After Geneva, Belgrade and Sombor the photo exhibition “Life-saving healthcare for people on the move in the Balkans” was opened on Tuesday, 4 February in Subotica at the Open University Gallery, with participation of the representatives of municipal administration, institutions, citizens, as well as the volunteers of the Red Cross of Subotica and neighbouring municipalities.

At the opening ceremony the attendees were addressed by Ilija Djukanovic, member of the Town Council responsible for social protection and healthcare, and Livija Despenic, the president of the Red Cross of Subotica assembly. The opening ceremony was performed by Bosko Mitrasinovic, Secretary of the Vojvodina Red Cross and the programme of the ceremony was lead by Natasa Todorovic, Programme Manager in the Red Cross of Serbia.

Since the beginning of the migrant crisis, the Red Cross of Subotica was especially active with its staff and volunteers tirelessly working to support and assist persons on the move, seeing to preserve the dignity of every migrant that passed through the migrant centre in Subotica.

People would be happy if they were allowed to choose their gender, their parents and their country of birth. But none of us could choose that and therefore each one of us could at some moment of their lives be one of the persons on these photos – said Natasa Todorovic, the Red Cross of Serbia associate. – These photographs show only tiny parts of the lives of persons who have their own names, fears, hopes and future. We are here to give them dignity and help them cope with possibly the toughest time of their lives while they move from war zones or economically depressed areas in search of the better future. Subotica has always been a city that helped everyone preserve their dignity so its citizens should be proud of this.

The photos were taken in migrant centres in Serbia (Subotica and Sombor), Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia in July and August 2019 thanks to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the photographer Victor Lacken who documented the challenges faced by refugees and migrants as well as the work of the volunteers and staff of the Red Cross of Serbia and National Societies in the other two countries through which essential healthcare and psychosocial support are provided.