• 2015-03-25
• |  Belgrade

DPF Debate: Without an Academic Response to the Problem of Asylum Seekers

At the Democratic Political Forum debate, it is pointed out that there is no faculty in Serbia with studies/subjects of asylum seekers problem.

There is no faculty tackling this issue in Serbia where numerous asylum seekers pass in search for their way towards the states of European Union. This is highlighted at the event “Asylum Seekers as Socio-Political and International Problem”, organized by Center for Democracy Foundation in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Foundation. 

In addition, it is pointed out that political parties in power and opposition are not treating this issue, and assessed that state institutions would have to cooperate closely with other countries in the region in order to solve the problem of migrations. 

Center for Democracy Foundation’s President, Dragoljub Mićunović reminded that the question of asylum seekers is primarily humanitarian and a question of respect for human rights.
 
Mićunović expects that the number of asylum seekers will continue to grow and that this problem has to be solved on international level. 

Representative of the non-governmental organization Group 484 Vladimir Petronijević stated that there is no educational department for migration and emphasized the necessity of public education, so people would “accept others and different ones”. 

According to him, this topic is not appealing neither to political parties and the problem of asylum seekers is solved by the lowest level local politicians level. 

He considers that the state of Serbia, located on the borders of “Schengen Space”, should closely cooperate with countries in the region, but also the international community. 

At the event organized in a form of public debate, it is stated that Serbia is mostly passed by citizens of Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia; and at the end of last year there was a noticeable increase of persons from Kosovo wishing to leave to the states of EU.  

Source: Tanjug 

Debate “Asylum Seekers as Socio-Political and International Problem” was organized by Center for Democracy Foundation in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Foundation within the project Democratic Political Forum. 

Participated at the Debate: Nataša Despotović (Zero tolerance), Marko Jovanović (Civil Rights Defenders), Marija Todorović (Team for Social Inclusion and Poverty Reduction), Radoš Đurović (Center for Protection and Assistance to Asylum Seekers), Miroslav Drašković (Balkan Center for Migration), Branislav Milenković (Red Cross Serbia), Ana Vukadinović (Initiative for Development and Cooperation), Lana Šimpraga (Initiative for Development and Cooperation), Lena Petrović (Belgrade Center for Human Rights), Andrea Vasović (German Embassy in Belgrade), Ema Puljarević (Center for Ethnicity Research), Ana Sekulić (Center for Ethnicity Research), Dragan Momčilović (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Marko Šijan (Center for Trafficking in Human Beings Victims Protection), Brankica Grupkovac (attorney at law), Zoran Lutovac (Institute of Social Sciences), Slobodan Vučković (Center for Democracy Foundation), Miloš Janković (Ombudsman), Danijela Popović Rocco (Refugee and Migration Commissariat), Vladimir Petronijević (Group 484), Dragoljub Mićunović (Center for Democracy Foundation) and others. 

​

Center for Democracy Foundation