Refugee children wait to receive school bags and stationery, distributed by the UNHCR for the first day of the school year, outside the Elaionas accommodation site. ; Refugee children all across the country attended classes in public schools, for the first day of the school year. Around 3.7 million out of the 6 million school-age refugee children under the UNHCR mandate have no school to go to. Supporting the work of the Greek Ministry of Education, the UNHCR distributed school bags and stationery to secondary class students at the Elaionas accommodation site.
The UN Refugee Agency welcomes the promulgation by the Republic of Serbia of the Law on Asylum and Temporary Protection, the Law on Foreigners and the Law on Border Control, all of which are important for regularizing the status of foreigners, including asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants in the country. All three laws took effect yesterday, 2 April, after their adoption by Parliament on 22 March and their publication in the Official Gazette no. 24 on 26 March.
The Republic of Serbia currently hosts some 4,000 asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants from outside the region, most accommodated in 18 Government managed centres. Since many of them have been in the country for prolonged period, the new legislative changes come at the right time to determine their legal status, address their needs, including appropriate solutions.
UNHCR is pleased to note many improvements in the new Law on Asylum and Temporary Protection, such as the introduction of provisions aimed at ensuring gender-sensitive asylum procedures, as well as the inclusion of gender, gender identity and gender-based violence in the refugee definition. UNHCR also welcomes improvements in provisions related to asylum-seeking children, particularly the inclusion of relevant definitions of unaccompanied and separated children as well as various other improvements of the procedure. UNHCR commends the reference in Article 3 of the Law to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which has been ratified by Serbia and represents an integral part of the national legal system.
The UN Refugee Agency is grateful to the authorities of the Republic of Serbia for the opportunity to provide expert advice in drafting of the Law on Asylum and Temporary Protection and looks forward to continuing close cooperation and strong support to its implementation.
UNHCR opened its office in Belgrade in 1976. Since 1992, the UN Refugee Agency has assisted Serbia’s protection and integration of refugees, other displaced and stateless people with over 535 million Euros. The total value of UNHCR assistance to the Republic of Serbia since the refugee crisis of 2015 exceeds 35 million Euros.
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