HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS
The number of new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants in Serbia continued to stabilize. 7,364 were counted on 30 April. 5,985 (i.e. 81%) were accommodated in 18 governmental centres across the country, while the rest were counted squatting mainly in Belgrade City.
Based on all available information, 43% of those accommodated are children, 42% adult men, and 15% adult women; 57% originate from Afghanistan, 19% from Iraq, 13% from Pakistan, 6% from Syria and 5% from other counties.
Authorities started closing temporary emergency shelters in rub halls. Relocations from Sid Transit Centre (TC) began on 25 April and at least 180 single men and boys have been transferred so far, allowing for the closure of one of the two rub halls there. The other two centres that still use rub halls to accommodate refugees/migrants are Adasevci and Principovac TCs, also in the West.
During the week only six asylum seekers reported to have been collectively expelled from Hungary, being denied access to asylum procedures after entering Hungary irregularly, while 48 reported the same re Croatia.
On 28 April, authorities gathered 108 foreign nationals (107 male) who were planning to irregularly enter Croatia from Sid and its vicinity and transported them to the Reception Centre in Presevo, where they were duly received, registered, aided and accommodated, with the support of UNHCR. 88% were from Afghanistan, almost all Pashtu speaking, and only 12% from four other countries. 63% were unaccompanied or separated boys (UASC)! Below 2% reported to have been in Serbia for less than six months, below 5% for 6-7 months, 46% for 8-11 months, and over 47% for one year or longer already. Below 5% had requested asylum in Serbia, while many carried documents showing that at one time or another they had been accommodated in a governmental centre.
The number of asylum-seekers arriving irregularly in Romania, mainly through Serbia, rose from 327 in March to 613 during 1-28 April.
On 27 April, ten smuggling victims from Afghanistan and Pakistan, of whom four were already unconscious, were found in an abandoned vehicle in Nis. Most, including four UASC, had to be hospitalised in Nis, due to the crammed, suffocating conditions they had been transported in. One survivor remains hospitalized, as others were placed in government shelters.