In cooperation with the authorities and non-governmental organizations, UNHCR supports asylum-seekers in the asylum and reception centres through various legal, social and psycho-social assistance projects. UNHCR continues to advocate for alignment of reception conditions with national and international standards with special focus on the accommodation conditions and services for socially vulnerable groups (unaccompanied children, the elderly, victims of violence, etc.).
Since 2015, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia as the statutory authority in charge of accommodation and running of the reception facilities increased the capacities in its 19 centres from 500 to about 6,000 with the assistance of the Government, the non-governmental sector and the international community. Five asylum centres and 14 reception/transit centres are located across the territory of the Republic of Serbia.
In 2024, Commissariat put on hold the majority of its reception centres, operating for the entire year and presently with only 7 of them, the majority asylum centres.
In coordination with its local partners, UNHCR monitors reception conditions and seeks to align them with the applicable national, international and UN standards, taking due consideration of the EUAA standards for reception conditions.
To enhance its role and increase its presence value, UNHCR conducts joint asylum counselling sessions with the Commissariat for Refugees and Migrations as well as other actors operating these centres
Moreover, UNHCR supports with the dissemination of information on rights and available services or asylum seekers and refugees in the country as well as facilitation of cultural mediation. Safe identification and management of vulnerable cases is done in collaboration with all actors involved in the Commissariat centres.
The Joint Report “Site Profiles/ Centre traffic lights” on Reception Conditions – a multidisciplinary assessment, easily accessible and comprehensive – is published quarterly on the websites of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and the UNHCR data portal.
UNHCR continues to support several line ministries i.e the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue to respond comprehensively to the needs of asylum-seeking and refugee children and adults. The UN Refugee Agency assists also in the improvement of the two residential facilities designated for the accommodation of unaccompanied and separated children as well as the SCRM reception centre for children, in Principovac.