Serbian rights lawyer wins UN refugee agency award in Europe

BELGRADE – Almost a decade ago, an encounter with an Iranian family inspired Serbian lawyer Nikola Kovacevic to devote his career to the rights of refugees and asylum seekers.

Now, Kovacevic says his search has become more important than ever in the face of rising anti-immigrant sentiment and populism in Europe.

On Thursday, the 32-year-old human rights lawyer from Belgrade will officially receive a prestigious award for Europe from the UN Refugee Agency for supporting numerous people who have fled their homes, including those who were sent across the borders in the region.

Kovacevic, the first UNHCR regional Nansen refugee award winner from Serbia and the Balkans, told The Associated Press that refugee rights are tied to the core of European values.

“If we lose the fight for the legacy of the Refugee Convention, which was intended for us Europeans, in World War II, what happens then?” Asked Kovacevic. “Because, you know, there is this old adage: ‘Anyone can be a refugee.’

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Closed borders and the practice of collective expulsions, both in the Balkans and in Europe, have undermined existing layers of protection for refugees, he said. People who try to flee their homeland are often simply sent back without countries “even trying to see what happens to them”.

“Today, as we speak, dozens and dozen Afghans are stuck in a no man’s land between Poland and Belarus,” he said of the recent European migration hotspot where Poland claims Belarus is taking money from vulnerable migrants and sending them to Poland, to destabilize the entire EU of 27 nations.

“To access inclusion, accessing territory means saying, ‘Hello Mr. Policeman, Mr. Border Policeman, I’m here. I’m from Afghanistan, I want to exercise my rights, ”he said.

While this year’s Nansen Worldwide Prize went to a humanitarian organization in Yemen, the election of Kovacevic as the regional winner in Europe has underscored the importance of the Balkans as a key route for the flow of people desperately heading for Western Europe.

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Thousands of migrants make dangerous journeys every day – especially those trying to flee Libya across the Mediterranean Sea – and many face repeated setbacks from authorities and even violence as they attempt to reach Western Europe. Some of Kovacevic’s clients have suffered serious injuries during such deportations from one country to another.

Over the years, Kovacevic has handled numerous cases, ranging from the extradition of a Kurdish activist to Turkey to around a third of all protection applications granted in Serbia. He remembers his first visit to an asylum center in Serbia in 2012 and the family from Iran he met there.

“When you get this personal connection with the people who have lost everything, who talk to you … (the) exchange of something, of energy or gratitude, of that feeling of humanity, that’s an incredible feeling,” said Kovacevic.

When announcing this year’s winner, UNHCR said Kovacevic had shown exceptional commitment and contributed to better asylum procedures in Serbia. He has helped clients find shelter, jobs, and access to education and medical care.

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“His determination has sparked her hope for a better life,” said UNHCR.

Last year, Kovacevic scored a landmark victory for refugees in the Serbian Constitutional Court, which recognized that Serbian police had illegally expelled a group of people from Afghanistan – including 9 children – to Bulgaria and called on the government to compensate each of them counting.

The ruling was seen as rare official confirmation that countries in Europe tolerate and carry out pushbacks that violate both EU and international laws that prohibit the forcible repatriation of people to other countries without examining their individual circumstances or theirs to allow to apply for asylum.

Kovacevic has also helped colleagues in Hungary bring to court the cases of the first two migrants expelled to Serbia after the populist government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 2015 border erected a barbed wire fence to prevent migrants from entering the country .

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Anti-immigration propaganda “is spreading like fire,” he warned, adding that human rights defenders face a daunting task to combat misinformation.

The Serbian lawyer had a message to all people who see migrants and refugees as a threat to their societies.

“How would you feel if you knew your wives and children were standing in front of the barbed wire fence, where border police with sticks, pepper spray, dogs ready to beat you and back to where there is danger, where there is danger there is no security? ”he asked.

“Ultimately, it’s very simple: just try to put yourself in this situation,” he said.

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Read all of AP’s global migration stories at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

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