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Serbia remains the country with largest number of refugees and displaced persons in Europe
According to the Agency for Refugees United Nations (UNHCR), Serbia remains the country with the largest number of refugees and displaced persons in Europe.
The wars in former Yugoslavia forced thousands to seek refuge in Serbia, in three main periods. First, about 200,000 came in during the 1991/1992 war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Later, in 1995 some 400,000 people fled to Serbia as a result of "Operation Storm" in Croatia. In 1999 about 200,000 came to Serbia from Kosovo, following the entry of NATO forces in the region. Four years later thousands of people have increased that figure after the violent incidents in Kosovo in March 2004.
UNHCR’s latest census, dated July 1, 2008, recorded a figure of 96,948 refugees in the country from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Many refugees have opted for integration, because of the obstacles to sustainable return and the long exile which has increased its ties with the host country.
In turn, the number of displaced persons from Kosovo stands at 205,940 according to the UNHCR. From 2000 until now, only about 18,232 have returned to Kosovo. There are return projects but have not shown the expected results, and taking into account the political circumstances, it can be expected that the displaced will choose not to return and the number of Serbs leaving Kosovo will increase.
The number of persons displaced outside Kosovo is 225,000. A very high figure considering that eight years after the conflict, the number of returnees, according to those estimates, do not excee 16,500, which represents only 7.3% of the total.
The international community has made an effort to ensure a sustainable return process to ensure as far as possible the same kind of life before the war. Being this a difficult goal to achieve, ensuring basic working, personal and property conditions for the returnees is the highest priority and here many problems arise.
Kosovo, to begin with, does not provide good prospects for the future due to its high unemployment rates and because there is not yet a climate of confidence to remove the still-looming presence of members of other ethnic groups / nationality. UN, OSCE and civil society demand an effort from municipalities to incorporate return strategies adapted to their city plans, but low budgets and especially the unwillingness to implement them prevent it from happening.
Restitution and repossession of property has become perhaps the most important problem affecting displaced person. Fraudulent transactions, the occupation and destruction of houses, the judicial helplessness, fear of attacks are facts that prevent the return, since it affects the most basic of every individual’s capital asset, this is, their home.
In Serbia there are still a long series of legal, social and economic factors that cause 25% of refugees and displaced persons to be at a greater risk of social exclusion, four times the local population. Although there is no exact data on the percentage of unemployment among refugees and IDPs in Serbia, it is estimated that 32% are unemployed, which exceeds the average of the local population. In addition, the position of refugees in the labor market is characterized by the presence of unauthorized work, and different distribution by sector: 21% work in trade, agriculture 11%, 7% to 12% in industry and services. Especially problematic is the situation of refugees and displaced persons still living in collective centers.
The Government adopted in May 2002 the National Strategy for the Resolution of the Problems of Refugees and Displaced Persons. To date, implementation has consisted mostly of the closure of collective centers and accommodation of refugees in new homes. These measures have not been applied yet to displaced people.
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