Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Additional measures to reduce number of false asylum seekers

Belgrade, 23 May 2011

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic today stated that the Serbian government is ready to implement additional measures in its jurisdiction and in cooperation with the EU, in order to cut down the number of false asylum seekers.

Author: Tanjug

Opening a roundtable discussion “Monitoring and Control of the Visa-free Regime with the EU – a National Response”, Dacic recalled that the government and his Ministry undertook a number of activities that have already helped to reduce the number of false asylum seekers.

He observed that the large number of false asylees from Serbia, registered in the previous period in Germany, Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg, has been decreased.

He recalled the example of Germany, where in November 2010 around 1,100 asylum seekers from Serbia were registered, while in April this number stood at 227.

The number of false asylees is diminishing in Belgium as well, where in April 106 of these persons were recorded, while in March there were 183, Dacic noted, reiterating that 98% of requests for asylum are turned down, and most of the asylum seekers are Roma, Albanians and Bosniacs.

Along with tighter border control and constant check-ups of tourist agencies and transporters, we initiated a forceful informative campaign, the goal of which is to explain false asylum seekers that they will not be granted asylum, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Head of the Border Police Administration and Chairman of the Committee for Monitoring Serbia’s Visa-free Regime Nenad Banovic underlined the positive trend in the reduction of the number of false asylum seekers, announcing a continuation of activities with this aim and cooperation with the police forces of Hungary and Croatia.

Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Vincent Degert noted that the number of false asylum seekers from Serbia in the EU must be immediately cut down in order to preserve Serbia’s visa liberalisation.

Degert welcomed the measures which the Serbian government undertook, voicing the European Commission’s readiness to cooperate with Serbian authorities on resolving this issue.

He said that few months after the visa-free regime was enforced the number of false asylum seekers in several EU countries increased tenfold.

Now this number is five to six times higher than before the visa-free regime, he added, stressing that this calls for stricter measures to reduce the number of false asylees.

Because of the increased umber of asylum seekers from Africa, by June this year the EU will draft a proposal of concrete measures to counter this trend, Degert stressed, adding that the situation with Serbia will then be contemplated.

He underlined that stricter control of passengers leaving Serbia must be carried out with full adherence to human rights and none of the minority groups must be labelled in any way.