EU Policy Behind Unorganized Macedonia Effort to Counter Refugee Crisis

Thousands of refugees have entered Macedonia, hoping to transit to other European countries.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Macedonia's unorganized attempts to cope with an increasing number of refugees is a direct result of EU policy, the director of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia told Sputnik on Tuesday.

"From the one side, I am criticizing the Macedonian state, because they did not show serious interest to help the migrants, to give them the necessary protection, and it was obvious that the state was not organized in its try… But it is a product and result of EU politics. On the other side, we cannot undermine the obligations that the states have when they have migrants on their soil," Uranija Pirovska said.

Refugees on the border of Greece and Macedonia have given their children to members of human rights organizations, asking for them to be saved from returning to their countries, Pirovska said.

"In many cases the migrants were letting their children out from this fence to come with us in order that we save them. For two hours I was keeping several children who were asking to let their parents from the buffer zone."

Pirovska confirmed that police officers "were not able to control the situation and in many situations they used force, shock bombs."

Last Thursday the Macedonian government declared a state of emergency along the country's southern and northern borders as refugees arriving to the country from Greece attempted to transit into Serbia and further attempt to claim asylum in wealthier European countries.

"This is the desired politics of the EU, we suspect that everything that was going on has to do with the directions the EU was giving to the state – Macedonia, Serbian or Greek. They wanted that there is a limited number of people who are going to pass, they did not want a big number of people to transit the border at the same moment. It is very cruel having in mind the conditions in the buffer zone."

Pirovska explained that police behavior and the weather made conditions for the people contained within the buffer zone "really difficult."

She pointed out that he Macedonian state and their police lost control of the situation, using various forms of force, including shock bombs, in their interactions with refugee families.

The current situation with refugees seeking to enter the European Union through Macedonia is under control, Pirovska said.

"For the moment the situation is under control. Now the attitude and the behavior of the police is very different. There are no migrants waiting in the buffer zone. At the moment everything is very quiet, nothin is going on," she noted.