Project: Roma in Serbia: How safe they feel and do they see improvements?24Feb2014
Five Asylums Granted in Serbia in Six Years
In 2013, asylum in Serbia was granted in two cases, while 5,066 migrants and asylum-seekers stayed in the country. In six years, of 11,795 of them, five were granted asylum, Ombudsman Saša Janković stated at a conference about the asylum system and migrations in Serbia. He said that the 20 recommendations in the fields of migrations and asylum, which his office had prepared, should be implemented immediately, while the official of the Interior Ministry, Vladimir Božović, said that the recommendations should start to be implemented by the end of February. Božović announced that a new law on asylum-seekers will be brought by June.
Speaking at a news conference about "Challenges of the Republic of Serbia in the field of asylum and migrations", organized in February by the ombudsman, the Interior Ministry and the office of the UNHCR, Janković stated that the 20 recommendations in the field of migrations and asylum should be implemented immediately because human rights issues cannot be solved by improvisation.
The majority of those which the public refers to as "asylum-seekers" are illegal migrants who do not want asylum, but to reach Western Europe via Serbia, Janković said. In his words, illegal migrants travel for almost one year, from Africa, via South and East Europe, to reach the West, without being registered.
All countries avoid registering migrants and doing everything that regulations prescribe because the first country that does so becomes the place where migrants are returned to if they do not receive asylum where they seek it, said the ombudsman.
In Janković's words, it is very important to establish the identity of migrants, to know if they are victims or, perhaps, criminals.
The state secretary of the Interior Ministry, Vladimir Božović, said that he expects the ombudsman's recommendations to come into effect by the end of February, and that the law on asylum-seekers, which will separate asylum-seekers from irregular migrants in transit, will be brought by June.
Božović stated that political will exists in Serbia for the solving of the issue of asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, but that this is not possible without cooperation of countries of the region and of the international community.
He said that in asylum seeker centers there are currently 513 foreign nationals.
Source: EurActiv.rs/Beta