In South-Eastern Europe, the Austrian organisation ‘SOS Balkanroute’ looks after people seeking protection along the EU’s external borders. Br. Emanuel Huemer SVD supports the organization and accompanied aid missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina. ‘I could see with my own eyes how important the donations in kind are for the refugees – and how these items and the encounters with the dedicated helpers restore their faith, human dignity and hope,’ says Br. Emanuel Huemer.

The film screening was followed by a panel discussion in which Br. Emanuel Huemer was joined by Anton Deutschmann, managing director of steyl medien, Petar Rosandic from SOS Balkanroute and Roswitha Feige from the Pfarrnetzwerk Asyl (Parish Network for Asylum). The panellists criticised isolationist policies and systematic human rights violations and drew attention to the unnoticed suffering of refugees.

Steyler missionary Emanuel Huemer knows the situation in Mexico and the Balkans from his own experience and sees parallels in the isolationist policies of the USA and the EU. He reported on systematic human rights violations and de facto ‘lawless areas’ in Mexico as well as at the EU’s external borders, where those seeking protection are exposed to violence, pushbacks and disenfranchisement.

Anton Deutschmann, producer and managing director of steyl medien, emphasised the advantages of church structures in helping refugees: ‘Religious orders always have the advantage of relatively short bureaucratic channels and assistance options, and almost all of them are active worldwide in some way.’ This gives religious orders ‘a direct line to people who are actually on the ground and know what is really happening there.’ For steyl medien, it was important in the film ‘Menschen auf der Flucht’ (People on the Run) to portray the issue of migration ‘not with numbers, but with faces.’

When asked how volunteers cope with the dramatic situation and the fates of the refugees, Pero Rosandic, Roswitha Feige and Br. Emanuel Huemer emphasised that it is important to stand up together against injustice, to strengthen each other and to take action. ‘It’s nice to see that women religious are working alongside people who are committed to communism in sorting donations,’ said Rosandic. It also helps to keep reminding ourselves of successful cases of assistance. ‘We can be angels for refugees – every little gesture is welcome,’ explained Roswitha Feige. All participants in the discussion agreed that it is necessary to build a strong network of solidarity.

Link to the film below: