Refugee and migrant children are particularly vulnerable and are at risk of multiple discrimination, and the data presented today can be extremely useful for a more detailed understanding of the problem and the creation of more effective solutions, said the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality at the presentation of the report “Wherever we go, they do us harm”: Violence against refugee and migrant children traveling to Europe via the Balkan route. The report was created as a result of research by the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Sarajevo and a research team from the Faculty of Political Sciences under the leadership of Professor Nevenka Žegarac, in cooperation with the organization Save the Children.

The Commissioner pointed out that respecting and improving children’s rights is a fundamental guiding idea of every democratic society, but that in practice, a significant number of children are at risk of poverty, neglect, exclusion, and domestic violence. She mentioned that refugee children are in an extremely difficult situation and that we do not have a sufficiently detailed insight into all the violations of their rights and the various types of violence they are exposed to on their road to EU countries, but also in Serbia, which is why this report is invaluable.

Janković particularly emphasized the good cooperation of the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality with the Faculty of Political Sciences and other higher education institutions, as well as the importance of the research work of professors and students on the issues of combating discrimination and promoting equality.

FPS professor Nevenka Žegarac presented in detail the most important findings from the report, the concluding part of which contains recommendations for better treatment and protection of little migrants. The dean of FPS, Professor Dragan Simić, and the Program Director of Save the Children, Bogdan Krasić, also spoke at the opening.