Ministry of Interior searches new space for refugee camps

Publiziert am 23. März 2016 von mf

Recently, talks about accommodating refugees in a 200 square meters big old military barracks in Kresna (Blagoevgrad Province) triggered a large, and in some cases xenophobic, protest on the 21st of March, held by Bulgarian citizens in Kresna. About a thousand people gathered, when they heard that there is a possibility that asylum seekers could be accommodated soon in their town. Some of the protesters also threatened that next time they are going to block highway E-79, which is close to the town of Kresna, or the Greek border itself. In a report, done by bTV, a citizen stated:

I am afraid that they are coming as conquerors. They come to take our territories. […] We are Christians before everything else. I cannot imagine my granddaughter to be wearing a burka.

The Idea of opening a refugee camp in Kresna, which could be used in the case of a higher migration influx from Greece and Macedonia, was discussed between the Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova and the mayor of the town, Nikolay Georgiev. Later the people were assured by the authorities, that for now the unused building will not become a refugee center but it became clear that the Ministry of Interior (MoI) is generally looking for such buildings to create new centers and therefore discussed several options.

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The EU/Turkey-agreement and (possible) effects on Bulgaria

Publiziert am 20. März 2016 von mf

As the EU-Turkey agreement came into effect on today, the 20th March 2016, there could again emerge a tremendous change of the main route, that people use to move towards Western Europe. Greece will turn literally into a detention zone and many migrants will likely try to avoid the deportation back to Turkey. Recently, the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees (SAR) published with a delay the registered asylum applications from January and February, this year. According to its statistics, 3,160 asylum-requests were registered during that time. German state media reported about a total influx of 7,500 refugees who ended in Bulgaria until the 16th March. In addition, several volunteers, working in different camps in Bulgaria, claimed that there is a bigger influx of migrants arriving, during the last days and the police is detecting 200-300 migrants on a daily basis in the area of Malko Tarnovo. Only in the last 2 1/2 months Bulgaria has detained 1,124 migrants.

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Bulgaria as an alternative Route?

Publiziert am 11. März 2016 von mf

The complete closing of the humanitarian corridor caused a humanitarian emergency in the Greek village Idomeni. In the recent days Bulgaria’s politicians have expressed their fear, that an alternative humanitarian corridor could emerge via Bulgaria. The Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov warned about such developments and the Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova stated that the EU Commission was already asked by Bulgaria for help in order to boost the security at the Greek border. Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev talked about the possibility of building a new fence between Greece and Bulgaria. Until now Nenchev did not see it as an important step, but rather as a ‚last resort‘. He mentioned that the army at the border will only be used in “emergency cases“. In the beginning of March 2016, a drill was held by Bulgarian authorities at the border crossing Kulata-Promachonas, which is located about 125 km away from Idomeni.

The new border fence between Bulgaria and Turkey is not ready, yet. In February 2016, the Bulgarian government decided to spend additional 17 Million Euro on it, so 47 Million Euro were already paid for it. In May 2015, the first stage of the fence (with length of about 33 km), which was build after the (so called) refugee crisis in Bulgaria 2013/14, had problems as it partly collapsed  and the Bulgarian army had to underpin it. Other reports referred about rust and wholes in the fence or people who threw carpets on it to climb over. The period of constructing the small fence took about 10 months and was completed by the end of 2014 in July. The new fence of about 132.6 km, which was announced 12 month ago, is supposed to be thicker and has partly “three rows instead of the existing two“. Nevertheless, at some places such an intend is extremely difficult, because of the Strandzha mountain massif and the natural park with its river and hills, furthermore still 90 km of the border fence in the Burgas region have not been built, yet. By the end of May 2016, 8 km are planned to be finished in the region of Yambol, where the new fence is affiliating the old fence.

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Unaccompanied minors inside Bulgaria’s detention centers / Drills at the border to Greece

Publiziert am 9. März 2016 von mf

The Bulgarian Ombudswoman, Maya Manolova, announced this week that unaccompanied minors are placed in Bulgaria’s detention centers with other adults, “who are not members of their families or authorized companions“. The announcement was part of a report about the results of evaluating detention facilities and jails in Bulgaria. Already in November 2015 Valeria Ilareva, from the Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR), warned that after the new asylum regime, “detention of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers is permitted“.

Last weekend, drills of the Bulgarian police and army took place at the border-crossing point to Greece near Kulata, which is hard to secure. 400 police staff and 50 soldiers took part, in addition 2 helicopters, a water cannon and amored vehicles were used during the exercise. The authorities deployed also “refugees“, who were throwing stones at the police. For the training, the border crossing Kulata-Promachonas was temporally closed. Two days later, it seemed like nothing has ever happened on the spot and, the situation was very calm and no special police, fence or additional cameras were seen at the border checkpoint.

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Ovcha-Kupel: A place of broken dreams

Publiziert am 5. März 2016 von mf

When Serbia recently started to deport refugees to Bulgaria, some of them stranded in the Reception Center for Asylum Seekers in Sofia/Ovcha Kupel. Jamal Anjuman*, who recently made it through the border to Serbia, but was deported by Serbian border police to the Bulgarian border, stated:

In Serbia we were arrested. We were handcuffed and they brought us back to Bulgaria. We don’t now why. Now we are here and don’t know what to do.

The Reception Center is located in a district, where many industrialized buildings are included. One could find a lot of neo-nazi graffiti and swastikas on the walls of many houses, many of them are already present in the neighborhood since years. Nearly every day, the police is present in front of the center for asylum-seekers and the migrants are getting permanently controlled by them.

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Group of 34 people rescued in the forests between Bulgaria and Serbia

Publiziert am 29. Februar 2016 von mf

On the 28th of February, BMB received a message from a kurdish and arabic speaking group of 34 refugees, who were urgently calling out for help, via WhatsApp. The people were lost for days in the forests between Bulgaria and Serbia. A father of a daughter sent a voice message and tried to describe the situation on the spot:

My daughter, we cannot stand it any longer. We are in a dying condition. The children are dying. Since three days we have neither eaten nor drunk. We did not flee voluntarily. My daughter, we cannot stand it any longer. We will all die!

The group managed to send the coordinates of their location, as well. Luckily, a Serbian emergency unit rescued the people after some hours. There are rumors about more refugees who try to find their way beside the official “humanitarian corridor”. Since it is only possible to get the new biometric paper at the Greek-Macedonian border, to travel in a legal way to Europe, many people are stuck on their way in the mountains, forests or elsewhere, because they are trying to search for other ways. The new regulation leads obviously to more confusion and suffering for the ones who attempt to run away from war and destruction.

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Update: After the Serbian Borderpolice explained the rescued group that it is only possible to ask for asylum in Serbia, the people decided to head back to Bulgaria. There they were arrested by the police. 13 people of the group had already a running asylum procedure in Bulgaria and were sent free after their documents were being checked. The other 21 people were brought to the detention center in Lyubimets.

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Serbia starts deportations to Bulgaria

Publiziert am 23. Februar 2016 von mf

Two days ago, Bulgaria was warned by Serbian officials to tighten up the border who, by the same time, announced deportations back to Bulgaria. Simultaneously, new rules seem now to implemented in Dimitrovgrad and Preševo. On the 19th of February, Serbia has stopped issuing transit documents for migrants. Since now, the new biometric document is only issued and handed out at the Greek-Macedonian border in Gevgelija, where one needs a passport or a similar identification document for that procedure. Two days later, the “Movebus” from the “Moving-Europe” project announced that, people from Afghanistan were “not allowed to enter the offical corridor at the Greek-Macedonian (FYROM) border.”

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Head of SAR dismissed / Bulgaria was warned to tighten its border control / Refugee Hunters at the border

Publiziert am 22. Februar 2016 von mf

On the 22nd of February 2016, the government dismissed Nikola Kazakov, the chairman of the (SAR) State Agency for Refugees, and filled the position with Kircho Kirov (a former director of the National Intelligence Service). Kazakov was fired because of “irregularities” in spending money on food for the refugee centers of the SAR. Volunteers and NGO members from Bulgaria published a statement which called for a transparent procedure concerning the nomination of the new head of the SAR, who should be selected  “on the basis of expertise and personal merits”. At a later time also Aleksandar Dimitrov, the deputy chairman of the SAR, was fired.

It was reported that one day before, on the 21st of February 2016, Bulgaria was warned by Serbian authorities to tighten up its border control. On the same day the Serbian authorities in Dimitrovgrad and Preševo did not hand Afghani people a new biometric document, that is necessary to leave in a legal way to Croatia, which on was agreed at a meeting between the heads of police services in Zagreb on the 18th of February. Some days ago, media reported about a border police man saying that the number of the Bulgarian Border Police, at the Bulgarian-Turkish border, is not sufficient.

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Consensus in Bulgarian parliament about the army as border security

Publiziert am 15. Februar 2016 von mf

Last week, the Bulgarian parliament decided to give more power to the army. The new amendment in the Armed Forces Act was proposed in the parliament by the conservative party GERB and was later supported by all other parties (the Reformist Bloc, the Patriotic Front, ABC, MRF, BSP, Ataka and BDC). Prior to this decision, the army was only allowed to “assist“ the employees of the Ministry of Interior, for example in logistics. With the new amendment, the military is officially allowed to be involved in border security.

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Breaking News: Two women froze to death in Bulgaria’s borderland

Publiziert am 7. Februar 2016 von mf

The private television channel bTV reported about two refugee women who have died, in the near of Malko Tarnovo at Strandzha mountain massif on Saturday. Since days the region, where the group was found, saw freezing temperatures. Apparently, the women were part of a bigger group, at least 19 refugees, including 11 children from Iraq and Afghanistan. It was reported, that on Saturday the group was found by the border police. Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova told the communication media:

Two women have died — one younger and another middle-aged. Our border guards made every effort to help them, carrying them in their arms to try to warm them up, but it happened because of the cold.

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