Serbian rights lawyer wins UN refugee agency award in Europe

BELGRADE – Nearly a decennary ago, an brushwood with an Iranian household inspired Serbian lawyer Nikola Kovacevic to dedicate his vocation to the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers.

Now Kovacevic says his quest has go much important than ever amid soaring anti-immigrant sentiment and populism successful Europe.

On Thursday, the 32-year-old quality rights lawyer from Belgrade volition formally person a prestigious grant for Europe from the U.N. exile bureau for assisting scores of radical who fled their homes, including those being sent backmost and distant implicit the borders successful the region.

The archetypal victor of UNHCR's determination Nansen Refugee Award from Serbia and the Balkans, Kovacevic told The Associated Press that exile rights subordinate to the precise halfway of European values.

“If we suffer the combat for the bequest of the exile convention, which was designed for america — Europeans — successful the 2nd World War, what’s going to a hap next?” Kovacevic asked. “Because, you know, determination is this aged saying: ‘Everybody tin travel successful a concern to go a refugee."

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Closed borders and the the signifier of corporate expulsions, some successful the Balkan portion and wider successful Europe, person undermined the existing layers of extortion that were designed for refugees, helium explained. People trying to fly their homelands are often simply sent backmost without countries “even trying to spot what is going to hap to them.”

“Today, arsenic we speak, dozens and dozens of Afghanis are stuck successful a no-man’s onshore betwixt Poland and Belarus,” helium said of the latest European migration blistery spot, wherever Poland alleges that Belarus is taking wealth from susceptible migrants and sending them into Poland to destabilize the full 27-nation European Union.

“To entree inclusion is to entree territory, to say: ’Hello Mr. Policeman, Mr. Border Police Officer, I americium here. I americium from Afghanistan, I privation to entree my rights,” helium said.

While the planetary Nansen grant this twelvemonth went to a humanitarian enactment successful Yemen, the prime of Kovacevic arsenic the determination victor successful Europe has underscored the value of the Balkans arsenic a cardinal way successful the travel of radical hopeless to scope Western Europe.

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Thousands of migrants marque unsafe journeys each time — particularly those who effort to fly from Libya crossed the Mediterranean Sea — and galore person faced repeated pushbacks from authorities and adjacent unit portion trying to scope Western Europe. Some of Kovacevic's clients person suffered superior injuries during specified expulsions from 1 state to another.

Over the years, Kovacevic has handled galore cases that ranged from a Kurdish activist’s extradition to Turkey to astir one-third of each the granted extortion requests successful Serbia. He inactive remembers intelligibly his archetypal sojourn to an asylum halfway successful Serbia successful 2012 and the household from Iran helium met there.

“If you get this idiosyncratic transportation with the radical who mislaid everything, who talk to you ... (the) speech of something, of energy, oregon gratitude, of this feeling of humanity, that’s an unbelievable feeling," said Kovacevic.

In announcing this year's winner, the UNHCR said Kovacevic has shown exceptional dedication and contributed to amended asylum procedures successful Serbia. He has helped his clients find shelter, jobs and entree acquisition and aesculapian assistance.

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“His determination instigated their anticipation for amended life," said UNHCR.

Last twelvemonth Kovacevic scored a landmark triumph for refugees astatine Serbia’s Constitutional Court, which acknowledged that the Serbian constabulary had unlawfully expelled a radical of radical from Afghanistan — including 9 children — to Bulgaria, and ordered the authorities to wage compensation to each of them.

The ruling was seen arsenic a uncommon authoritative confirmation that countries successful Europe are condoning and conducting pushbacks that interruption some the EU and planetary laws, which prohibition the forcible instrumentality of radical to different countries without looking into their idiosyncratic circumstances oregon allowing them to use for asylum.

Kovacevic besides has helped colleagues successful Hungary bring to tribunal determination the cases of the archetypal 2 migrants who were expelled to Serbia aft Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's populist authorities enactment up a barbed ligament obstruction connected the borderline successful 2015 to halt migrants from coming in.

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Anti-immigration propaganda “spreads similar a fire,” helium warned, adding that quality rights activists look a daunting task successful countering misinformation.

The Serbian lawyer had a connection to each the radical who see migrants and refugees a information to their societies.

“How would they consciousness if they knew that their wives and children are lasting earlier the barbed ligament fence, wherever determination are borderline constabulary officers with sticks, with capsicum spray, with dogs, who are acceptable to bushed them up and nonstop them backmost to the spot wherever determination is danger, wherever determination is nary safety?” helium asked.

“In the extremity it’s precise simple: Just effort to enactment yourself successful this benignant of situation," helium said.

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Read each AP stories connected planetary migration astatine https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

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