HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS
Some 6,300 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, encountered by UNHCR and partners remain in Serbia. Of those, some 75% (or 4,753) were accommodated in governmental facilities, with 1,741 in five Asylum Centres and 3,012 in “Transit” or Reception Centres. The others were counted at the border with Hungary and around 1,000 sleeping rough at night in Belgrade City centre.
On 14 October, Minister of Labour, Employment, Social and Veteran Affairs, Mr. Vulin with representatives of Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (SCRM), officially inaugurated the new Reception Centre in Bujanovac in the South, constructed with the EU/ECHO funds. UNHCR is advocating that the new centre, with capacity of some 250, be devoted to accommodate families with children, single women and unaccompanied children.
In rainy and cold weather, UNHCR partner agencies distributed some 400 UNHCR blankets, 180 winter jackets, 262 raincoats and other items of footwear and clothing to refugees in Belgrade, the North and West of Serbia, during the reporting period.
Of the group of some 230 men and boys who had been transferred from Subotica Transit Centre to the south on 12 October, 121 arrived at the Presevo Reception Centre. UNHCR received information indicating that the rest, around 110 individuals mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, were taken to the border and unlawfully expelled to fYR Macedonia. UNHCR is following up with the Ministry of Interior. 80 persons expressed their intention to seek asylum in Serbia over the reporting period, bringing the total for October to 601 and the whole year to 9,674.
