HIGHLIGHTS AND STATISTICS
4,230 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia on 03 September. 3,915 were housed in 18 governmental centres (for more details, please see the Joint Assessment of Government Centres), including over 300 still in temporary emergency shelters (i.e. rub halls or tents) in Transit Centres near the borders to Croatia or Hungary.
According to available information, 43 % are children, 14% adult women and 43% adult men. 82% came from so called refugee producing countries (66% Afghanistan, 11% Iraq and 5% Syria), 9% from Pakistan and 10% from other countries.
On 1 September, refugees and migrants in all locations celebrated Eid. With the new school year commencing on the same day, some refugee/migrant children started attending public primary and secondary schools around the country, while for others preparations for enrollment are still ongoing.
UNHCR Serbia and partners continued comprehensive distribution of Non Food Relief Items (NFI) - mainly funded by ECHO and Zara – to cover needs in all 18 government centres. During this week, over 1,300 blankets, 1,900 hygiene kits, 1,400 bedsheets and some 5,000 pieces of clothing, underwear and footwear items and other NFI were delivered to all five Asylum Centres as well as the Transit Centre of Principovac.
UNHCR Serbia and partners continued encountering more new arrivals (108 this week as compared to 74 last week). Most were men from Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, including 14 boys. For the first time in over a year more reported to be arriving from fYR Macedonia than from Bulgaria. The below chart shows encountered new arrivals since the start of the year.
UNHCR Serbia and partners also collected testimonies of 93 collective pushbacks from Hungary, and 89 from Croatia, with many alleging to have been denied due access to asylum procedures there.
On 31 August 2017, UNHCR Geneva issued the following Statement: Nearly two years after the lifeless body of three-year-old Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi was found on a Turkish beach, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, urges the international community to take robust action to prevent more tragedies. Although the number of arrivals in Europe has drastically decreased since Alan’s death, people continue to attempt the journey and many have lost their lives in the process. Since 2 September 2015, at least 8,500 refugees and migrants have died or gone missing trying to cross the Mediterranean alone. Many others have died in the desert. Many of the children trying to reach Europe travel on their own, making the journey even more terrifying and perilous. This was the case for 92 percent of the 13,700 children who arrived to Italy by sea in the first seven months of 2017. The urgent need for solutions for these children and others on the move remains – if people see no hope and live in fear, then they will continue to gamble their lives making desperate journeys. UNHCR is encouraged by the commitments made at the Paris meeting on migration and asylum on Monday that address some of these issues, but much more needs to be done to protect and save lives. Political leaders need to work together to develop safer alternatives, to better inform those considering making the journey of the dangers they face, and most importantly to tackle the root causes of these movements, by resolving conflicts and creating real opportunities in countries of origin.