September 30, 2024 – In September, the highest number of testimonies related to the detention of refugees in police stations in northern Serbia since the beginning of 2024 was recorded. This practice is solely due to the lack of adequate accommodation for refugees in northern Serbia, as all refugee reception camps in Vojvodina were closed by the decision of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (with the exception of the camp in Principovac, located at the border crossing with Croatia, which only accepts a minimal number of people in rare situations and with prior authorization).

Due to the ongoing practice of pushbacks—people being physically pushed back from Hungary into Serbia—Serbian border area officials face difficulties in accommodating the same individuals upon their return to Serbia, as they lack the means to provide adequate shelter during the procedures. In this sense, the police, misdemeanor courts, and social welfare institutions are unable to place returned refugees in suitable accommodation while carrying out their duties. Refugees report being held in small spaces within police stations in Subotica, Kanjiža, and Kikinda for 24 to 72 hours without access to adequate shelter, hygiene, food, water, information, or legal assistance. Additionally, refugees describe being held in cramped and inadequate spaces alongside women, children, and adult men, often in large groups of 30 to 50 people.

Detention is also conducted to complete procedures before misdemeanor courts, where refugees are brought due to illegal border crossings and illegal residence in Serbia, which has become a routine and mandatory practice upon their return by Hungarian authorities to Serbia. According to testimonies, individuals are returned to Serbia either across the green border through the Hungarian fence or by direct handover across border crossings outside the formal readmission process. Upon being issued misdemeanor judgments, refugees also receive orders to terminate their stay and are transported by police vehicles to southern Serbia. Families are relocated to the reception camp in Bujanovac, while others are placed in the reception camp in Preševo.

Illustratively, in testimonies provided to the APC officers on September 11, 2024, a mother T.D. and father M.D. from Turkey, together with their three minor children, including a 7-month-old baby, reported being detained for 24 hours in a small room at the police station in Subotica. The conditions were described as prison-like, with bars on the windows and insufficient chairs or beds, before they were transferred  to the reception camp in Bujanovac.

In testimonies from September 5, 2024, another individual F.A. (38) with two minor sons, also from Turkey, stated that after being apprehended in Hungary, Hungarian police handed them over to Serbian police at the border, who detained them for approximately five hours at the police station in Kikinda before transferring them to Bujanovac. They noted that they were not provided with water or food during their detention at the Kikinda police station, receiving provisions only upon arrival at the Bujanovac reception camp.

Another person, N.M. (37), from Turkey, testified in September 2024 about being detained at the police station in Kanjiža along with 30 other people, including families, children, and pregnant women. They had attempted to cross the Serbian-Hungarian border and were subsequently apprehended by Hungarian police and handed over to Serbian authorities. At the Kanjiža police station, these individuals were detained for 24 hours without food or water before being transferred to reception centers managed by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration in southern Serbia.