Serbia: Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support

Situation Assessment

On March 8th, 2016,  it was declared that the Zagreb declaration would no longer apply. Schengen code no longer applies. Trains from Preševo to Šid commuting through Serbia also stopped. ​
 

• 850 people are currently stuck in Sid, Serbia
• 500 in the Grey House near the Šid train station
• 300 in Adasevci Hotel 
• 682 in Preševo, Serbia
• 302 in four different Asylum Centers
• 9 in Centers for Minors

2,000 persons, that we are aware of, are currently in Serbia, and up to 1,200 are in Belgrade at any given time. A meeting was held in Greece last week that warned us to be careful when talking about stranded populations. 

“Such terminology raises an expectation that refugees will be allowed to continue their onward journey”.  It is clear that the borders will remain closed. 

For some refugees, legal pathways can be pursued but for many others there are no options other than voluntary assisted return provided by the IOM. The strict border closures encourages the trade in people smuggling.  Idomeni camp is reportedly full of smugglers and people traffickers. In Serbia there continues to be a steady flow of people being smuggled into the country, which is rapidly increasing as refugees seek out alternative paths. 

As of March 28th, 2016, refugees have started entering Serbia once again after taking new paths via Albania and Montenegro.  The people coming through Serbia are those who mostly have very special concerns that must be dealt with on an individual basis.
 

Our work continues in quality but not in the previous quantity.

Women are avoiding communication and appear to be highly depressed. Last week there was a case of young Afghani men who walked from Idomeni camp to Belgrade to Šid (10 days trip).  This is the first example of people who have made it to Belgrade since the border closuresand more will follow. 

UNHCR is currently looking at re-deploying some resources to enhance and step up protection and border monitoring in the North and the East of Serbia. 

Integration support is desperately required and now is the time to build systems. 

We need to look at different solutions on how we can provide support to refugees wishing to stay in Serbia including the facilitation of public awareness campaigns.
 

The majority of NGOs working in Serbia (including Oxfam, Care and MSF) left for Greece the week of March 14^th – 20^th.  Together with the rapidly increasing migrant flow due to new routes this has opened up new opportunities in the humanitarian space for RMF.  Our original project design of a mobile medical outreach and protection unit fits the current gap and provides an urgent linkage between our beneficiaries and state service providers, particularly as no other medical services have access to a vehicle.  The RMF teams will act as mediators providing a link between the target group and their assessed needs, service providers and referral institutions.  This mediating service, involves linking but also advocacy, which is currently deficitary and critical for exercising the rights of extremely vulnerable individuals.
RMF provides a 24 hour service and hence, is the only doctor in the field after 4pm.

Project Achievements and Impacts

Challenges

• Most NGOs have taken their translators and interpreters to Greece leaving a depleted skilled and trained workforce to effectively address the refugee crisis in Serbia.  RMF currently has one Arabic and one Farsi translator; the other translators are being borrowed from the Asylum Info Center with whom we are collaborating closely with.
• Post-rape kits, including the distribution of PEP to prevent HIV infection after rape and emergency contraceptives are not available in Serbia.  It is hoped that if suitable donor money can be raised the medical outreach would switch its operations to a professionally converted mobile clinic (cost of the van is approximately 40,000 euros).
• A medical fund should be set up.

Opportunities

• The majority of international NGOs are pulling out of Serbia and relocating to Greece. This is leaving gaps in the current response within Serbia.