Đurović: Due to the efficiency of the Border Police, no sudden influx of migrants from Serbia to BiH is expected

In rain and cold - more and more refugees from Syria, who travel day by day through Preševo, Belgrade and Kanjiža to Europe, are also calling for a faster response from the competent authorities of the region, and the Centre for Protection and Assistance for Asylum Seekers (APC/CZA) is distributing leaflets to migrants with basic explanations of what costs how much in Serbia, where the asylum centres are, where they can seek help and who to contact, reports the Patria news agency.

Radoš Đurović, director of the Centre for Protection and Assistance for Asylum Seekers from Belgrade, said in a statement to Patria that new people are constantly arriving in Serbia, around 1,000 to 1,500 per day, heading towards Preševo.

- In Belgrade, there are approximately 500 to 700 every day, and they are visible near the Bus and Railway Station. Everyone stays there for two to five days and then heads towards Kanjiža – says Đurović.

He adds that it is logical to expect that some migrants will head towards BiH, but the poor treatment by the Bosnian police was recorded back in July, when they were sent back to Serbia even though they had requested asylum in BiH.

- People seeking asylum in BiH are detained, and that is a strong message to those seeking it not to try in BiH. That is the experience and it is a bad message. Of course, people will still try to cross into BiH, but the BiH Border Police is very efficient and as soon as they catch people, they put them in prison. For now, a sudden overflow into Bosnia is not expected due to such circumstances, but also due to the difficulty of the terrain and the new borders. Because as soon as you cross Bosnia, there is the border between BiH and Croatia, then the Croatian-Hungarian border, and it is a difficult route. For some time, the route towards Macedonia will be very active – Đurović pointed out.

He further explained that Serbia has now surpassed the figure of 80,000 people who have sought asylum, and that the same number of people pass through without seeking asylum.

- That brings us to a rough estimate of around 130,000 to 160,000 people who have passed through Serbia this year – added Đurović.