On and before June 20, to mark the World Refugee Day, together with Refugee Aid Miksaliste and Info Park, NRC-Praxis organised events for refugees involving making and flying kites, sports and music inthe park near the bus station and in Miksaliste. We used the opportunity to call for Safe Passage for Refugees; reminding European governments of the need to urgently scale up and operationalise safe, legal avenues that allow people to seek and obtain asylum in Europe, such as resettlement and relocation.
The number of refugee arrivals to Belgrade in June is similar to that in May (around 150 new arrivals daily). But with fewer departures and increased pushbacks taking place from Hungary to Serbia, there is an increased number of refugees staying in Belgrade longer, with frequently over 500 persons present on a given day. Refugees continued coming to Serbia from both the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and Bulgaria, while some opted for a route via Albania and Kosovo, which is a new development. Most refugees continue their journey towards the Hungarian border, where the number of official crossings permitted daily remains very low (15 persons at each of the border crossings of Horgos and Kelebija), and refugees have to wait for several weeks in dire conditions.
In June, NRC-Praxis assisted over 4,300 beneficiaries in total with protection services, bringing the total number assisted since the project started to over 22,000 persons.
At the end of the month, Refugee Aid Miksaliste announced its hub for refugees would temporarily close because of the constant pressure from the local community, security issues, as well as lack of financial means. It will reopen as a centre primarily for women and families with children. This will have a negative impact on service provision to single men, who are the great majority of beneficiaries, and on the sanitary and security situation in Belgrade parks, the only remaining place for them and who are often very vulnerable in their own right.
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