UNHCR Serbia Update, 23 - 26 February 2017

HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS

• Over 7,700 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia. 85% (6,614) of them were sheltered in 17 heated government facilities (below chart refers). The rest were staying rough in Belgrade city centre or the North.

• Hungarian authorities admitted 19 asylum seekers into procedures at the Hungarian “transit zones” near Kelebija and Horgos border crossings. During the same period, some 150 asylum-seekers reported to UNHCR and partners to have been denied access to asylum procedures in Hungary but instead collectively expelled back into Serbia, with some alleging serious maltreatment by Hungarian authorities.

• UNHCR with its partners supported attendance of five unaccompanied and separated boys from Afghanistan, accommodated in the Vasa Stajic home for children, together with 11 IDP children, to attend a week long International Winter Camp for children, organized by a Serbian sports association, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, at a ski resort in Kopaonik.

• Between 01 and 26 February, 485 intentions to seek asylum in Serbia were registered