Conditions in reception facilities

Author

Nikola Kovačević

Overcrowding, lack of privacy and poor hygiene have been just some of the reported issues in the previous years. These deficiencies were already highlighted in the 2017 report of the Council of Europe Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees who emphasised that standards of accommodation in both Asylum and Reception Centres could potentially raise issues under Article 3 ECHR.^[1] However, and due to the significant reduction in arrivals, the reception facilities which were operational in 2025 were not overcrowded. Still, the dilapidated and worn-out state of most of the facilities, accompanied with poor hygiene, remained a problem.[2]

Conditions in asylum centres[3]

Asylum Centre in Sjenica

AC Sjenica was set up as a temporary centre in the former Hotel Berlin, in the town of Sjenica, to accommodate an increased number of asylum-seekers in Serbia in August 2013. In March 2017, the former textile factory Vesna was added to the Asylum Centre. The old Hotel Berlin, with inadequate conditions and collective dormitories in the hall, was closed in July 2018. The centre in Sjenica is now located only in the former factory Vesna, downtown Sjenica. Its reception capacity is of 440 persons, accommodated in 27 rooms. It is approximately 250 km away from Belgrade and the underdeveloped road infrastructure poses particular difficulties for the NGOs and the Asylum Office.

Within the AC, there is a children’s area, a TV room, and a playground in front of the building. Meals are provided to asylum seekers three times a day and are specially adjusted to their religious and health needs. There is also a designated room for the social workers from the local SWC.

Mandatory examinations on admission into the AC for assessment of health status or identification of potential contagious diseases are conducted at the local Health Centre. A doctor is present in the AC from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on workdays. The asylum-seekers in need of specialised examinations and stationary treatment are transported to the hospitals in Novi Pazar or Užice.

In 2020, AC Sjenica was mainly used to accommodate UASCs but was mostly empty in 2021, with the exception of between 10 and 20 beneficiaries who required medical attention. In 2022, AC Sjenica hosted less than 80 residents on average and the turnover was high. The living conditions could be described as inadequate in the old part of the factory, while significant improvements were made during 2019 when the entrance, kitchen and a certain number of bedrooms were refurbished. The new part of the building provides more privacy and plenty of accommodation space. The children who used to be accommodated at the AC are satisfied with the organised activities. Between January and August 2023, AC Sjenica hosted between 40 and 200 residents on average. Since July 2024, AC Sjenica has been designated as the main facility for accommodation of single male adult asylum seekers. It accommodated around 60 persons on average in 2025

Asylum Centre in Vranje

In May 2017, the Reception Centre in Vranje (220 places) opened, in a motel at the entrance of the town. The conditions in Vranje may be described as very positive bearing in mind their provisional nature, but the realistic capacities that would guarantee human dignity and a longer stay are several dozen less. In June 2021, this facility became an asylum centre, accommodating Ukrainian families (28 persons in total) at the end of March 2022, and 40 persons in mid-April. The living conditions in the AC Vranje are of the highest standards and this facility was completely refurbished and equipped with new furniture for Ukrainian refugees. In January 2023, AC in Vranje accommodated 83 refugees from Ukraine, while this number at the end of the year was around 50. In 2023, the official capacity according also to the CRM data, was reduced to 150, which is more reasonable. However, in 2024, the official capacity was once again 220 even though no major refurbishments or extensions were performed. In 2025, official capacities were 156 and it accommodated around 60 persons per day on average.

Asylum Centre in Obrenovac

Another reception centre for the accommodation of a larger number of refugees and asylum seekers was opened in a military barracks in Obrenovac (1,000 places) in January 2017 – the capacities are assessed in relation to available beds. The capacity in 2020 and 2021 was estimated to be of 650 persons by the CRM. Still, this number was not realistic and it is clear that RC Obrenovac should not have hosted more than 400 persons at that time. The idea behind the opening of the centre was to provide accommodation for persons in need of international protection who used to stay in unhygienic and unsafe conditions in Belgrade. However, at the outset of its functioning, it started to suffer from overcrowding, which led to a number of violent incidents among its population. The presence of organised criminal groups involved in smuggling is evident

In June 2021, this facility was turned into an Asylum Centre but no official activities of the Asylum Office were reported in 2022 and 2023. However, at the end 2021, detailed reconstruction of the facility started and in the last quarter of 2022, the capacities of this AC had extended to 1,000 beds officially. As previously mentioned, the capacity of the centres should be lower, but newly refurbished areas are clean, provide privacy and smaller rooms, in combination with old bigger dormitories with 10 to 15 beds. The conditions in most of the areas in the AC are satisfactory. In 2023, AC Obrenovac hosted between 340 and 950 residents, while that number in 2025 was around 60. This fact clearly indicates that CRM’s policy to refer people to AC Sjenica cannot be justified and that it further undermines the effectives of the Serbian asylum system. AC Obrenovac had sufficient capacity to host all persons who genuinely wanted to apply for asylum and who could have had their asylum interviews facilitated in a more timely manner due to the vicinity of this facility to the headquarters of the Asylum Office.

The number of foreigners accommodated in asylum centres and reception centres on 31 December 2025 were the following:

Source: Migration Profile of the CRM[4]

Conditions in temporary reception facilities

As already outlined, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Serbia was significantly higher in 2022 in comparison to 2021, but the last quarter of 2022 saw a significant drop in arrivals, and thus in the number of people accommodated in RCs.^[5] In 2023, the number of arrivals was 108,808, while in 2024 the sharp decrease was detected leading to 19,603 arrivals. The decrease continued in 2025, with 9,567 arrivals.

The authorities started opening temporary reception facilities in 2015 in order to provide basic accommodation and humanitarian support to persons who were likely in need of international protection but were not interested in seeking asylum in Serbia. These are not Asylum Centres and are not meant for long-term stay, even though the Asylum Act provides for the possibility for the asylum procedure to be facilitated there. Persons in need of international protection and other categories of migrants were placed in the majority of these centres throughout the year.

Reception centres on the South of the country

The reception (‘one-stop’) centre in Preševo (950 places), close to the border with North Macedonia, was opened during the summer of 2015. Emergency support was initially provided by Red Cross Serbia and the local municipality, but the Government soon decided to have a local tobacco factory adapted and turned into a registration and accommodation facility. The centre has a reception capacity for several hundred persons at any given moment.

On 3 January 2023, 768 persons were accommodated there, while that number in April 2022 was 1,511. In the period from 5 November 2023 until 31 December 2023 the number of residents varied from 727 to 290. In January 2024 it accommodated 279 persons, while that number at the end of the year was 233. In June 2025 it accommodated 99 persons, while on 31 December 2025, this number was 59.

It is important to highlight that RC Preševo is mainly built for short-term stays and is comprised of collective sleeping premises, with several dozen bunk beds and without the possibility to enjoy the right to privacy. In general, RC Preševo cannot be considered as suitable accommodation for persons in need of international protection and its realistic capacities that could meet relevant housing standards are significantly lower than 950, which is the 2024 official number. The official capacity remained unchanged in 2025.

Also, it is important to note that the geographical location of RC in Preševo is easy for identification, registration and vulnerability assessment of newly arrived foreign nationals because is located close to the border with North Macedonia, a main entry point into Serbia. However, vulnerability assessments are not conducted in practice, leaving this facility to be the place where people would spend several days and would move on with their journey.

RC Bujanovac (230 places) in Southern Serbia opened in October 2016, in a former automotive battery factory lying along the Belgrade-Skopje highway. The reception conditions may be described as satisfying, especially when the number of residents is lower than the official capacity. RC Bujanovac was not operational for most of 2021 and 2022, but was fully operational in 2023. Its occupation varied from 100 in January to 452 in November 2023 and remained overcrowded until the end of the year. In 2024, the occupancy varied from 82 to 116 maximum in February. In January 2025, occupation was 48, compared to 59 at the end of the year.

Reception Centres on the north of the country

RC Principovac (200 places) accommodated UaSC. In 2022 at RC Principovci did not reach more than 250 people, while that number in 2023 varied from several dozen to 316. In January 2025 it accomodated 6 children, while in December 2025 it accommodated only 9 UASC.

In general, the majority of Reception Centres lack adequate living conditions due to their nature and purpose. Namely, the Reception Centres were established and designed during the 2015/2016 mass influx of refugees with the aim to provide a short-term stay not exceeding several days. However, as the border policies of neighbouring countries changed, and the time of stay in Serbia increased from several days to several weeks or months, the living conditions in the RCs deteriorated. For that reason, arguably the living conditions in the majority of RCs are inadequate and the main features are the following: overcrowding, poor hygiene, lack of privacy and safety, poor sanitation and lack of basic psycho-social services.

What is also important to note is the fact that every year capacities of different reception facilities are officially changed, even though major reconstructions were not undertaken. The criteria used by CRM when officially increasing or decreasing the official capacities are not clear, except for the one relating to the number of beds available.

Source: Migration Profile of CRM[6]

^[1]  Council of Europe, Report of the fact-finding mission by Ambassador Tomáš Boček, Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees to Serbia and two transit zones in Hungary, 12-16 June 2017, available at: http://bit.ly/2DwCnI2.

[2] Information obtained from IDEAS field officers.

[3] For those instances where a source is not provided, the information was obtained from IDEAS field officers. Also, for ACs which were permanently closed or were not operational in 2025, see more in AIDA, Country Report: Serbia – 2024 Update, available here, pp. 177-184

[4] Available in Serbian here.

^[5] An average number of refugees and migrants residing in Serbia was between 7,000 to 8,500 on a daily basis in the first 9 months of 2022, after which this number dropped to 3500 to 5,000 persons, inside and outside reception facilities.

[6] Available in Serbian here.