Highlights
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 were children, 42% adult men, and 15% adult women; 57% originated from Afghanistan, 19% from Iraq, 13% from Pakistan, 6% from Syria and 5% from other counties.
The newly opened Transit Centre in Kikinda in the North welcomed its first asylum-seekers on 5 April.
On 27 April, ten smuggling victims from Afghanistan and Pakistan, of whom four were already unconscious, were found in an abandoned vehicle in Niš.
Most, including four UASC, had to be hospitalised in Nis, due to the crammed, suffocating conditions they had been transported in. One survivor remained hospitalized, as others were placed in government shelters.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 Preševo, 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.