Health and Hygiene to the Fore in Montenegro

Ahmad* comes from the city of Hasaka in Syria. iN 2014, When he was just 14, his family, fearing he would be conscripted into a militia, sent him off alone to Turkey.

He was in Istanbul until 2019, where he worked in a bakery and as a tailor. That period of his life was not easy: "They didn't pay me for night shifts, they said that if I wanted to keep my job, I had to work nights as well", he recalls. In September 2019, his family sent him money to continue the journey. He travelled to Greece, walked for over ten days and finally came to Athens, where he rented an apartment for 100 euros a month.

It was while he was in Athens, that the first wave of THE COVID-19 pandemic hit the world. "My biggest problem was the curfew because I could not leave the apartment". When the measures eased, he decided to continue his journey. He was turned back twice at the border with Albania, but the third time he managed to reach Serbia via Albania and Kosovo**.

One of his main problems was simply keeping clean on the road: he walked on difficult terrain for days without a break and often had to sleep rough in the woods. The pandemic made him anxious about preserving his health in such difficult conditions.  The journey was long and fraught. He was turned back at various EU borders and claims he was violently beaten by police.

Finally, he heard from some friends about a new camp in Božaj, Montenegro, which offered good living conditions, so he made his way there. 

"I feel safe here and I don’t feel the anxiety that I used to feel before. All measures are respected here, officials wear masks, the camp is cleaned and disinfected every day, which gives me a sense of comfort and safeness that I will be able to preserve my health", he says. He has decided to seek asylum in Montenegro.

Bozaj Reception Centre was originally established in 2019 with the support of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Montenegro. During their stay in Bozaj, migrants have their temperature measured twice a day by a nurse, and a doctor is available every day.

Migrants receive masks, gloves, hand disinfectant gel, soap, shower gel, shampoo, shaving foam, toothbrush, toothpaste, and clean clothes. Meals and drinking water are distributed. Although at the time of writing, Montenegro was fourth in the world for COVID-19 infection rate per capita, measures put in place to prevent the spread of the virus among the migrant population have proved effective and no cases of COVID-19 has been recorded among migrants to date.

*Name changed 

** References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).