(PDF+TEXT) free visa regime measures undertaken by Balkans

8/12/2019 (PDF+TEXT) free visa regime measures undertaken by Balkans

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M easures taken in order to maintain the visa-free travel regim e with the EU

After the expiry of the Commission's first term of office, the Government of the Republic ofSerbia passed a Decision 05 no. 02-1975/2013 on 7 March 2013 establishing the Commission forMonitoring the Visa-free Travel Regime with the EU for a new two-year term of office, thusunequivocally confirming the commitment of the Republic of Serbia to address this issue andreduce the number of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia who abuse visa liberalisation in theEU member states to the lowest possible level.The mem bers of the Com mission for Monitoring the Visa-free Travel Regime w ith the EuropeanUnion have continued their intensified activities, each within his/her own purview, to take allavailable actions and measures with a view to reducing the number of our citizens who submitunfounded asylum applications in the EU member states, thus abusing the right to asylum andvisa liberalisation.The measures taken by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of the Interior andthe Commission for Monitoring the Visa-free Travel Regime with the EU have produced goodresults. Through the activities of all state authorities and bilateral contacts the ag reed strategy h ascontributed to the decrease in the number of asylum seekers in the EU member states.On 1 January 2013, the provisions related to a new criminal of fenc e Facilitating the abuse of theright to asylum in a foreign country beca me applicable as defined in Article 350a which reads:

Whoever, with intent to obtain a benefit for themselves or another person, carries out ororganises transport, transfer, reception, accommodation, hiding or is in some other way enables aSerbian citizen to seek asylum in a foreign country by misrepresentation of their human rightsand freedoms being threatened, shall be punished by imprisonment from three months to threeyears. If this criminal of fenc e is committed by a group or through the abuse of authority, theperpetrator and the organiser shall be punished by imprisonment from six months to five years,and from one to eight years respectively.Following the Plan of Operations for intensified measures and activities during the tourist seasonand Plan of Operational Procedures, a coordinated action has been taken to uncover and processthe perpetrators of the criminal o ffen ce under A rticle 350a ( Facilitating the abuse of the right toasylum in a foreign country ) of the Criminal Cod e of the Repub lic of S erbia.This operation resulted in 7 criminal charges filed against 8 persons based on probable cause thatthey have comm itted the criminal offenc e under Article 350 a ( F acilitating the abuse of the rightto asylum in a foreign country ) of the Criminal Co de of the Republic of Serbia.The Service for Crime Suppression, which is a part of the Criminal Police Directorate of theMinistry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, has maximised its operative work in all policedirectorates on the territory of the Republic of Serbia in order to collect data and findings on


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persons who seek asylum in the EU member states. It has also intensified checks in passengertransport companies and agencies providing organised transport of passengers to the EU mem berstates in order to establish potential abuses made by persons in charge.The Ministry of Transport has deployed its traffic inspectors in high-risk areas, who intensifiedtheir control of permits issued to carriers in international road transport and, in line with theircompetencies, penalised (by imposing banes) those carriers who had irregularities in their worke.g. boarding of passengers not respecting the timetable and allow boarding of passengers on theterritory of the Republic of Serbia (in case of transiting carriers). Passenger waybills of carrierswho operate in international occasional transport of passengers were a matter of particularanalysis.They also issued warnings to all carriers in international road transport not to transport falseasylum seekers to the EU member states.The Ministry of Transport submitted to the Ministry of the Interior a Review of the restrictionsregarding vehicles and conditions which apply in road traffic and transport to be provided to allborder police and traf fic police o fficer s wh o carry out control of passeng ers and vehicles.The carriers in international road transport who have passenger transport permits for domesticand international transport have been controlled/checked on several occasions across policedirectorates in Serbia. It has been established that those companies transport passengers on theso-called closed routes only, wh ich means that lists of passe ngers are check ed at each andevery border crossing point thus eliminating the possibility for passengers to fail to appear on thebus and no t return to their coun try.In addition, based on the data gathered through their operative work, the Criminal PoliceDirectorate in cooperation with the Border Police Directorate prevented the departure of groupsof our citizens who organised themselves and tried to leave the territory of the Republic of Serbiausing private vans and probably to seek asylum in the EU member states.Readmission cooperation with the countries that signed the readmission agreements with theRepublic of Serbia is rather fruitful. More than 95% of readmission applicat ions submit ted underthe readmission agreements were approved.In order to develop capacities at local level and revise local action plans, the Commissariat forRefugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the InternationalOrganization for Migration (IOM) has implemented a series of activities aimed at providingassistance to the institutions at both central and municipal levels within the project entitled

Capacity Building of Institutions Involved in Migration Management and Reintegration ofReturnees .


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In the meeting held at the Government of the Republic of Serbia on 22 July 2013 it was agreedthat local self-government authorities organise meetings on this subject with Roma coordinatorsand health mediators.Particular attention should be given to the resettlement issue and relevant plans made by localself-government authorities, given the fact that they can directly contribute to the increase of thenumber of asylum seekers. It has been planned to adopt the Rules / Regulation for local self-government authorities by the end of the year which should ensure that these procedures are inline with international standards in this area (IPA 2012).These activities encompassed the education of relevant local services staff and providingassistance in revising local action plans in order to include readmission returnees. There are 78municipalities which are included in the revision / development of local action migration planswhich encompass almost 86% of registered returnees, 24 local action migration plans wereadopted, and in 53 municipalities / cities local action plans are being either revised or developed.A total of 170 mu nicipal o ffice rs from 60 mu nicipalities too k part in 10 wo rksh ops addressingrevision of LAPs while 114 municipal off icers from 38 municipal i t ies took part in three roundtables addressing best practices in the work of local councils. A Manual on best practices in theimplementation of local migration action plans was developed and published in 2,000 copies. Thedevelopment of the Study on Returnee Trends and Needs in the Republic of Serbia wasparticularly important for policy planning since the Study presents in detail the structure ofreturnees and their basic needs.The Commissariat s taff held 35 workshops on reintegrat ion of returnees under readmissionagreements into receiving communities for the members of local services: police, social welfarecentres, commissioners, and civil registryoffices.A datab ase of returnees' needs has been createdwhich should con tribute to mo re effectiv e plan ning of assistance neede d for reintegration ofreturnees, while 7,000 Information Booklets for returnees under readmission agreements havebeen developed and distributed.Together with the Internat ional Organisat ion for Migrat ion, the Commissariat for Refugees andMigration has intensified its activities in recent months to raise public awareness about rights ofmigrants, including readmission returnees.Nine round tables were organised across Serbia - five round tables for civil society andrepresentat ives of research and academic communit ies which were at tended by 86 persons andfour round tables for the media where over 50 media outlets were actively involved in coveringthis topic in order to get full information about various categories of migrants and report properlyabout this subject thus creating public opinion. Returnees under readmission agreements wereamong key topics of discussion at all round tables.The media campaign was dedicated to the protection of rights of all migrants. With regard toreadmission returnees, a radio programme, video clip, and radio jingle were broadcast, as well as


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the film I don't wa nt to seek asylum in the EU , wh ich was broadc ast on RT S (Se rbianBroadcasting Corporation). In this way all citizens have been sent a clear message that personswho seek asylum for econom ic reasons are jeop ardisin g the current visa-f ree regime , i .e. visaliberalisation does not off er the right to wo rk and solution fo r econo mic problem s.In cooperation with the Red Cross, the Comm issariat developed po sters and fliers entitled I don'twan t to seek asylum in the EU that were distributed at police stations in the Roma , Albanian andSerbian languages, in order to inform citizens about the rights and obligations under visaliberalisation and to prevent the abu se of the visa-free regim e.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia monitors and analyses the issue ofbogus asylum seekers on a daily basis through its diplomatic and consular offices. Members ofdiplomatic and consular offices are obliged to send daily reports to all competent authoritiescontaining information about occurrence of asylum seekers and reactions of the receivingcountry's authorities, public and media; they provide monthly statistical data on asylum seekers;they maintain contact with the competent authorities of the receiving country; they issueeme rgency travel docum ents in an effort to accelerate the proce dure; the y conduct interviewswhen it is necessary to establish citizenship; they organise charter flights for returnees; theycommunicate with the nat ional and foreign media providing useful information about asylumseekers and suspension of social benefits in cash (which is the only reason for submitting asylumapplications), which is a measure to prevent arrivals to the EU. In addition, they communicate ona daily basis with the competent authorities in the EU Member States in order to monitor thecurrent situation in an effort to reduce the num ber of asylum seekers from o ur cou ntry.Based on present practices and experiences and bilateral contacts with the representatives of thecountries where this issue is most pronounced, Serbian competent authorities expressed theiropinion on how to mit igate this problem to some degree by recommending the fol lowingmeasures:- First ofall to reduce or abolish welfare benefits for asylum seekers;- To shorten the asylum procedu re;- To place Serbia on the list of safe third countries ;- In case the unfo und ed asylum application is rejected, the applicant should be bann ed to re-

enter the EU cou ntries for a certain period of tim e.The number of asylum seekers from Serbia in the countries of the Western Europe:

Comparative data for 2010, 2011, and 2012:Countries 2010 2011 2012

FR Germany 4978 4579 8477


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Sweden 6255 2699 2691L u x e m b o u rg 141 932 Jan-Nov. 358

Belg ium 1233 1109 571Switzerland 910 1217 1889

The number of asylum seekers in the EU according to the informat ion provided by diplomat icmissions and consular posts in 2012:

Countries Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. TotalFR Germany 697 399 308 148 143 199 324 496 1395 2673 1306 302 8477

Sweden 196 218 204 142 137 139 148 239 358 520 211 179 2691Luxembourg 91 34 39 42 39 20 25 26 16 24 2 358

Belgium 58 45 36 58 33 65 58 45 64 52 32 25 571Switzerland 315 190 153 97 99 111 187 410 200 61 34 32 1889

The number of asylum seekers in the EU according to the informat ion provided by diplomat icmissions and consular posts in 2013:

Countries Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. TotalFR

Germany424 398 385 482 400 525 960

Sweden 141 107 94 121 109 119 172

Luxembourg 7 7 2 1 3 2 8Belgium 30 30 30 40 23 27 37

Switzerland 30 23 30 34 13 34Denmark 132 103 77 16 15 11


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Since 2 June 2011 when the Regulation of the Government of the Republic of Serbia governingin detail the exercise of police powers by border police officers and obligations of personscrossing the state border became applicable, 6300 persons have been returned from bordercrossing points because they fa iled to meet the requ iremen ts fo r exiting the country.Since the adoption of the Regulation governing in detail the exercise of police powers by borderpolice officers and obligations of persons crossing the state border (The Official Gazette of theRepublic of Serbia, no 39/2011), the Border Police Directorate of the Serbian Mol has notreceived any com plaint or petition about the conduct of police of fice rs in the context of unlaw fulpreventing certain ethnic groups fro m entering or exiting the Republic of Serbia.We would like to note that the protection of rights of all citizens of the Republic of Serbia isachieved in the procedures established by applicable laws. There have been some cases wherecitizens addressed the Internal Affairs Sector, Ombudsman, Commissioner for Protection ofEquality, and other competent authorities through complaints and petitions about the conduct ofpolice officers. However, there have not been any complaints by the citizens of the Republic ofSerbia regarding prevention of exiting the Republic of Serbia and prevention of using the visa-free regime that the citizens of Serbia have e njoye d to date.As regards foreig n citizens, a citizen of M acedo nia filed a lawsuit in 2010 against the Republic ofSerbia and Ministry of the Interior alleging that border police offi cer s had not allowed him toenter the Republic of Serbia because he belongs to the Roma ethnic group. The competent courtexamined his lawsuit and rendered a judge m ent dism issing the claim as unfoun ded. Analysis of the reasons behind the abuse of the visa liberalisation and the right to

asylum in the EU m ember states

External factors for seeking asylum are the so-called pull factors , wh ich include: free mea ls andaccommodation that is provided while the asylum application is processed and cash allowanceswhich are as high as social benefits Western European countries.In accordance with the reports submitted through our diplomatic missions and consular posts andFRONTEX reports, it is evident that asylum seekers come from all parts of Serbia, from the citiesin the South, to those in Central Serbia and Vojvodina. The persons in question are primarily ourcitizens - mostly members of Roma and Albanian national minority groups. It is clear that theyare not persecuted for political reasons, but leave the country for exclusively economic reasons,due to which more than 98% of asylum applications were rejected.On 6 June 2011, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted a Regulation governing indetail the exercise of police powers by border police officers and obligations of persons crossing


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the state border, wh ich gives the guidelines fo r the cond uct of police offic ers of the Borde r Po liceDirectorate of Mol.The reasons for the increase in the number of asylum seekers each year lie in the fact that afterthe end of the tourist season and completion of agricultural activities (start of the winter season),in order to provide income during the winter months, our citizens decide to go to an EU memberstate seeking additional income and possibly free accommodation and meals in some of thecentres in the EU. It was estimated and proved true in practice that the number of Serbian asylumseekers was decreasing during the Christmas and New Year 's hol idays from the second part ofDecember until the end of January.Sweden:The S wedish G overnm ent adop ted a decision to prohibit, as of 1 M ay 2012 , the re-entry intoSweden and other Schengen states for persons whose asylum applications were rejected, i .e. forpersons who abused the right to asylum in Sweden by submit t ing unfound ed asylum applicat ions,after their return to the country of origin. It would be considered highly beneficial if other EU /Schengen states followed this example.According to the statements of Swedish officials, the desire of certain political parties in theParliament to maintain the image of Sweden as an open country willing to help those in need isregarded as a major obstacle that keeps the Swedish authorities from taking more concreteoperative measures. Our interlocutors also noted that, for the time being, Sweden is not ready toinitiate a discussion on the suspension of visa liberalisation for the Western Balkan countries.Belgium:The Decision of the Belgium Government placing the Republic of Serbia on the list of safe thirdcountries entered into force on 11 May 2012. Thus, the asylum procedure for citizens of Serbiahas been shortened to 15 days. By this Decision, the Belgium Government has eliminated thepossibility of prolonged stay of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia who seek asylum in thecountries of Benelux.Given that the remaining two Benelux countries are facing a similar problem, it is expected thatthey will make similar arrangements.Switzerland:In Switzerland, the asylum seekers from Serbia are at the fourth position but the figures areshowing a downward trend. At the conference on asylum held in Bern on 21 January 2013, MsSimonetta Sommaruga, Swiss Minister of Justice, said that the goal was to handle asylumapplications swiftly and efficiently in order to decrease huge costs of accommodation, stay, andorganisation of return for rejected asylum seekers.


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As of 21 Aug ust 2012 , the accelerated 48-hou r proc edure has bee n in place in Sw itzerland,which has significantly shortened the period for examining the grounds of the asylumapplications. Pursuant to this decision, the persons who cannot prove the existence of genuinelegal grounds for seeking asylum are returned within 48 hours to the country of origin. Theasylum seeker is required to explain the reasons for seeking asylum (violations of human rights ordiscrimination by any reason in the Republic of Serbia).Germany:On 18 July 2012 the Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that the assistance provided toasylum seekers, particularly benefits in cash, had to be increased i.e. made equal to the amount ofmoney guaranteed for the most disadvantaged social categories.Until July 2012, monthly allowance for asylum seekers was 120 euro, after which a new decisionwas rendered according to which the minimum amount that asylum seekers get every month is420 euro. They are also provided with food, clothes and footwear, if necessary, which canamount to 1100 euro per month per asylum seeker. (Source: European Stability Initiative - ESI)The reason for such increase lies in the fact that some German states have adopted a decision notto expel persons staying without authorisation in their territory during winter months. In addition,the above mentioned Constitutional Court decision is observed.The position of the majority of German states is not to withhold assistance to politicallyprosecuted persons, but to those who apply for asylum solely to exercise their right to socialbenefi ts . The majori ty of asylum seekers from Serbia apply for asylum solely for economicreasons due to which the majority of asylum applications are rejected.Luxembourg:In 2010, there were 141 asylum applications from Serbia, in 2011 the figures rose to 923, in 2012the figures fell to 359, while in January and February 2013 there were 7 applications per month,which is a significant decrease.Surely, the measures taken by the competent authorities in Luxemburg have produced the desiredresults.Denmark:In the first months of 2013 the number of asylum seekers from Serbia has increased. In 2012there were 541 asylum applications from Serbia, while in January and February 2013 there were235 applicat ions. Rom a people from S erbia are the biggest group seeking asylum. At the m omen t412 Roma people are waiting to be deported. Such large number led to renting charter flights fortheir return by Danish police instead of regular flights. The reason behind a sudden increase inthe number of asylum seekers is the anticipated cash inflow. In December 2012 the Danish


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Government adopted a regulation granting rejected asylum seekers who voluntarily return homethe amount of 20,000 DKK (2,650 EUR) for adults and 10,000 DKK (1,300 EUR) per child.Due to the wrong interpretation of information, the asylum seekers from Serbia thought that thedecision applied to them as well, where in fact they receive 50 EUR (In March 2013, 53 personswere returned from Denmark to Serbia by charter flight. In addition to money, they were alsogiven sandwiches and juice).

Country first instance decision reachedwithin second instance decision reachedwithinGermany 3 months 7 monthsSweden 2-4 months 4-6 monthsBelgium 4 months 7-8 monthsLuxembourg 3 months 4-6 months

The citizens of Serbia who unfoundedly seek asylum in the EU Member States are usuallyinformed by their relatives living and working in the EU for a long time about the possibilitiesoffered by local legislation, particularly with regard to social spending.It is not uncommon, and it may be practice, that genuine passports issued by the EU MemberStates are brought into Serbia by their holders-citizens of the EU who originate from Serbia(south of Serbia and Kosovo and Metohija). Such passports are used by other persons - holders 'relatives and friends - to enter the territory of the EU without any problems, after which suchpersons claim that they have entered the EU illegally and seek asylum accordingly. Foreignliaison office rs have been n otified about this pheno me non o n several occasions. Operational cooperation between the compe tent authorities of the W estern Balkancountries, EU mem ber states and European agencies:

International operational police cooperation remains one of the main elements of operations-related conduct of the Service for the fight against organised crime (SBPOK). Such cooperationis achieved through operational correspondence via the Directorate for International OperationalPolice Cooperation of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, in particular in case of communicationvia Interpol, Europol, and Southeast European Law Enforcement Centre (SELEC) channels.The Interpol channel is particularly valuable for rapid exchange of formal requests for mutuallegal assistance (letters rogatory) as well as coordination of actions which are carried out on theterritories of several countries, such as controlled deliveries. In addition, Interpol databasescontain information relevant to activities of specific aspects of work of SBPOK, such assuppression of international smuggling of motor vehicles or suppression of smuggling of culturalassets. Circular notices that are most often shared via this channel (on random seizures, arrests,committed criminal offences on the territories of other states) can also be of great importance for


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particular cases handled by SBPOK. Although not directly related to investigations as such, theycontain certain details which complement operations in progress.The possibilities of cooperation with Europol are still l imited due to the fact that the Republic ofSerbia has only signed the Agreement on Strategic Cooperation with this European institution.However, due to the recognised need for intensive cooperat ion and exchange of information,Europol has created certain possibilities for sharing operational information with third countries,such as Serbia. Still , this is a matter which is fully in the competence of the Directorate forInternational Operational Police Cooperation. Recently, due to the need of the EU member statesto cooperate with third countries via this institution, SBPOK has been increasingly involved inoperations with the EU member states which are coordinated by Europol and Eurojust. In thisreport ing period, the police off icers of SBPOK took part in the fol lowing working meetingsorganised by Europol and Eurojust (in cooperation and together with the representatives of theProsecutor's Office for Organised Crime):16-17 January 2013, The Hague, Netherlands, upon the invitation of Europol11-12 March 2013, The Hague, Netherlands, upon the invitation of the Austrian desk at Europol9-10 May 2013, Bratislava, Slovakia, upon the invitation of the Slovak desk at Eurojust16-17 May 2013, The Hague, Netherlands, upon the invitation of the Dutch desk at Eurojust9-10 June 2013, The Hague, Netherlands, upon the invitation of the French desk at Eurojust16-18 July 2013, The Hague, Netherlands, upon the invitation of the Austrian desk at EurojustA m eeting was held on 23 July 2013 in Belgrade around the subject of cyber cr ime. The meetingwas attended by a representative of Austrian police as well as of Europol.In addition to this form of cooperation, intensive cooperation has also been practiced via policeliaison officers in Serbia or non-resident ones in charge of Serbia. The community of policeliaison officers in Serbia has significantly increased over recent years primarily consisting ofenvoys of police authorities of the EU me mb er states. Coopera tion with liaison off icers isachieved through the exchange of operational information, working meetings and visits forcoordination and impleme ntation of activities in join t op erations.During the reporting period (1 January 2012 - 10 August 2013), cooperation was furtherintensified and developed at regional level. Direct cooperation has been achieved with mostcountries in the region, as well as through liaison officers of the countries which have theirrepresentatives in Serbia. There are also bilateral agreements on police cooperation whichcomplement the legal framework for regional cooperation. The following authorities are the mostcommon and reliable partners in the region: Police Office for the Suppression of OrganisedCrime and Corruption, C riminal Police Directorate, Croatian M ol; Un it for the Fight against


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Organised Crime and Corruption, Mol of the Republic of Srpska; State Investigation andProtection Agency, Ministry of Security of B&H; Criminal Police Directorate of Mol of theRepublic of Slovenia; Crime Police Department of the Police Administration of Montenegro;National Bureau of Investigation of the National Hungarian Police, etc. In addition to concreteoperations, regional police coope ration and trust are furthe r enhanced by regional projec ts as wellas common aspiration of the countries of the region towards Eu ropean integration.Beyond the region, intensive cooperation was achieved in the reporting period in operations withEuropean countries (both EU and non-EU member states), in particular: Great Britain, Kingdomof the Netherlands, Kingdom of Belgium, FR Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Scandinaviancountries (Sweden and Norway in particular), Republic of Italy, FR Austria, and Kingdom ofSpain.Beyond Europe, the reporting period was marked by intensive cooperation with the AustralianFederal Police via AFP Liaison Office at the Belgrade Embassy, while continuity has beenpreserved with the DEA Regional Office in Rome. During 2013, cooperation with the FBIRegional Office in Sarajevo (B&H) has been intensified.ReadmissionThe Section for the Implementation of Readmission Agreements in the Department for TravelDocuments of the Administrative Affairs Directorate in the Ministry of the Interior of theRepublic of Serbia has been the competent authority for the implementation of readmissionagreements since 2003.Bilateral cooperationThe Republic of Serbia has signed and has been implementing bilateral agreements with thefollowing countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (signed on 25 May 2004, ratified on 22 December2004, entered into force on 27 December 2007 - a new Agreement was signed on 5 July 2007 (inline with EU standards) as well as the Implementing Protocol); Kingdom of Denmark (signed on19 May 2002, ratified on 16 December 2002, entered into force on 8 March 2004); Canada(signed on 16 March 2006, ratified on 11 May 2006, entered into force on 6 June 2009);Kingdom of Norway (only Agreement with Annexes without any Protocol) (signed on 30Novem ber 2009, ratified on 11 March 2010, entered into force on 1 M ay 2010); Croatia (signedon 25 May 2009 in Rijeka, ratified on 11 M arch 2010, entered into force on 1 June 2010); SwissConfederation (signed on 30 June 2009, ratified on 11 March 2010, entered into force on 1 May2010); Macedonia (signed in Belgrade on 4 October 2010, entered into force on 18 November2011); Moldova (signed in Ljub ljana on 28 February 2011, entered into force 1 Nov em ber 2012);Albania (signed on 29 April 2011 in Durres, entered into force on 12 October 2011). TheAgreement with Montenegro is expected to enter into force in the near future while theAgreement with the Republic of Turkey is expected to be signed.


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As regards concluding bilateral Readmission Agreements and their Implementing Protocols, aninitiative has been launched to conclude Readmission Agreements and their ImplementingProtocols with the Kingdom of Denmark (a new Agreement that would be in line with EUstandards), Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Saudi Arabia. Also, in the next six months, dependingon the estimated migration trends, an initiative will be launched to conclude bilateral agreementsand protocols with other coun tries as well.Cooperation concerning implementation of readmission agreements with the countries that havesigned bilateral agreements with Serbia can be assessed as very good one. It is expected that theconclusion of readmission agreements with the countries that have not yet signed agreementswith Serbia as well as of new readmission agreements would round off cooperation for theprevention and supp ression of illegal m igration.Cooperation with the EU M ember StatesThe Republic of Serbia has been implementing the Agreement with the European Community onthe Readmission of Persons Residing without Authorisation signed on September 18, 2007 inBrussels, ratified by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on Noember 7, 2007 andbecam e effec tive on January 1, 2008.The Republic of Serbia has signed the following Protocols for the Implementation of theAgreement between the Republic of Serbia and the European Community: Protocol with theRepublic of Italy (signed on Novem ber 13, 2009 in Rom e), with the Re public of Slovenia (signedon June 8, 2009 in Ljubljana), with the French Republic (signed on N ovem ber 18, 2009 in Paris),with Hungary (signed on December 19, 2009 at the border crossing point Horgos-Roszke), GreatBritain (signed on March 18, 2010 in London), Republic of Austria (signed on June 25, 2010 inBelgrade), Republic of Malta (signed on July 2, 2010), with the Slovak Republic (signed onNovember 18, 2010), with the FR of Germany (signed on March 29, 2011 in Belgrade), with theRepublic of Romania (signed on June 9, 2011 in Bucharest), with the Republic of Bulgaria(signed on September 16, 2011 in Dimitrovgrad), with the Republic of Estonia (signed onNovember 9, 2011), with the Czech Republic (signed on December 17, 2012 in Belgrade), withthe Benelux countries (signed on January 25, 2013), with the Republic of Cyprus (signed onJanuary 25, 2013). Still remains the texts of the protocols with Portugual, Greece and Sweden tobe harmonised and then signedAs regards the EU Member States, in order to more completely implement the Agreementbetween the Republic of Serbia and the European Community on the Readmission of PersonsResiding without Autorisation, an initiative has been launched to conclude respectiveImpleme nting Protocols with the Kingdom of Spain, Repub lic of Finland, Republic of Latvia,Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia.Cooperation in the field of Readmission Agreement implementation with the European UnionMember States can be assessed as very good.


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By concluding and implementing both bilateral Agreements and multilateral Agreement betweenthe Republic of Serbia and the European Community on the Readmission of Persons Residingwithout Authorisation, as well as their respective Implementing Protocols, the Republic of Serbiahas expressed its readiness and openess to achieve the basic goal of the process concerned andthat is suppression and preven tion of illegal migration.The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, pursuant to its duties as the authoritycompetent for the Readmission Agreement, upon receiving request by the authority compententunder the Readmission Agreement, conduct urgent checks relating to the citizenship status andidentity and the proce dure for returning the perso n concerned to the Republic of Serbia OurMinistry's databases, including the biometric da tabases as well, offe r the possibility to conduct allthe checks very fast and on a very high-qua lity level, within the deadlines (1-3 days) shorter thanthose envisaged by the said agreem ents.The strategic goal is to have the Implementing Protocols concluded with all the EU MemberStates m order to ensure organisational and technical capabilities for the implementation of theReadmission Agreement, as well as to increase and improve bilateral cooperation.Cooperation with the W estern Balkans CountriesThe Republic of Serbia has been successfully implementing bilateral agreements and protocolswith all the Western Balkans' countries. After the Agreement and its Implementing Protocolsigned with Montenegro enters into force, the regional cooperation process will be completed.As for regional cooperation with the Western Balkans' countries in implementing theReadmission Agrement, our Ministry's competent authorities have cooperated successfully andfully in the procedures of readmitting the persons concerned to the Republic of Serbia under theReadmiss ion Agreem ent.To date, the Republic of Serbia has been the Requested Party, namely, the majority ofreadmission requests related to the readmission of the Republic of Serbia citizens. In severalindividual cases the Republic of Serbia has been the Requesting Party (Macedonia, Bosnia &Herzegovina and Croatia).

Remark:Regarding cooperation with the competent services of Croatia and Macedonia in the procedure ofthird countries ' nationals and atateless persons readmission, bearing in mind that the acceleratedprocedure under the readmission agreements concluded with the above countries falls within thecompetence of the Border Police Directorate, the overall analysis of cooperation needs to bereviewed in a unified report of the Adm inistrative Aff aire s Dure ctorate a nd the Borde r PoliceDirectorate, given that the Administrative A ffa irs Directora te is in charge of conducting theformal readmission procedure.


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Cooperation with the European agenciesUnder the Readmission Agreement the persons concerned are readmitted by regular or charterflights organised by the foreign com petent au thorities, w hich also includes voluntary return.With a view to conducting the readmission procedure, FR ON TE X org anises the joint cha rterflights returning the citizens of the Republic of Serbia fo r wh om our M inistry of the Interior gaveits consent to be returned to the Republic of Serbia under the Rea dmiss ion Agreem ent.Cooperation with the foreign competent authorities in the field of the persons' readmission hasbeen assessed as very good. It is carried out within the deadlines envisaged by the Agreegemntwith full respect of the standards and procedures ensuring safe return of the persons concernedinto their country of origin.

We do not dispose of the exact data on the precise number of the persons who have beenreadmitted to the Republic of Serbia under the Readmission Agreement, given that a number ofthe subject persons is returned by regular flights, or by roads, without any announcement by theforeign authorities, including a valid passport or emergency travel document issued uponpersonal request by a person pursuant to the Law on Travel Documents. The decision on whenand in which manner the Republic of Serbia will readmitt a person- citizen of the Republic ofSerbia for whom the checks were conducted and established that he/she can be readmitted,namely that the readmission obligation has been established, is adopted exclusively by thecompetent authority of the foreign state initiating the readmission procedure and on whoseterritory the person concerned is found.

New bilateral agreements and arrangements dealing with the border managem ent,migration, asylum and return:1. The Law on Migration M anagem ent ( The Offic ial Gaz ette of the RS , No. 107/2012).2. 2011 Migration Po file of the Republic of Serbia3. We hereby also mention that the procedures of adopting the Action Plan for Implementing theStrategy for Migration Management 2013-2014 and adopting the 2012 Republic of SerbiaMigration P rofile are in progress.4. The Protocol between the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, General PoliceDirectorate and the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, Ge neral Police Directorateon Conducting the Joint Mixed Patrols along the State Border (May 13, 2013)5. The Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and Government ofHungary on the Border Control of Road, Rail and Water Traffic signed on January 24, 2012 inHorgos, entered into force on January 4, 2013. The Agreement was ratified by the NationalAssembly of the Republic ofSerbia on November 15, 2012, whereas the Law on Ratification ofthe Agreement was published in the Official Gazette of the RS- International contracts No. 4/12.Under the above Agreement, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted a Conclusionon defining the conditions for inaugurating the Border Crossing Point Backi Vinogradi-


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Asotthalom between the Republic of Serbia and Hungary, 05 number: 015- 4075/1013 on May15, 2013. (the BCP be cam e operational on M ay 16, 2013).6 The Implem enting Protocol signed betwe en the Ministry of the Interior of Hung ary and theMinistry of the Interior on Conducting Mixed Patrols along the Common State Border wassigned on February 27, 2013.7. In the territoriy of the Republic of Bulgaria on December 19, 2012, at the Border CrossingPoint 'Kalotina' a Com mon Contact Centre Kalotina wa s inaugurated following the Agreemen tsigned between the Governments of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republicof Bulgaria on the Etablisment and Operation of a Common Contact Centre intended forCooperation between the Police and the Customs' Services. Nu mb er of joint operations and investigations in the repor ting period:In Nov emb er 2012 two join t opeartions of the Wes tern Balkan s Coun tries took place.The first joint operational activity wa s succes sfull conducted u nder the auspices of DC AF fro m11-17 Nov em ber 2012 , at the border crossing points of the countries in the region simultaneous ly(Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, B&H, Albania), aiming at exchanging knowledge,experiences, best practices in the field of suppressing all forms of crossborder crime. As for theRepublic of Serbia, DCAF Joint operational activity was conducted at the border crossing pointDimitrovgrad, and the police officers from the following countries took part: Albania,Montenegro, B&H, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, as well as the Border Police Directorateofficers and officers of the Border Police Station of Dimitrovgrad. The Joint op erational ac tivityat the BPS Dimitrovgrad comprised control of passengers and vehicles with the aim ofpreventing crossborder crime, a detailed control of documents was conducted with the aim ofdetecting falsified docum ent. Detailed checks of vehicles and vehicles docum ents were alsoconducted.The second joint action of the Customs and the Police services was conducted on November 13,2012 under the auspices of the USA Embassy and the EXBS programme. The representativesfrom Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina took part and the Action was focused onsuppressing the smuggling of weapons, cigarettes, oil, illegal migrants and narcotic drugs. Theaim of the above action was establishment of better interstate cooperation that would show therewere no obstacles f or information exchang e and join t work and that it is the only wa y to suppresscrossborder crime.In December 2012 a Joint operational action was conducted at the border crossing points of thecountries in the region simultaneously (Serbia, Montenegro,Macedonia, B&H, Albania) aimed atsuppressing all forms of crossborder crime and d etection of stolen vehicles. Th e joint operation atthe border crossing points aimed at detecting stolen vehicles was conducted in the periodDecember 21-24 under the auspices of the DCAF.In Ma rch 2013, the second operational phas e of the joint action of the European bord er policeforces High Impact wa s conducted within the action plan EM PAC T 2012 , relating to thecrime field prioritised as 'C' (illegal migraiton). The border police of the Ministry of the Interior


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of Italy was m charge of conducting the above activity along some of the main illegal migrationroutes, starting from the state borders of Turkey and Greece, via the road routes through theterritories of^the; W estern B alkans' countries and headin g tow ards Italy. The action w as carriedout from 18-25 March, 2013 by the border police officers who reinforced control within the jointpatrols activities that were already cond ucted acc ording to the plan set in advan ce by andbetwe en the Bord er Police Services of the Rep ublic of Serbia and the Repub lic of Ma cedo nia aswell as between the Republic of Serbia and Montenegro.We hereby note that the Italian police service commended the great results of the Serbian policeactivities achieved during the above action, comparing them with the results of other policeservices who participated in th action.In June 201 3 the first operational phase of the secon d joi nt action of the Euro pean bo rder po liceservices High Imp act took plac e within the action plan EM PA CT 2012 in relation to thecrime field priority C (illegal migration), aiming at suppressing illegal migration both at theborder crossing points and outside the areas of the border crossing points. The action wasconducted in the period 19-26. June, 2013 by the Border Police officers and the Regional PoliceDirectorates police officers- Dep artme nts and Sections dealing with the issues of suppressingillegal migration, as well as by the Traff ic Police off icers of the Police Directorates of PrijepoljeVranje, Leskovac, P irot, Bor, Nis and Nov i Pazar. The Bord er Police offic ers reinfo rced controlat the poin ts of entry to the Rep ublic of Serbia fro m the direction of the territory of the R epublicof Macedonia, Bulgaria and the Republic of Montenegro, whereas the other police off icersreinforced control and took up appropriate measures of covering the areas deeper in the territoryof the Republic of Serebia, with a view to preventing, detecting and conducting furtherproced ures in relation to the illegal migran ts.The Organised Crime Suppression Service of the Criminal Police Directorate of the Mol, of theRepub lic of Serbia up to now h as n 't had any join t investigations in the form of join t inve stigativeteams (JITs) which is the practice at the EU level. We are in the process of negotiating theestablishment of a JIT with an EU Member Stte, but the final decision thereon isto be adopted bythe Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, given that it is its competence.To date, the practice wa s bured ened by man y exam ples of the so called parallel investigations ,namely simultaneous investigation procedures in two or more states and (mostly) simultaneousoutcomes, namely complet ion of the invest igat ion procedures and shif t ing them under thecompetence of the Prosecutor 's Office . The regular pract ice fr om the establishment of thespecialised police service for organised crime suppression has become to introduce theprosecutor at the earliest stage of activities, in order to elaborate and develop the file at the mosthigh-quality level as possible, to have a high-quality evidence gathering procedure and to betterprepare the file for further criminal procedure. The above practice was aditionally reinforced bythe application of the new Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Serbia in the organisedcrime files, in which case the activities of the Organised Crime Suppression Service areconditioned by the so called prosecutorial investigation'.The figure s conce rning the join t operations are appro ximate, c onside ring that there we re fileswithin which intensive data exchange was done, but the Organised Crime Suppression Servicedid not get any feedback on the investigation results in the partner country. In this report we will


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ofthisspecialise d servic e of uic ivioi 01 ine KepuDiic ot Serbia.provide some of the mostconducted jointly with the fr \-p f U i n n M/ v i 1 r

Nu m ber of joint border control operations and joint borde r crossing patrols in the

Following the needs relating to reinforcement and further improvement of the police cooperationwith all the countries in immediate surroundings, our Ministry of the Interior takes up activitieesaimed at establishing and functioning og the join t patrols on the bo rders, pursuant to theConvention on Police Cooperation in South-East Europe (Vienna 2006) and bilateral agreementson police cooperation and related protocols. Joint patrols on the border with MacedoniaMontenegro and B&H are conducted on the basis of the Protocol on the Implementation onConducting Joint Patrols along the State Border concluded pursuant to the Convention.Along the state border of the Republic of Serbia with its neighbouring countries in 2012 weconducted 514 joint patrol activities, namely: along the border w ith the R of Bulgaria 124, B& H141, Republic of Macedonia 33 and with Montenegro 216.In the period January 1 2013- Augus t 15, 2013 w e conducted 413 join t patrol activities, nam ely:along the border with the R of Bulgaria 112, Bosnia & Herzegovina 83, Republic of Macedonia48 and Montenegro 170. The reason for return (refused asylum applicaiton, crim inal sanctions, extradition,readmission, voluntary return):

READMISSION - 2012 STATISTICS-returnees' citizenshipThe Republic of Serbia as requested party:1. Citizens of the Republic of SerbiaIn the period January 1, 2012- Dec emb er 31, 2012, out of total of 7709 asylum applications filedpursuant to the Readmission Agreement for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, 6581applications were granted, while 1128 applications were refused, namely:

Readmission TOTA L GRA NTED REFU SEDAgreement with theECGermany 3726 3417 309Sweden 966 916 50


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Hungary 1226 671 555France 339 254 85Austria 162 154 8Belgium 398 325 73TheNetherlands 31 27 4Italy 20 19 1Luxembourg 44 44 0Slovenia 6 6 0Czech Republic 1 1 0SlovakiaFinland 35 35 0Poland 1 1 0Romania 3 3 0Spain 5 4 1Great Britain 3 0 3Cyprus 1 1 0TOTAL: 6.967 5.878 1.089

Bilateral agreements TOTAL GRANTED REFUSEDSwitzerland 525 507 18Croatia 9 6 3Bosnia &Herzegovina 58 44 14Norway 45 43 1Canada 1 1 0


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Denmark 100 100 0Moldova 2 2 0Albania 1 0 1Macedonia 1 0 1t o t a l : 742 703 39

TOTAL: 7.709 6.581 1.1282. Third countries ' citizens and stateless persons :

T O T A L : G R A N T E D R E F U S E D4-237 3.715 522

Applications filed by the competent authorities of HungaryT O T A L G R A N T E D R E F U S E D3.767 3.453 314

CITIZENSHIPAfgha nistan 1.937 1.853 84Pakistan 886 710 176Iran 72 68 4Libya 27 27 /Turkey 60 60 /Tunisia 68 65 3Som alia 121 92 29Alge ria 138 136 2


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Palestine 36 35Morocco 95 93Syria 101 101Macedonia 7 7Eritrea 5 5Egypt 11 11India 22 20Iraq 23 23China 6 6Soudan 2 2Mauritania 3 3Montenegro 2 2Bangladesh 85 79Lebanon 13 13Western Sahara 1 1Jordan 1 1Sierra Leone 3 3Bosnia&Herzegovina 3 3Cameroun 8 8Macedonia 3 3Albania 6 6Burma 5 5Liberia 1 1Nigeria 6 6SriLanka 3 2


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GambiaVietnam

34

3/

/4

Applications filed by the competent authorities of the Republic of Romania

T O T A L A P P R O V E D R E F U S E D208 131 7 7

CITIZENSHIPAlgeria 45 30 15Morocco 28 18 10Pakistan 98 61 37Liberia 2 2 /Bangladesh 16 14 2Egypt 1 1 /Syria 1 1 /Libya 4 1 3Palestine 2 1 1Nigeria 2 1 1Tunisia 5 1 4Somalia 4 / 4

Applications filed by the comp etent authorities of the Repub lic of C roatiaT O T A L A P P R O V E D R E F U S E D132 23 109

CITIZENSHIP


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Afghanistan 48 12 36Myanmar 1 1 /Pakistan 24 3 21Syria 2 2 /Turkey 2 2 /Tunisia 5 2 3Palestine 1 1 /Somalia 35 / 35Bangladesh 1 / 1Congo 1 / 1Morocco 5 / 5Algeria 1 / 1Sudan 3 / 3Iraq 2 1 2Iran 1 / 1

Applications filedby thecompetent authoritiesofBosniaand HerzegovinaTOTAL APPROVED REFUSED130 108 22

CITIZENSHIPAfghanistan 64 43 21Somalia 48 47 1Iran 3 3 /Eritrea 4 4 /


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Sudan 2 2Comoros 2 2Algeria 2 2Palestine 1 1Pakistan 4 4

Republic of Serbia as the Requesting country.With regard to the requests addressed to the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina,during 2012, the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina received 2 requests in regardto the reception of their own citizens, for one of which the authorization was granted, while onerequest for reception within the territory of Bos nia and He rzegovina wa s de nied.As for the requests which were addressed to the authorities of the Swiss Confederation, during2012, there was one request for the reception of their own citizen for which the authorization forthe reception within the Swiss territory was granted.Requests sent to the competent authorities of the Republic of Macedonia

Republic ofMacedonia, year2012

T O T A L G R A N T E DA G R E E M E N T S N O N - G R A N T E DA G R E E M E N T SCITIZENSHIP 15 3 12Afghanis tan 12 0 12Syria 3 3 0

During 2012, there was one request for the reception of a Macedonian citizen for which theMacedonian competent authorities had issued their authorization.

RE ADM ISSION-ST ATISTIC AL DAT A for year 2013 until August 15th.Returnee s citizenshipThe Rep ublic of Serbia as the Requested State

1. For the citizens of the Repu blic of SerbiaFor the period January 1, 2013 until August 15 th, there were a total of 7 254 requests for thecitizens of the Republic of Serbia pursuant to the Agreement, out of which 5 173 of the requestswere granted and 2 081 readmission requests were denied, namely:


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Readmissionagreement with theE CTOTAL GRANTED DENIED

Germany 2950 2676 274Sweden 579 549 30Hungary 2536 899 1637France 140 102 38Austria 123 115 8Belgium 317 279 38Netherlands 29 29 0Italy 4 3 1Luxemburg 7 6 1Slovenia 2 2 0TheCzech Republic 0 0 0Slovakia 3 2 1Finland 27 27 0Poland 2 1 1Romania 8 4 4Spain 30 18 12Great Britain 0 0 0Cyprus 0 0 0Greece 1 1 0Latvia 0 0 0Lithuania 0 0 0Estonia 0 0 0Portugal 0 0 0Bulgaria 0 0 0Croatia 0 0 0TOTAL: 6759 4714 2045Bilateral agreements TOTAL GRANTED DENIEDSwitzerland 297 268 29Croatia 9 8 1Bosnia andHerzegovina 23 22 1Norway 25 23 2Canada 2 1 1Denmark 138 137 1Moldavia 0 0 0Albania 0 0 0Macedonia 1 0 1TOTAL: 495 459 36TOTAL: 7 254 5173 2081


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2. Third country citizens or stateless persons

Total number of requests in relation to the third country citizens and statelesspersons in 2013T O T A L : G R A N T E D D E N IE D1327 1256 71

Requests submitted by competent authorities of the Republic of HungaryCITIZENSHIP T O T A L G R A N T E D D E N I E DAfghanis tan 321 321 0Pakistan 289 288 1Iran 2 2 0Libya 4 4 0Turkey 25 25 0Tunisia 37 37 0Somalia 29 13 16Algeria 176 174 2Palestine 10 9 1Morocco 69 69 0Syria 78 78 0Macedonia 7 7 0Eritrea 57 27 30Egypt 1 1 0India 8 8 0Iraq 10 10 0


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China 0 0 0Sudan 19 11 8Mauritania 2 2 0Montenegro 4 4 0Bangladesh 29 29 0Lebanon 0 0 0Western Sahara 4 4 0Jordan 1 1 0Sierra Leon 5 5 0BosniaandHerzegovina

1 1 0

Cameron 0 0 0Albania 10 10 0Senegal 1 1 0Liberia 0 0 0Nigeria 9 9 0SriLanka 1 1 0Gambia 8 8 0Vietnam 0 0 0N o citizenship 1 1 0Guinea 5 5 0Burkina Faso 1 1 0Ivory Coast 9 9 0Mali 32 32 0Togo 2 2 0


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Russian Federation 4 4 0Cuba 2 2 0Croatia 2 2 0Ghana 8 8 0Yemen 2 1 0N ew country 0 0 0Myanmar 1 1 0Nepal 1 1 0TOTAL 1288 1230 58Requests submittedbycompetent authoritiesof theRepublic ofRomaniaCITIZENSHIP TOTAL GRANTED DENIEDAlgeria 2 2 0Morocco 0 0 0Pakistan 2 2 0Liberia 0 0 0Bangladesh 1 1 0Egypt 0 0 0Syria 0 0 0Libya 0 0 0Palestine 0 0 0Nigeria 0 0 0Tunisia 2 2 0Somalia 0 0 0Afghanistan 1 0 1


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T O T A L 8 7 1

Requests submitted by competent authorities of the Republic of CroatiaCITIZENSHIP T O T A L G R A N T E D D E N I E DAfghanis tan 3 0 3Mjanmar 0 0 0Pakistan 4 4 0Syria 0 0 0Turkey 0 0 0Tunisia 0 0 0Palestine 0 0 0Somalia 1 0 1Bangladesh 2 0 2Congo 0 0 0Morocco 0 0 0Algeria 0 0 0Sudan 0 0 0Iraq 1 1 0Iran 0 0 0TOTAL: 11 5 6Requests submitted ly competent authorities of Bosnia and HerzegovinaCITIZENSHIP T O T A L G R A N T E D D E N IE DAfghanis tan 15 9 6Somalia 0 0 0


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Iran 0 0 0Eritrea 0 0 0Sudan 0 0 0Comoros 0 0 0Algeria 0 0 0Palestine 0 0 0Pakistan 1 1 0Syria 4 4 0T O T A L :

1 20 14 6

Republic of Serbia as the Requesting StateRepublic ofMacedonia

T O T A L G R A N T E D D E N I E D

CITIZENSHIP 19 11 8Afghanis tan 8 6 2Pakistan 6 0 6Syria 4 4 0Iraq 1 1 0

During 2013, a request for readmission of one Croatian citizen was sent to the competentauthorities of the Republic of C roatia to which the answer is still pending. Num ber of passengers:Total flow at the border for 2012 was 48.217.908 passengers out of which 28.234.446 wereforeign citizens and 19.983.462 of our own nationals.In the period from January 1, 2013 until August 15, 2013 there were 31.091.869 passengers outof which 18.113.894 of them we re foreign citizens and 12.977.975 we re our own na tionals.


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Type o fpassengers domestic a n dforeign)

FLOWO F PASSENGERSAT TH E BOBEDER IN 2012

INTERNATIONALT I*AFFIC OTHER MODESO F TRAFFIC COLLECTIVELY /INTERNATIONALA N DOTHERTOTALFOREIGN/TOTALDOMESTIC TOTALFLOW A T

THEBORDER

CITIZENS DOMESTICNATIONALSFOREIGNCITIZENS

DOMESTICNATIONALS

FOREIGNCITIZENS DOMESTICNATIONALS FOREIGN DOMESTIC

TOTALFLOW A TTHEBORDERENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT

FOREIGN DOMESTIC

TOTALFLOW A TTHEBORDER

11444200 10136508 6255851 7031074 3424239 3229499 3292034 3404503 14868439 13366007 9547885 10435577 28.234.446 19.983.462 48.217.908

FLOWO FPASSENGERSAT THE BOBJ)ER IN THE PERIOD 01.01.2013 UNTIL 15.08.2013

INTERNATIONALTIIAFFIC OTHER MODESO FTRAFFIC COLLECTIVELY /INTERNATIONAL A N DOTHERTOTALFOREIGN/TOTALDOMESTIC TOTALFLOW A T

THEBORDERCITIZENS

DOMESNATIO>

TICiALS

FOREIGNCITIZENS

DOMESTICNATIONALS

FOREIGNCITIZENS

DOMESTICNATIONALS FOREIGN DOMESTIC


ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXIT ENTRY EXITFOREIGN DOMESTIC


7417842 6342073 4125967 4626434 2245241 2108738 2029762 2195812 9663083 8450811 6155729 6822246 18.113.894 12.977.975 31.091.869


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Reque sts for biometric passports:The Law on travel documents ( O fficial Gaze tte of the RS No. 90/07, 116/08, 104/09 and76/10) proscribes that a request for the issuance of a passport can be submitted in theorganizational unit of the Ministry of the Interior based on the place of permanent residence,i.e. temporary residence, as well as through competent diplomatic or consular posts of theRepublic of Serbia. In addition to this, in line with the Reg ulation on the fulfillm ent of therequirements for the issuance of passports for persons from AP Kosovo and Metohija(Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 76/09 of September 16, 2009) whichproscribes the procedu re for determining the level of fulfillm ent of the requirements for theissuance of passports to the citizens of the Republic of Serbia with their place of residencebeing AP Kosovo and M etohija and to the citizens of the Republic of Serbia whosecertificates of citizenship were issued by the authorities of the Republic of Serbia havingjurisdiction over the area of AP Kosovo and Metohija and who do not have their residenceregistered on the territory of the Republic of Serbia since September 17, 2009, theCoordination Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, located inBelgrade (Ljermontova Street No. 12a) is the only authority in charge of the issuance ofpassports to the abovementioned category of citizens.Since January 1, 2012 until December 31, 2012, the Ministry of the Interior issued a total of584 668 passports, out of which:- 32 954 passports were issued based on the requests submitted through the diplomatic and

consular posts of the Republic of Serbia;- 535 281 passpo rts were issued based on the requests subm itted through the police

directorates and police stations of the Mo l of the RS;- 16 433 passpo rts were issued by the Coordination Directorate of the M ol of the RS.Since January 1, 2013 until August 15, 2013 a total of 296 861 we re issued, out of wh ich:- 10 863 passpo rts were issued based on the requests submitted through the diplomatic and

consular posts of the Republic of Serbia;- 279 250 passpo rts were issued based on the requests submitted through the police

directorates and police stations of the Mol of the RS;- 6 748 passports were issued by the Coordination Directorate of the M ol of the RS. Stolen and lost biome tric passpor ts:With regard to the notification method to report cases of stolen and lost passports there is acomprehensive database within the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia onstolen and lost passports. The mentioned data is also contained in the Interpol's database forsystematic-electronic n otification, based in Lion, France.


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In INTERP OL'S Stolen and Lost Travel Doc ume nt (SLT D) databa se, for previou s year andfor the first seven months of this year, the following was recorded:- Since January 1, 2012 until Dece mbe r 31, 2012 a total of 7 254 piece s of informa tion on

lost passports were recorded.- Since Jan uary 1, 2013 until Au gust 15, 2013 , a total of5 167 piece s of informa tion on lost

passports were recorded. Dom estic investigations in regard to the abettors of illegal migration:Within the Criminal Police Directorate of the Mol of the RS the Sector for suppression of humantrafficking and illegal migration of the Department for suppression of general organized crime ofthe Service for the fight against organized crime is in charge of this issue. Such specificorganizational positioning of this Sector, within the Criminal police Directorate, indica tes that theSector is, in regard to illegal migration, solely in charge of organized crime cases, i.e. organizedillegal migration cases. H oweve r, due to its specific nature, this specialized Sector of the criminalpolice maintains regular and close cooperation with the Border Police Directorate of the Mol ofthe RS.

During 2012, (the investigation took place fr om Oc tober 21, 2011 until April 6, 2012) the S ervicefor the Fight Against Organized Crime had conducted an operation which was aimed at acriminal group involved in illegal transfer i.e. smuggling of persons-foreign citizens, mostlycitizens of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Within this investigation, the Service for the Fight AgainstOrganized Crime filed criminal charges against three (3) individuals since there was reasonableground to believe that this criminal group organized illegal stay of 9 illegal migrant, fromFebruary 2-3, 2012 at one address in Subotica and also for reasonable ground to believe that theyorganized illegal stay of 29 illegal migrants for the period October 26 to November 2011 inSubotica. Other organizational units of the Mol RS, based on the information received from theSFAC filed a total of five (5) criminal charges against 9 individuals since there was reasonableground to believe that they committed a criminal offence Illegal crossing of the state border andsmuggling of persons (Article 350, Criminal C ode of the RS).In cooperation with Regional Police Directorates in areas of Pancevo, Subotica, SmederevskaPalanka, Belgrade and Kanjiza, the SFAC of the Mol RS had led an investigation, fromNovember 5,2012 until June 18, 2013, which in May 2013 resulted in the arrest of five(members) of a criminal group. This criminal group was involved in the committance of acriminal offence- Illegal crossing of the state border and smuggling of persons (Article 350,Criminal Code of the RS) in the area of Turkey, Serbia, Hungary and Austria. Since the end ofOctober until mid May 2013, the mentioned criminal group had committed a total of 13 criminaloffences by which it had allowed illegal crossing of the state border with Hungary and theirtransport to Austria for at least 96 persons (out of which for 51 persons the citizenship was notpossible to determine, 21 were citizens of Turkey, 3 citizens of the Russian Federation, 13


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citizens of Serbia fomi the AP Kosovo and Metohija region, and 8 citizens of Afghanistan).Through the comm ittance of this criminal offen ce the mentioned criminal group gained profit inthe amount of tens of thousands of Euros, from which sum one transaction through the WesternUnion was as high as over 52.000 Euros. Through intensive cooperation with police authorities ofHungary and Austria great contribution was given to the collection and harvesting of data andevidence on the activities of this criminal group.During the reporting period, the SFAC received information from one EU member state in regardto smuggling of the so called bogus asylum see kers . Right after the consultations with theProsecutor's Office for organized crime, this data was transferred to the Border PoliceDirectorate since the information provided no ground for the prosecution for organized crime toget involved, so the SFAC concluded that there were no elements for their further involvement inthe case.

Num ber of cases detected, pend ing cases (adm inistrative or crim inal), those prosecu tedand court decisions:During the reporting period a total of 274 criminal charges were filed for a criminal offenceIllegal crossing of the state border and smuggling of persons (Article 350 of the CriminalCode of the RS), against 445 person s for smuggling of 2634 pe rsons.

Impact of the returne e reintegration me asure:After entry into force of the Law on migration management, at the end of 2012, the Commissariatfor refugees and migration of the Republic of Serbia became the authority in charge of migrationmanagement, tasked with coordination of the activities falling under its competence andestablishing cooperation among all state bodies which ensure the implementation of the legallyproscribed obligation.Strategy for the reintegration of returnees, based on the implementation of the ReadmissionAgreement ( The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia , No. 15/09) helped in definingpriorities for several areas of reintegration of returnees: issuance of personal documents,resolving accommodation issues, creating conditions for their employment and availability andaccess to other rights.From the mentioned Strategy, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia hasundertaken the obligation to provide assistance to returnees, pursuant to the ReadmissionAgreement, in resolving their status-related issues: permanent and temporary stay and issuance ofID cards, as first steps in the process of resolving issues such as social security, healthcare,enrollment of their children to schools, etc. We w ould like to note that these issues are dealt with,within the competent organizational units of the Mol, in an accelerated procedure, keeping inmind the necessity to reintegrate all persons, who were returned pursuant to the provisions of the


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Readmission Agreement to the Republic of Serbia, into social and economic flows in an efficient,effective and sustainable manner, regardless of their national, religious or any other affiliation.

The Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia, within its own purview, is activelyparticipating in the realization of action plans for the implementation of the Strategy for theimprovement of the status of Roma, through the implementat ion of the Decade of RomaInclusion 2005-2015, in the area of personal document issuance which are needed for therealization of rights pertaining to social, health-related and o ther rights.This Ministry has contributed significantly in resolving the problems of persons who do not haveidentif icat ion documents, namely the members of Roma populat ion, where the majori ty of themdo not have any documents, through various forms of cooperation with other subjects which arerelevant for finding solutions to status issues of these individuals, as well as through individualactivities which reflect in provision of professional assistance, timely and fully delivery ofinformation and familiarization of these persons in regard to the procedures for issuance ofpersonal documents, as well as other necessary measures which ensure that each and every IDcard issuance procedure is conducted in a simplified fashion, in line with the law.Thorough legal norms of the Law on Identif icat ion Card, the Law on amendments andconsolidations to the Law on Identification Card, the Law on Permanent and temporary stay ofcitizens and the Rulebook on the form for registration of stay at the institution i.e. the Center forsocial labor, as well as the Rulebook on the procedure for registration and cancelling ofpermanent and temporary residence, registration of temporary residence abroad and return fromabroad, freezing of permanent and temporary residence status, forms and manner of keepingrecords, whose adoption was initiated by this Ministry, mechanisms which allow for easier accessto personal documents, including registering residence at the address of the Center for sociallabor for persons who do not have their residence registered based on any other grounds, werecreated in cases where all legally proscribed conditions have been fulfilled.In accordance with data which this Ministry was able to obtain a total of 327 persons hadregistered their residence at the address of the Center fo r social labor.In its endeavors to address the issues that this category of citizens are facing the Ministry of theInterior is undertaking various activities such as accelerated procedures on acceptance tocitizenship cases in order to allow those persons to use these certificates of citizenship of theRepublic of Serbia to practice their rights and receive their personal documents and also all otherrights which are vouched by the Constitution.Also, within its purview, this Ministry has taken part in various round tables which werededicated to the prob lem s of the status of the legally invisible persons , i .e. the citizens of Serbiawhose legal identity has not been recognized through certificates of birth and due to which theywere deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms. We would also like to underline that the


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Ministry of Justice and local government is in charge of dealing and resolving the problems ofthe status of the legally invisible perso ns i.e. registering their birth in the officia l records w hichis a precondition for them to register their residence and ha ve their personal d ocum ents issued.In connection to the above mentioned, pursuant to Article 7 of the Agreement on understandingbetween this Minis try , O mbudsman and the UN High Com missariat for Refug ees representationin Serbia a decision was adopted on October 25, 2012, on establishing a Task Force whosemembers were also the representatives of this Ministry. The main task of this TF was to carry outall the activities whose ultimate aim was to implement the Agreement- registering members ofthe Roma national minority who were not registered so far into the official books on all borncitizens.In this regard, there was a training course on registering all those who weren't registered in theseofficial books, which wa s conducted throug h the entire territory of Serbia.At the same time, the Ministry had actively participated in the design of the Action Plan forperiod 2012-2014, for the implementation of the Strategy for the improvement of the status ofRoma. What is being done to reintegrate RomaAccording to the available information, 3668 Roma were employed in 2012.Am ong the job see kers who were registered at the National Emp loym ent Service,

193 5 Roma w ere em ployed in 2011, out of which 715 fem ales;1474 Roma were employed in 2012, out of which 481 females.

The m ajority of Rom a fin d job s in public utilities, textile and leather industry, c onstruction, tradeand catering, mechanical engineering and metal processing, and agriculture and food processingindustries.With a view to encouraging employment of Roma as less employable persons and their highersocial inclusion, the National Employment Action Plans for 2011 and 2012 envisaged thefollowing: promoting the importance of Roma employment, motivating the unemployed Roma toactively search for job s and to undergo additional e ducation and training, encouragingentrepreneurship, encouraging employers to employ Roma by granting subsidies for new jobs,developing and implementing special measures targeting Roma women and providing assistancefor Roma associations and public works project proposals applicants that predominantly engageRoma people in the development of the proposals.


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For a few years in a row, special public invitations have been announced for the allocation ofsubsidies for self-employment of Roma people as well as for employment of Roma people bypotential employers.In 2012, unemployed Roma showed more interest to become involved in the programmes andmeasures for an active employment policy. In addition, these measures encompassed 18,320Roma (8202 of which were women).Given the unfavourable level of educat ion among Roma, i t is worth mentioning that 930 Romahave been involved in the Second Chance Project - a program of the funct ional elementaryeducation for adults which encompasses completion of elementary education and participation intraining wh ich enables the first vocational qualification to be ac quired.

One of the target groups of the YEM joint program me Support to nat ional efforts for thepromotion of youth employm ent and manag ement of migrat ion ( involving four UN agencies -IOM, ILO, UN ICEF and UND P), which was im plemented unti l Ma y 2012 in f ive distr icts (SouthBaka, Belgrade, P6inja, Nisava and Pomoravlje) covering 52 municipal i t ies , were Roma people(vulnerable youth aged 15-30 with low level of education). The project has helped theestablishment of the Youth E mploym ent Fund w ith 2716 beneficiar ies (vulnerable youth) , 396 ofwhich are Roma (14.6%).In 2012, the National Employment Service participated in several projects together with NGOsregarding the improvement of the posi t ion of Rom a wom en, n amely:1. KruSevac Branch Offic e organised a meeting with the Rom a NG O Rom ani Cikna about theproblems related to the employment of Roma w om en and m easures taken in that respect;

2. PanCevo Brach Office took part in the work of a team in the Pancevo City Administration,together with other NGOs, to develop a strategy of inclusion of Roma women and improvementof their status;3. Pirot Branch Off ice has cooperated with the Ro m a NG O Ternipe which is implementing theproject First Step for economic empow erment of Rom a wom en of Pirot Municipal i ty. Thecooperat ion involves exchange of information and experience regarding the status of Romawo men in Pirot who are registered as jo b seeke rs at the Pirot Branch Of fice of the Na tionalEmployment Service;4. At the beginning of M arch 201 2, Ni Bra nch Of fice took part in the round table m eetingorganised by the NG O Osvit on the occasion of the 8 Ma rch, the topic being Exercise of rightsby Rom a wome n in Ni and prevention of violence against w om en ;


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5. Participation in the round table meeting organised by the Roma Information Centre ofKragujevac, the topic being Proposal of incentives for self-employm ent of Rom a men / Rom awo men at local level in April 2012 .The National Employment Action Plan for 2013 identif ies Roma as people with loweremployability who are being given priority in 2013 regarding their inclusion in the activeemployment policy measures. The planned measures build on previous act ivi t ies in terms ofengaging Roma in the labour market and society and encouraging their employment. One of theactivities plann ed under the twinning projec t Preparation of Lab our Mark et Institutions of theRepublic of Serbia for the European Employment Strategy , funded by IPA 2011, is providingassistance to local self-government authori t ies with high unemployment rate among Roma toidentify the needs and possibilities of the local labour market and to develop local employmentaction plans.With regard to the dissemination of information on possibilities for employment, in connection tothe promotion of providing employm ent for the Ro ma populat ion, they are ful ly transparent. Allpublic competitions and specialized public competitions designed especially for the Roma arepublished through public information services and always covered in the media, and in additionto this all information is available at the website of the National Service for Employment.In connection to the planned activities for the upcoming period, the realization of a TwinningProject Preparat ion of Serbian Labor Market Insti tut ions for European Em ploym ent Strategywith the main purpose of this project being the adjustment of Serbian labor market institutions tothe European employment strategy and standards as well as the acceleration of reforms of thelabor market and strengthening the impact of the National employment strategy is under way.This project is financed from IPA 2011 funds and will be carried out in the Ministry of Labor andSocial Policy with the partners from the European Union (Republic of France, Republic ofRomania and the Kingdom of Sw eden).Within this Twinning project training courses in the field of anti-discrimination in the labormarket shall be organized and within the second component of the Twinning project whichcovers the issue of decentralization and development of the local employment policy differentactivities pertaining to the employment of the Roma have been designed. It has been planed toconduct an analysis of the position and status of the Roma in local self-governments andidentified municipalities which call for urgent resolution to the problem of the Roma employmentissue. This activity is designed to be the opening activity of the IPA 2012 project. It is alsoplanned to have the EU Member states assisting in the design of project proposals pertaining tothe employment of the Roma populat ion in order for those proposals to be ready ahead of theutilization o fdifferentIPA projects.Within the IPA 2012 Program Cycle, on December 21st 2012, a financial arrangement betweenthe Government of the Republic of Serbia and the European Commission had been signed which


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serves as a basis for the implementation of the National Program for Serbia. Funds for theimplementat ion of employment-related measures h ave been al located, n amely:W ithin the first mea sure: Enh ance men t of the efficien cy level of the employ men t strategypertaining to vulnerable groups , an array of activities have been planned and they realizationshall be conducted ba sed on the direct allocation of fun ds to the Nation al Em ploym ent Service.Within these measures the following activities have also been planned: Inclusion of 5.000 unem ploye d persons wh o fall unde r the vuln erable categor y into thetraining designed for the needs of the labor market (at least 300 persons of Roma nationality havebeen included) and Training for members of local Employment Councils, local self-governments and subsidiariesof the National Employment Service for the integration of Roma into local development plans(including also local employment action plans). All listed activities shall be accompanied by training programs aimed at the enhancement of thecapacity of service providers in the field of employment.In addition to this, within measure 5 which was designed for the Roma population, theestablishment of mobile teams in 20 municipalities has been envisaged which would in additionto one Roma mediator, one employee of the Center for Social Labor and a visiting nurse alsoinclude the representatives of the Employment service. Their task would be to visit informalRoma settlements and provide important information, within their respective purviews. Also,within the same measure i t has been planed for the National Employment Service to providesupport to the establ ishment of planned social enterprises which would provide employment forthe Roma.In the area of social protection aiming at the greatest possible level of inclusion of the Roma, thefollowing projec ts of the Ro ma O rganizations we re financed:1) Associat ion of Rom a, Apri l 8th from Srbobran, for the project Better Future whichsupports accommodation during the day for members of the Roma community (meetings,socialization, free legal assistance).2) Associat ion of Rom a Beo cin for their project Hom e assistance for the elderly .3) Associat ion of Rom a Prokuplje , their project Social Center Prok uplje which supportsaccommod ation during the day for chi ldren and youth w ith behavior problem s.4) Rom a Women from Vojvodina, Nov i Becej , for their project Spread further which supportsthe elevation of the level of familiarization in regard to the ways how to practice their socialprotection rights.


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5) Associat ion of Ro ma W omen Osvit , Nis, for the project Guide through social servicesdesigned to break the cycle of violenc e in Ro ma , Serbian and English langu age wh ich suppo rtsthe public information campaign and breaking of the vicious cycle.6) Society Bakija Bak ic for the project Hom e assistance to elderly, persons who are withoutany family help and persons with disabilities to ethnic Roma .In the field of gender equality, pursuant to the National Strategy for the improvement of theposi t ion of women and enhancement of gender equali ty and with the Recommendations of theUN Committee on the Eliminat ion of Discriminat ion against Women (CEDAW), the GenderEquality Council of the Republic of Serbia had convened an urgent meeting with therepresentatives of the civil society organizations during which a conclusion was adopted in regardto the immediate need for the nomination of one member, a female representat ive of Romaethnicity, to the Gender Equality Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia aiming atgaining a bet ter insight into the problems which Roma women encounter dai ly and to define theactivities for the enhance men t o f their status.Within regular activities aimed at providing support to local gender equality mechanisms thefemale representatives of Roma ethnicity have also been supported. We are also monitoring theexisting local action plans designed for the improvement of the position of women in order toensure that specific issues characteristic to Roma communities are also included.The purpose of the meeting of the representatives of relevant institutions of the Republic ofSerbia, which was held on July 22nd, 2013, was to determine short-term measures which wouldcontribute to the reduction of the num ber of the so called bog us asylum seek ers , in line with theRecommendations of the President of the National Council of the Roma minori ty. Duringconsultations which were held in August 2013, measure which are likely to be implemented in avery short period and through regular activities have been defined. In addition to therepresentative of the EU Delegation in Serbia, representatives of the Ministry of Labor and SocialPolicy also participated at the mentioned meeting and consultations.

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