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Serbia + 7 more

UNHCR Serbia Update, 21 - 27 August 2017

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HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS

  • 4,263 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia on 27 August. 3,938 were housed in 18 governmental centres (below chart refers), of which some 400 in temporary emergency shelters (i.e. rub halls or tents) in Transit Centres near the borders to Croatia or Hungary.

  • A working group, comprising the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MoESTD), Regional School Administrations and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (SCRM) – supported i.a. by UNICEF and UNHCR – continued preparations for enrolling refugee and migrant children into around 100 elementary and secondary public schools. In the meantime, NGOs continued informal educational activities to prepare children for formal education.

  • Upon request of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, UNHCR and partners resumed comprehensive distribution of Non Food Relief Items - mainly funded by ECHO and Zara - in all 18 government centres. On 24 August, a first distribution of over 650 pairs of footwear, some 2,200 pieces of clothes, 1,200 underwear and 1,020 hygiene kits took place at Krnjaca Asylum Centre (AC).

  • UNHCR Serbia and partners encountered more new arrivals (74 this week as compared to 46 last week).
    Mostly men from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, including three boys, 65% claimed to have entered Serbia from Bulgaria and 32% from fYRoM. We also collected testimonies of 118 collective pushbacks from Hungary, and 73 from Croatia, with many alleging to have been denied access to asylum procedures.

  • UNHCR Geneva issued a Press Release following the publishing of its report Desperate Journeys- January to June 2017.

  • 01-27 August, 240 individuals registered intent to seek asylum in Serbia