Authorities in Serbia have transferred dozens of migrants who were living on the streets into migrants reception centers, where they were identified and given medical care.
Authorities in Serbia ordered police on February 2, 2018, to roundup homeless migrants and transfer them from their makeshift outdoor camps into migrant reception centers in Belgrade. The Serbian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, whose office oversees migration issues in the country, said the operation went smoothly.
Registration and medical visits
The ministry said there were unaccompanied minors among those who were moved to the reception centers. It said the migrants were to be identified and registered, and that they would also receive medical checkups. In the centers, they will live in "humane conditions" and be provided with food, water, heat, and restroom facilities, as required by Serbian law and international standards.
Although the Serbian authorities have previously requested migrants living on the streets in cold winter temperatures to transfer to reception centers, hundreds of undocumented asylum seekers have chosen to remain living outdoors in makeshift shelters. They refuse accommodation at the centers because they want to travel onward to western Europe. Migrant reception centers in Serbia are currently hosting about 4,500 migrants and refugees.
Action following protests by local residents
On January 22, city authorities in Belgrade conducted a forced transfer to reception centers of 109 undocumented migrants who were living outdoors in a district near the train station. At that time, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said the action was taken as a result of numerous complaints and protests by local residents in the area, as well as to reduce safety risks for the migrants. There were about twenty unaccompanied minors among the group transferred in that operation, and it went smoothly and without incident.