STATISTICS AND HIGHLIGHTS
The total occupancy in the government facilities fell to 195, including 51 refugees/migrants remaining in the two transit sites in the West and 66 in the Presevo Reception Centre.
Some 330 asylum-seekers waited and 62 accessed Hungarian “transit zones”. Concerns about asylum-seekers lack of access to sanitary facilities was heightened with the announcement of new restrictions to humanitarian access.
UNHCR and partners learned of 31 irregular arrivals: 23 from fYR Macedonia and eight from Bulgaria.
5 persons expressed intent to seek asylum, bringing the total in April 2016 to 401 and for the whole of 2016 to 2,342 (statistics courtesy of the Ministry of Interior).
SOUTH
The Reception Centre (RC) in Presevo hosted 66 refugees. The UNHCR-supported Public Health and the Natan/Humedica clinic treated 27 patients. The UNICEF/DRC/CSW child friendly space/mother and baby corner hosted five children and two women.
BELGRADE
UNHCR and partners assisted some 200 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants. Most were from Afghanistan and Pakistan and a few from Syria. The Asylum Info Centre facilitated various referrals including access asylum procedures in Serbia. UNHCR/DRC doctors offered medical treatment to 19 patients while MSF and Refugee Aid Miksaliste also assisted them.
In a positive development, to reduce the need for refugees and migrants to camp in the open, the SCRM will again accept foreigners with or without referral letters to be accommodated in the Krnjaca Asylum Centre (AC) and is planning to reinstate the free-of-charge bus-shuttle of last year between the city centre and the AC. Possibly already as a result from these positive developments, the number of refugees/migrants observed at night in parks near the bus and train stations dropped to below 80.
WEST
51 refugees remain hosted in the Refugees Aid Points (RAPs) in the West: 22 in Adasevci and 29 in Sid where many played football in the courtyard. CRS/Divac Foundation continued to provide hot lunches and OM hot tea. The BCM/Sid Health Centre at Adasevci treated two refugees and WAHA ten in Sid.
NORTH
Approximately 330 asylum seekers, including 17 unaccompanied and separated children, waited outside the two “transit zones” in Kelebija and Horgos I border-crossings or near Subotica. They had arrived from Sid and Presevo but many were also recent irregular arrivals to Serbia. They stayed in improvised tents, with lack of access to sanitary facilities. Some 30 asylum seekers were admitted into each “transit zone”.
UNHCR/HCIT distributed food, 516 water bottles and 200 WFP HEBs, 15 UNHCR blankets, 100 hygiene packs, 60 flashlights and 300 plastic bags. Food and non-food aid for children, including UNIQLO clothes, was donated by UNICEF through partners. MSF offered medical assistance at both sites.
In a surprise development the Ministry of Interior informed UNHCR and its long-standing NGO partner HCIT that, as of 22 April, it will disallow HCIT from accessing the border close to the “transit zones”. As no positive response to UNHCR’s subsequent interventions was received from the Government, UNHCR, with the support of UNICEF, set up emergency teams to temporarily assume distribution of food, water and other life-saving aid themselves until unhindered humanitarian access is restored.