The endless wait to go nowhere: Refugees in Serbia

Published on September 8, 2016

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Stuck in Serbia, in an excruciating wait that has lasted too long, and only halfway through their journey. Spanish photographer César Dezfuli has followed a group of refugees in their exodus to Europe. His photos document the daily lives of newcomers to Europe as their hope begins to fade. [PHOTO GALLERY]

Since they left their countries of origin, the days have been passing slowly. They don’t know where they will sleep tonight, or what awaits them tomorrow. While no solution seems to be in sight, the refugees – mostly from Afghanisan and Pakistan – wander the streets of Serbia in search of something that may change their destiny.

Mansoor, a 19-year-old Afghan refugee, has been stuck in Serbia for two months. After the eviction of refugees from a park near the Belgrade bus station, many of them gave up registering in asylum seeker camps and now live in an area of abandoned factories in the city centre. A group of refugees sleep inside an abandoned factory, while others remain on alert all night in case the police arrive to evict them. Lack of sanitation is a serious problem for those living on the street. They have to wash with water from broken pipes. César Dezfuli had already documented the refugee crisis last year. This summer, he decided to return to Serbia to see how the situation had evolved. He was expecting it to have improved, but in fact it was the opposite. Hope is beginning to fade.

"Things are stagnant," he says. "There are more and more barriers, more police, more security checkpoints. The refugees rely on traffickers. Every day, about 30 people manage to reach Hungary legally. The others try to do it illegally, to avoid being caught by the police. What little hope they have left pushes them to try and cross the border by any means."

A group of refugees queuing to collect food in the daily distribution organised by an NGO in the city of Subotica, northern Serbia. Refugees from the asylum seeker centre in Krnjaca, on the outskirts of Belgrade, perform their daily prayers at a nearby mosque, built 10 years ago by a resident of the area. Two Afghan children ask volunteers for food near the Subotica bus station. Refugees cooking their own food on a fire, using scraps of wood they find in the abandoned factory where they sleep, in central Belgrade. --