Nenad Ivanisevic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, said that about 6400 migrants have been registered to date, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the reception centres. He informed the Committee members that a Working Group has been set up, headed by the Minister Aleksandar Vulin, which has adopted Serbia’s plan of needs in the migrant crisis for the coming six months and submitted it to the Government and all the relevant institutions. He also said that the talks with the EU delegation are progressing nicely and the Republic of Serbia is expected to receive a direct budgetary financial assistance of about 5.5 million EUR.

Dr Vesna Knjeginjic, Assistant Minister of Health, said that the Working Group’s basic operating principle is to provide health services for the migrants. The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with NGOs, has increased the presence of medical teams in the health clinics at points working with migrants, said Knjeginjic adding that the established epidemiological and hygienic supervision is conducted regularly and that there are no epidemiological risks.

Milenka Milosevic of the Border Police Administration Ministry of Interior Asylum Office informed the Committee members that the asylum-seekers are housed in reception centres, but the majority of the migrants state that they were not seeking asylum and that their goal is to go further into Europe through Hungary. She also briefed the Committee members on the Draft Law on Asylum, already forwarded to all the relevant ministries and state bodies for consideration, after which it is to be submitted into parliamentary procedure.

Svetlana Velimirovic of the Commissariat for Refugees and Migrations informed the Committee members that the asylum centres are currently housing 5222 people, 1910 of which are in regular asylum centres and 1312 in temporary facilities, adding that they mainly come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Iran. She announced the opening of one more reception centre in Bujanovac, also adding that one third of the migrants are children under 18 years of age.

Hans Friedrich Schodder, Head of the UNHCR Office, said that at the UNHCR Executive Committee meeting in Geneva on 3 October Minister Vulin, Head of the Working Group for Mixed Migrations, on the behalf of the Republic of Serbia, drew attention to the situation the country is in as regards the migrant crisis. The UNHCR representatives are willing to continue to help the Republic of Serbia both financially and in the construction of new housing facilities. Schodder also added that the UNHCR has enough winter supplies and vouchers for private housing. He stated that the Government of the Republic of Serbia had last year received 1.13 billion RSD in financial assistance and has so far this year received 900 million RSD. Schodder stressed that maintaining the integrity of the family unit is of paramount importance and the status of families who stay more than three months in Serbia needs to be established.

UNICEF Deputy Director Severina Leonardi said that of the 6400 migrants, 40% are children who need adequate housing, health care and, if they stay in Serbia longer than three months, schooling.

Stana Asanin of the Ministry of Interior, Davor Rako of the refugee protection service, Ljubomir Miladinovic of Red Cross Serbia, Nikola Kovacevic of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Jelena Hrnjak on the behalf of MODS, Milena Golic Ruzic of the Child Rights Centre and Ivana Vukasevic of the Humanitarian Centre for Integration and Tolerance, also spoke at the sitting.

In the course of the sitting the Committee also set up the Working Group for the Political Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. They also agreed with the proposals of the Working Group for civic petitions and proposals on how to process the civic petitions received.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Vesna Rakonjac, and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Milanka Jevtovic Vukojicic, Aleksandra Maletic, Branimir Rancic, Vlado Babic, Bojan Torbica, Dragan Savkic, Josip Broz, Vesna Nikolic Vukajlovic, Ljupka Mihajlovska, Natasa Vuckovic, Milena Corilic, Bosko Obradovic and Gorica Gajic.