4 - State, Religion and Refugees in Serbia: Responses of Faith-Based Organisations, 1991-1996

Summary

Abstract

The forced displacement of people was one of the most significant social consequences of the wars (1991-1995) which followed the dissolution of communist Yugoslavia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and particularly Serbia, has been widely affected by this process. Studies show that over 650,000 people (mostly from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) were forcibly displaced to Serbia. This chapter explores how the state and different religious communities responded to the forced displacement of populations in Serbia (1991-1996). It focuses on the responses of the state, through the work of the Commissariat for Refugees, as well as case studies of three faith-based humanitarian organisations, namely Philanthropy, Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), and Bread of Life. The research methods used for the purposes of this chapter include content analysis and a series of semi-structured interviews. The chapter concludes that the Serbian state failed to recognise the potential of faithhumanitarian organisations, even though these organisations were key actors in helping the population in need.

Keywords: refugees, religious communities, displacement, faithhumanitarian organisations, Serbia

Introduction

In December 2015, the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade hosted a public debate on religious tolerance in Serbia. It gathered highly ranked representatives of four important religious communities in Serbia, namely the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Islamic community of Serbia and the Jewish community. As the debate was organised at a time when Serbia was experiencing the consequences of a wave of refugees and forcibly displaced people from the Middle East who were using the Balkan route to reach their final destinations within Western Europe (Stojić Mitrović and Đurić Milovanović 2019a, 2019b), this issue was raised in the Q&A session. In particular, one attendee wondered what exactly the country's main religious communities were doing to help the refugees during their time on Serbian territory. The responses of the religious officials were almost the same: we did our best, but that was obviously not enough. They also shared something very interesting, claiming that in order for religious communities to use their full potential in supporting the population in need, they should work together with the state. Close examination of the response of Serbian religious communities to the mass population movements of the early 1990s reveals some striking similarities with responses to the refugee crisis in more recent times.