Serbian lawyer Nikola Kovacevic wins UNHCR's Nansen Refugee Award in Europe

The 32-year-old Serbian human rights lawyer, Nikola Kovacevic, received a renowned award for Europe from the United Nations refugee agency on Thursday for assisting scores of people fleeing their homes, including those being transferred back and forth across regional boundaries. Kovacevic is the first Serbian and Balkan winner of the UNHCR's regional Nansen Refugee Award.

He stated, "If we lose the fight for the legacy of the refugee convention, which was designed for us — Europeans — in the second World War, what’s going to happen next? Because, you know, there is this old saying: ’Everybody can come in a situation to become a refugee."

He noted that closed borders and the practice of mass expulsions, both in the Balkans and across Europe, have eroded the existing levels of protection established for migrants. People attempting to flee their homelands are frequently sent back to their home countries without even trying to see what will happen to them. He further said that dozens and dozens of Afghanis are trapped between Poland and Belarus. Thousands of migrants make perilous trips every day, particularly those attempting to exit Libya across the Mediterranean Sea, only to encounter repeated denials from authorities. During such expulsions from one country to another, some of Kovacevic's customers have sustained catastrophic injuries.

Over the years, Kovacevic has handled a variety of cases, including the extradition of a Kurdish activist to Turkey and almost one-third of all approved protection requests in Serbia. He vividly recalls his first visit to an asylum centre in Serbia in 2012, as well as the Iranian family he met there. Last year, Kovacevic won a case for refugees before Serbia's Constitutional Court, which found that Serbian police had wrongfully deported a group of Afghans to Bulgaria, including nine children, and ordered the government to compensate each of them. 

The UNHCR stated Kovacevic had demonstrated extraordinary dedication and contributed to improved asylum procedures in Serbia when announcing the prize this year. He has assisted his customers in finding housing, employment, education and medical care. UNHCR stated, "his determination instigated their hope for a better life."

(Inputs from AP News)

Image: AP