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Serbia + 5 more

UNHCR Serbia Update, 13 - 19 November 2017

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HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS

  • On 19 November, 4,240 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia, of which 3,865 were housed in 18 governmental centres.

  • Together with the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (SCRM), we updated the Assessment of Government Centres, which, on http://www.unhcr.rs/CentreProfiling/overview.php, is now also available as interactive app. With close to 30,000 hits, it remains one of the most popular information tool of UNHCR.

  • UNHCR and partners assisted 157 new arrivals. Several profiling exercises continue to document three main groups: (a) Yasidi or Kurdish refugee families, who left Iraq between 1 and 8 weeks ago to reach Serbia through Turkey and Bulgaria. Most plan to depart to Romania/Germany; (b) men and boys from Afghanistan, Pakistan or other countries, who reach Serbia through fYRoM and Greece, have left their CoO many months ago and aim to reach various countries in West/South Europe irregularly through Croatia or Hungary; and (c) families who left Iran a few days ago to reach Belgrade regularly by air and then try to proceed irregularly to various destinations through Hungary or Croatia.

  • UNHCR and partners also received a high number of reports of collective expulsions: 110 from Romania (compared to 94 last week), 91 from Croatia (as compared to 83 last week), and 59 from Hungary (104 last week).

  • Upon request of the SCRM, UNHCR completed the comprehensive distribution of winter NFIs for adults. Over 1,470 tracksuits, 1,480 winter jackets, 3,000 T-shirts, 5,890 pairs of socks, 5,400 pieces of underwear, 680 pairs of footwear and 1,470 winters sets containing shawl/cap/gloves at the total value of 86,000 USD were distributed in 15 government accommodation centres. During 23-29 October, UNHCR had already distributed winter NFI at the value of 18,700 USD to all children aged 13-18.

  • 01-19 November, 343 individuals registered intention to seek asylum in Serbia.