Profile of migrants passing through Serbia: 90,000 entered our country this year, most of them also left

Photo: Tanjug/AP/Darko Vojinovic

The executive director of the Asylum Protection Center, Rados Djurovic, said that there is only one camp in the north of Serbia that can accommodate up to 300 migrants, and that there is no room for the rest.

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"That's why these people manage for themselves, and then the main role is played by smugglers, who bring them to these improvised camps," Djurovic told RTS.

According to him, this year 90,000 people entered Serbia, and most of them also left.

"We haven't reached the 2015 scenario, but indicators show that a bigger escalation is slowly coming. We have an increase in the number of people from year to year, now it's like 2016. There are a lot of refugees among them, from Syria, Afghanistan, where they revoked the right of women to go to school, they carry out public executions, these are the reasons that motivate people," he said.

Faculty of Geography professor and demographer Danica Santic says that economic migration encourages most people to move.

"And these are the people who transit, cross thousands of kilometers to get somewhere where they think it will be better. There are also those fleeing the war, whom we could say are refugees, but until their status is resolved, they are migrants. Among them are many who go to EU countries in search of work," said Santic.

According to her, they are usually between 25 and 30 years old, able to work and fertile, and in Afghanistan and Pakistan they sell everything they own or borrow from banks, so their relatives pay for their trip in stages.

"They want to go to an economically strong country in order to earn money so they could pay back for their trip, and then send to those who remained in their country of origin," said Santic.

Assistant director of the police Colonel Dragan Vasiljevic stressed that a working group dealing with immigration was formed and carries out daily activities, which is how a group of about 60 migrants was found earlier.

Vasiljevic said that they are suspected of participating in smuggling channels. Two automatic rifles, 200 bullets and an attachment for rifle grenades were also found.

He stated that there are currently 4,590 people in accommodation facilities run by the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees, reports Tanjug.

(Telegraf.rs)