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Serbia + 9 more

UNHCR Serbia Update, 8 - 14 May 2017

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HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS

  • 7,020 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia on 14 May. During the week UNHCR and partners met and assisted only 30 new arrivals. For the first time this year, these did not include a single unaccompanied or separated child (UASC).

  • With the support of UNHCR partners and other NGOs, the Serbian Commissioner for Refugees and Migration (SCRM) voluntarily relocated over 830 refugees and migrant men and boys (inclusive of at least 163 UASC) from Belgrade city centre to governmental shelters. As a result the overall percentage of those accommodated in governmental shelters grew to 95%.

  • The SCRM also transferred some 130 single men from Transit Centre (TC) Sid to Principovac and Adasevci TCs. Occupancy of TC Sid was thus reduced to 200 (compared to over 500 in April) and its two rub-halls could finally be closed. Long-resident refugee/migrant families in Adasevci TC, however, raised concerns about a renewed overcrowding and security concerns due to many single migrant men having been transferred into its rub-halls from TC Sid and Belgrade city centre.

  • The number of UASC accommodated in governmental shelters increased to 1,027, comprising 16% of the total number of refugees/migrants/asylum-seekers in governmental shelters. Most UASC are accommodated in Obrenovac TC (374), Krnjaca AC (192), Sjenica AC (86) or Presevo RC (64).

  • UNHCR received reports of 64 collective expulsions from Croatia, with some testifying to disproportionate use of force, 28 from Hungary, and three from Romania.

  • 01-14 May, 233 individuals registered intention to seek asylum in Serbia. The Asylum Office still did not recognize any refugee or subsidiary status since the beginning of this year (during the first four months of last year it had recognized 16) but issued one negative decision.

  • UNHCR HQ published a report Missing Out: Refugee Education in Crisis, on problems in accessing schooling amongst the world’s six million refugee children, relevant also in the context of the current situation in Serbia.**