News analysis: New legal changes make transit of migrants through Macedonia easier

Several hundred migrants mainly from conflict areas in the Middle East, Asia and Africa entered Macedonia on Friday using the new legal provisions that allow them 72 hours legal transit through the country.

During this period they can seek asylum or continue their journey to other country and in the meantime they are able to use public transport. The changes will officially be implemented starting from Monday, once they are published in the Official Gazette, but their transit through Macedonia is already easier.

Some of them bought their tickets and mounted the train to the northern neighboring country of Serbia. Almost no one considered the option of staying in Macedonia.

"I am trying to reach Germany. This will make my journey somewhat easier. I fled Syria, but I have no intention to stay here," a 32-year old migrant told Xinhua in Skopje catching the train to Belgrade.

Macedonian Parliament changed the Law on Asylum and Temporary Protection on Thursday allowing the migrants to have 72 hours legal status in the country during which they have to decide if they will continue their journey or they will seek asylum in Macedonia.

Before the changes, they were treated as 'illegal immigrants' and had to hide from the authorities while passing through Macedonia. If caught they risked deportation and their helpers faced criminal charges for human trafficking.

Almost 30 migrants lost their lives walking on the railway lines leading to the border with Serbia. Many were mugged, says the Interior Minister Mitko Chavkov. According to police statistics, between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran are trying to enter the country every day.

This has compelled the authorities to adopt the legal changes which had been passed with unanimous support in the Parliament.

"We are aware that Macedonia is not their primary goal. But it is our duty to help them. It is impossible to close off hermetically the borderline, especially the southern border with Greece. The cooperation between the border patrols is not on the sufficient level and needs to be improved. Also, Macedonia, due to its position, has been and still is on the main migrant routes leading to Western Europe," Chavkov said in the parliamentary debate.

But the new law will not drastically improve the situation of the migrants in Macedonia, says the representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Skopje. The conditions in the asylum centers are poor and contagious diseases are easily spread among the migrants.

"The new law will only allow safer transport for the migrants; the gangs will not be able to attack and mug them. It will only be easier for these people to transit, because Macedonia is not their final destination," Muhamed Arifi, representative of the UNHCR said in Skopje on Friday.

The human rights activist Suad Misini, who is on a hunger strike for six days in Skopje, protesting the plight of the migrants passing through Macedonia, demanding immediate release of the migrants from one of the asylum centers because of the poor conditions there.

"I expect that the police seriously investigate the cases of attack on the migrants, but also the cases of misuse of the authority by some police officers while dealing with the migrants," Misini told Xinhua in Skopje on Friday.

A total of 14 illegal immigrants were killed in a single major train accident that happened in April near the Macedonian town Veles.

The group of approximately 50 illegal immigrants were walking on foot on the rails trying to reach the capital Skopje and continue to neighboring Serbia, when an international train Gevgelija-Belgrade hit them, Macedonian police informed.

International organizations and countries mark June 20th as World Refugee Day. Endit