal. There is a reported general lack of integration programs, recreational activities and psychological care. A thick feeling of hopelessness and trappedness was demonstrated by many of the individuals we interacted with. The No Name Kitchen (NNK) community centre is the only safe space that people in Sjenica can access to relax and spend their freetime outside the oppressive reality of the camp.

Tutin and Rozaje

Tutin, a municipality 60 km south of Sjenica near the Montenegrin border, is home to a recently built AC that remains closed. 

Across the border in Rozaje, Montenegro, the search for graves was equally difficult. Many remain unmarked or are not visibly distinguished, making identification challenging. 

The Drina River

The Drina serves as a natural border between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina*, stretching for over 200 kilometers. Its rugged, mountainous beauty stands in stark contrast to the history of violence it has witnessed—both during the Yugoslav Wars and more recently as part of the externalisation of the EU border regime. The river's narrow and winding course creates strong currents and rapids, making the crossing dangerous. People cross the Drina as means of irregular movement from Serbia to Bosnia (then usually then onto Croatia and Western Europe). Methods of crossing include swimming, the use of small vessels, and climbing train bridges that cross the river. The popularity of this route has varied over the history of its use. Following the winter 2023 large-scale policing operation in the north, there was a significant increase in the number of people attempting this crossing. The region saw thousands of people crossing into Bosnia in the last years, with several abandoned factories in the area being used as improvised shelters. Although currently comparatively less people are using the Drina crossing, since the 2023 operation it has consistently been cited as a crossing destination by people on the move. 

Despite being relatively few in comparison to Serbia's other border areas on prominent migration routes (Serb-Hungarian, Serbian-Bulgarian, Serb-N.Macedonian) pushbacks from Bosnia to Serbia have been reported along the Drina. Some of these pushbacks have involved forced undressings in winter weather conditions.

*In this report, which focuses on Serbian practices and procedures, we discuss the Serbian side of the Drina only,

Belgrade

The Obrenovac AC (adult men) and Krnjaca AC (families) are the two operating SCRM facilities in the vicinity of Belgrade. Currently Belgrade acts as a somewhat of a transit hub for people on the move travelling through Belgrade. Most people arrive from Bulgaria and travel up to Belgrade before heading to either the Hungarian or Bosnian border to attempt an irregular crossing. Both AC’s near Belgrade in practice only accept people who have started their asylum process in Serbia - as a result Obrenovac AC has remained almost empty for at least a year despite a capacity of 1000 people. We frequently hear of people being rejected access to Obrenovac AC. For the people who transit through Belgrade en route to exit points at Serbia’s borders, they either stay at private addresses or informal living sites in abandoned areas - as we understand both are most often managed by facilitation gangs. Informal living sites are subjected to frequent police harassment and raids - people who are caught are usually forced to pay bribes or fines to the police, provide their biometric data (fingerprints, photos), taken to detention facilities, and/or taken to the Presevo RTC in the south. On occasion we speak to people who have returned to Belgrade after being subject to (often violent) pushbacks from Hungary.

The Orlovaca cemetery on the outskirts of Belgrade is used for state burials of unidentified people in Belgrade - this is due to it having the most ‘expansion potential’ in reference to land use issues surrounding burials in Serbia. 

The Bogovadja AC for families and minors was previously open within the Lajkovac municipality. This is what gives the area significance in the context of migration - as otherwise this region of Serbia is not considered to lie on any established migration route in Serbia. Despite being considered one of the better SCRM facilities in terms of provision of amenities, in 2020, beatings of minors by SCRM were reported within the camp. Bogovadja AC was permanently closed in march 2023.

Border areas: Bulgaria and North Macedonia

These are considered entrance points of migration routes through Serbia. People often cross these borders on foot. They are forced to navigate a landscape characterised by steep mountains blanketed with dense forests, constituting a natural border hard to breach. Winter temperatures can drop below -20℃ in these regions. Once in Serbia people can be picked up in vehicles arranged by facilitators and driven toward Belgrade or exit points of routes in Serbia.

Pushbacks by Serbian authorities are also commonplace - most frequently documented on the Serbian-Bulgarian border. These are frequently violent practices and can force people to be exposed to the elements for extended periods. For example people often recount in their testimonies of pushbacks that Serbian border police forced them to walk back across the border into Bulgaria. Further, in February 2024 video footage emerged evidencing collective expulsions of 70 people from Serbia to N.Macedonia. The footage showed 12 people walking along the side of a road stripped down to their underwear and some without shoes.