Short overview of the reception system

Author

Nikola Kovačević

The Commissariat for Refugees and Migration (CRM) is in charge of governing asylum and reception centres in Serbia.[1] There are 7 Asylum Centres (AC) and 12 Reception Centres (RC) which can be put in use for accommodation of refugees, asylum seekers and other categories of people on the move.  What is important to note is that most of these facilities were established in 2015/2016 with significant financial support provided to Serbia from the EU, but also by international organisations such as the UNHCR and IOM, individual countries/embassies and agencies. The main purpose of these facilities was temporary accommodation of hundreds of thousands of persons who transited through Serbia in 2015/2016. For that reasons, the structure and materials available in the reception facilities are mostly designed for a short-term stay.

In 2023, a total of 17 asylum and reception centres were operational for entire or at least the part of the year. Asylum Centre in Bogovađa and Reception Centre in Bela Palanka – Divljana were not operational.[2]

Even though the official data of the CRM indicated that total capacities of all reception facilities were 8,155 in 2022, in 2023, the capacities outlined show more realistic picture – 5,625, plus additional 500 beds which can be secured in AC Bogovađa and RC Divljana. Thus, around 6,125 beds can be secured if needed.[3] In saying that, the reception capacity is mostly measured in terms of available beds and not in accordance with certain standards, for instance, EUAA Guidelines,[4] or other standards developed by other bodies such as CPT,[5] or the CESCR.[6]

It remains unclear why capacity fluctuates every year, but it is important to outline that no entity has ever performed an independent, non-biased, impartial, thorough and objective assessment of reception conditions in Serbia and in relation to various human rights criteria which imply adequate housing, safety, privacy, hygiene, food, medical assistance, safeguards for vulnerable groups, access to other services, etc. Only after this assessment realistic and human rights-based capacities can be determined and they are significantly lower the official one.

Additionally, during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020,[7] two additional emergency shelters in Miratovac and Morović were established but they have not been operational since 2021, and it is reasonable to assume that such establishments will not be used in the future.[8] In any case, these centres were made out of tents, with no electricity and sanitary facilities. They were operational for three months and mostly during the state of emergency, which lasted from March to May 2020. Two categories of people were accommodated there, namely (i) newly arrived foreigners and (ii) foreigners who were transferred there for disciplinary reasons because they objected to a lockdown in other reception facilities, in particular in AC Bogovađa and RC Obrenovac. The tent facilities were used in many other reception facilities, including in Adaševci, Sombor, Principovci, Subotica and Kikinda.

During 2023, AC Krnjača was mostly accommodating vulnerable applicants who were under Article 35 of the Asylum Act: families with small children, persons with disabilities, persons with health and psychosocial needs, LGBTQI+ applicants, SGBV survivors and others. AC Obrenovac[9] accommodate single males, but most of them were not willing to apply for asylum. Since the beginning of November 2023, AC Tutin and AC Sjenica have been hosting majority of registered individuals, including also asylum seekers who lodged their asylum applications in writing. As of 20 April 2022, AC Vranje[10] accommodated on average 40 to 70 refugees from Ukraine. AC Bogovađa was not operational, while AC Banja Koviljača reopened in August 2023, hosting several dozens of foreigners on average, but who are not willing to apply for asylum.[11]

It is also worth reiterating that the asylum procedure is conducted only in asylum centres, in 2023 mainly in AC Krnjača and sometimes in AC Obrenovac. Other asylum centres were visited once or twice by the Asylum Office in 2023, meaning that people accommodated in other asylum facilities do not have effective access to asylum hearing, but they can only lodge asylum application in writing. This contributes to an extensive length of the first instance asylum procedure.

On the other hand, RCs in Adaševci, Sombor, Principovci, Šid, Kikinda, Subotica and other facilities located closer to borders with Romania, Croatia or Hungary had more fluctuations in terms of the number of people present until November 2023 and more flexible policies on entering and exiting the premises, as dozens or even hundreds of refugees and migrants were attempting to irregularly cross to the EU on a daily basis and those who are unsuccessful would simply come back. Accommodation in these facilities does not require registration certificates and these are usually large-scale facilities designed for a short-terms stay in tents or other improvised shelters. RC Pirot, RC Bosilegrad and RC Dimitrovgrad are located at the entry points from Bulgaria, while RC Preševo and RC Bujanovac are located on south, in the vicinity of the border with North Macedonia.

Only RC Dimitrovgrad has a reception capacity that is below 100 beds but was not operational for most of the year. In 2022, CRM designated RC Šid for accommodation of UASC and the situation remained unchanged in 2023. No single collective facility, including RC Šid, meets child-specific standards. Reception facilities in Subotica, Kikinda, Sombor, Adaševci have been completely closed in the period November-December 2023.[12]

What is also important to note is the fact that until November 2023, on a daily basis, several hundred and sometimes even more than a thousand refugees and migrants were accommodated in informal settlements in the border areas with Hungary, Croatia and Romania, from where they were trying to cross to the EU. Every once in a while, police operation would be facilitated, and they were transferred by the police forces to RC Preševo and other reception facilities. [13] In the period December 2023, the number of people staying in the informal settlements significantly decreased due to transfer operations of the Serbian MoI which were triggered by yet another armed clash between smuggling groups in which several persons was killed and wounded.[14] This also created a situation in which most of the reception facilities were locked up for several weeks, leading to arbitrary detention of people on the move.[15] In other words, as during the COVID-19 crisis, most of the reception facilities were turned into de facto detention facilities.[16]

In a 2022 press statement, the Government declared that ‘since the start of the migrant crisis in 2015 until today, including the grant agreement worth €36 million signed today, the EU has helped Serbia with €200 million for strengthening institutional capacity for migration management.’[17] It was further highlighted that since 2015, more than 1.5 million refugees and migrants passed through Serbia and over 10 million overnight stays were made.[18] Out of €160 million provided before the signing of the new agreement in October 2022, €130 million was designated for migration management and for the prevention of illegal migration, while €30 million were allocated to border security.[19] It remains unclear how these resources were spent taking in consideration that at least 40% of reception facilities are not adapted for the longer stay of people who may be in need of international protection.

One of the major issues in 2023 was the fact that most of the registered foreigners were referred to AC Sjenica and AC Tutin, two asylum centres in which applicants’ asylum procedure cannot be conducted, as they generally do not organise asylum interviews. Namely, in 2023, the Asylum Office visited these two facilities only once,[20] even though several dozen persons lodged their asylum applications in writing. In comparison to the last year, CRM and MoI did not allow transfers from these two centres to AC Krnjača or AC Obrenovac where Asylum Office can organise asylum interviews, unless people belonged to one of the vulnerable categories (SGBV or LGBTQI+ for instance), when they are allowed to move to AC Krnjača.

According to the Asylum Act, a foreigner obtains the status of asylum seeker only after having lodged an asylum application.[21] Prior to that, persons issued with registration certificates are not considered to be asylum seekers and thus are not entitled to rights and obligations envisaged in the Asylum Act, which encompass the right to accommodation.[22] Accordingly, even though the vast majority of foreigners were accommodated in asylum and reception centres in the course of 2023, they were not explicitly entitled to it under the Asylum Act, the Foreigners Act or any other law governing the field of asylum and migration.

Only 196 out of 108,808 foreigners detected by the CRM were officially entitled to stay in reception facilities, as they lodged asylum application or subsequent asylum application. This represents a continuation of the trend observed in previous years, which implies that the vast majority of persons in need of international protection who have been transiting through the territory of Serbia since 2008 have been in a legal limbo, deprived of any status, but provided with their minimum existential needs in Serbia. Their stay in Asylum and Reception Centres was tolerated – rather than regulated – by legal framework. Still, it is important to note that the final draft of Amendments to the Asylum Act intends to remedy this situation, as it recognises a new category of persons in need of international protection – persons issued with the registration certificate who did not lodge an asylum application and who will be afforded with most of the material reception conditions.[23] The election of the new Government in May 2024 can potentially bring those amendments to the Parliament’s agenda.

Asylum seekers who are granted asylum are entitled to stay in asylum centres up to one year after their decision on asylum became final or if they are provided with financial support they have to leave from the moment the support is granted.[24] In practice, most of these people already leave on their private address when they receive a positive decision.

Finally, and taking into consideration the fact that there is no vulnerability assessment upon admission to reception facilities and of the newly arrived foreigners, many vulnerable foreign nationals remain unidentified. And even if they are identified, in most of the cases their stay in reception facilities is no different than stay of less vulnerable categories of people on the move.

[1] Article 23 Asylum Act; Chapters II and III Migration Management Act.

[2] Data obtained from UNHCR office in Serbia and practice-informed observation by IDEAS.

[3] Dana obtained by the UNHCR office in Serbia.

[4] EASO, EASO Guidance on reception conditions: operational standards and indicators, September 2016, available at: http://bit.ly/3j1XabQ.

[5] See for example CPT, Report to the Greek Government on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 10 to 19 April 2018, 19 February 2019, CPT/Inf (2019) 4, available at: https://bit.ly/3gbcH7y, paras. 103-105.

[6] CESCR, General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (Art. 11 (1) of the Covenant), 13 December 1991, E/1992/23, available at: http://bit.ly/2KyNBRC.

[7] A11, Deprivation of Liberty of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants in the Republic of Serbia through Measures of Restriction and Measures of Derogation from Human and Minority Rights Made under Auspices of the State of Emergency, May 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/39BiG4m, hereinafter: A11 Analysis on Detention of Foreigners during the State of Emergency. 

[8] Ibid., 4 and 5.

[9] Decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, no. 02–5650/2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3nqLK4Z.

[10] Ibid. 

[11] Information obtained from CRM, UNHCR and through the field work of IDEAS.

[12] BVMN, Illegal pushbacks and border violence reports, Monthly Reports November and December 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3UbbrHG.

[13] BVMN, Illegal pushbacks and border violence reports, Balkan Region – January 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/41wUjNl, 5; Illegal pushbacks and border violence reports, Balkan Region – February 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ocpoaK, 9; Illegal pushbacks and border violence reports, Balkan Region – April 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3ME6jbA, 12-13 and Illegal pushbacks and border violence reports, Balkan Region – July 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3UzJx6B, 9-10.

[14] BVMN, Illegal Pushbacks and Border Violence Reports Balkan Region – November 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3A4NEhm, 7-8.

[15] Radio slobodna Evropa, Stotine srpskih policajaca na granici sa Mađarskom nakon pucnjave u kojoj su ubijena tri migranta, 28 October 2023, available at: https://bit.ly/3TMWYA7.

[16] See more in AIDA, Country Report: Serbia – Update on the year 2020, March 2021, available here, 74-77.

[17] The Government of the Republic Serbia, Press Statement, EU to help Serbia prevent illegal migration, 7 October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/41w4qli.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Information obtained from IDEAS field officers.

[21] Article 2 (1) (4) Asylum Act.

[22] Article 48 Asylum Act.

[23] The amendments to the Asylum Act are available in Serbian on the following link: https://bit.ly/3yepU9U.

[24] Article 61 Asylum Act.