46
languages refugees and migrants understand, and different leaflets on their rights and
obligations and other relevant information were also made available for them. Besides
numerous leaflets being distributed to them, they were also provided with a mobile application
through which these persons may inform themselves on how to seek asylum and about their
rights, as well as on any other practical information in the course of their stay in Serbia
(situation on the border-crossing points, bus schedules and similar information).
3. Treatment of minors (unaccompanied minors)
In the course of 2015, the total of 172,965 certificates for minors were issued, whereas the total
of 10,645 certificates were issued for unaccompanied minors. The Asylum centres housed the
total of 1,278 unaccompanied minors, who soon voluntarily left the centers, whereas according
to the data available to NPM, the total of 100 unaccompanied children were in the centres for
minor foreigners in Belgrade and Niš.114
Institutional provision for unaccompanied children is performed in the institutions of opened
type and it often occurs that they leave voluntarily the institutions they are placed in, with no
further control of the competent authorities.
Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, in the new circumstances,
amended the valid regulations by a special Instruction on Procedure of Guardianship
Authority115. However, the envisaged procedures are mainly focused on formalities.
The police officers in the Reception Centre in Preševo do not take photos of minors under the
age of 14 when issuing certificated on the expressed intention to seek asylum. In the most of the
cases, a parent or a guardian of minor is deemed to be a person that introduced him/her as
such (in case s/he does not have any IDs to prove that, and the most of the cases are such).
Taking into account the aforementioned, in the possible cases of child abuse, where criminal
offenders are foreigners introducing themselves as parents or guardians of minors, photos of
minors under the age of 14 would be useful to the competent authorities. In the Reception
Centre in Preševo, there is no reliable way to determine whether minors are accompanied or
not. A large number of refugees / migrants pass through Centre, and a large number of
children are among them. Procedure for issuance of certificate of expressed intention to seek
asylum to refugees / migrants is performed very quickly. Due to expedited issuance, it
happens that police officers, when issuing certificates, make incorrect assessment whether
minors are accompanied or not.
For the sake of the protection, the NPM sent recommendations to the Ministry of the Interior
that all minors be photographed when being issued certificate of the expressed intention to
seek asylum, as well as when issuing certificates, in the field other data and remarks, to enter
first and last name of persons who accompanied them, as well as the number of certificate
issued to these persons.116 However, these recommendations were not complied with.
In addition, for the purpose of smooth conduct of confidential interviews by the employees of
the Centre for Social Work engaged in the reception centres, the NPM recommended
equipping special offices for these purposes.117
4. Misdemeanour sanctions imposed on refugees
Report on the NPM visit to Vasa Stajić, no. 71-64/15 of 15. 7. 2015 and the Report on the NPM visit to the
Children and Juvenile Correctional Institution in Niš, no. 71-65/15 from 07/15/2015
115 Instructions on procedure of centres for social work and institutions for social protection dedicated for
accommodation of beneficiaries when providing protection and accommodation of minor unaccompanied
migrants, no. 110-00-00469/2015-14 from 07/10/2015
116 Report of the NPM visit to the Reception Centre in Preševo, Kasma in Miratovci, police stations in Preševo and
Bujanovac, Regional Centre of Border Police towards Macedonia and Centre for Social Work in Perševo, no. 7185/15 from 09/21/2015
117 Ibid.
114
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents