Representatives of the Commissariat for Refugees have over the course of the month of September, received 81 returnees from Norway, 17 from Sweden, 30 from Germany, 11 from Switzerland, 3 from Italy and one each from the countries of Austria and Belgium. Those returned were brought back on the basis of the Readmission Agreement, of which the majority were persons displaced from the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.

The Commissariat took over the responsibility of running the, “Office for Readmission,” located at the Nikola Tesla Airport in 2008 (the office is located in the baggage claim terminal, between customs and passport control). The Commissariat has been endowed with the authority to act as the primary recipient of the returnees. In so doing it also assumes the responsibility of provisioning emergency care/accommodation to those returned, maintaining positive cooperation with the communities set to receive the returnees and is instrumental in the coordination, planning and implementation of field activities.

  

Returnees (those who have not been successful in obtaining the documentation necessary for the continuation of their stay in the country they had inhabited) are being brought back by means of regular commercial flights in the case of individuals or one to two families; in the event that their number exceeds 30 persons, by means of a chartered flights. The country which thus far has sent the highest number of returnees is Germany, followed by Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. Approximately 1,000 persons per annum are being brought back into the Republic of Serbia via the Nikola Tesla Airport.

Upon their arrival in Belgrade, the returnees are first interviewed by members of the readmission team (who assist them in filling out questionnaires), and are subsequently presented with all the essential information deemed as being useful in further aiding the process of their integration into the place of their return (information concerning the process of readmission, organizations and institutions to whom they can turn for additional assistance and the manner of aid being offered by the aforementioned). Transportation, should it be required, is provided to one of the emergency reception centres located in Šabac, Bela Palanka and Zaječar.

  

Persons who express the wish for accomodation in one of the reception centres, are in conjunction with the stipulations of the Readmission Agreement, granted accomodation therein for a fortnight. Upon the expiration of this period, returnees are then relocated to those municipalities where they intend to settle permanently. So far over the course of this year, roughly 100 persons have been housed inside of these reception centres with their nourishment and other needs being attended to by the Commissariat for Refugees. 

On the basis of the Readmission Agreement, returnees upon presentation of their travel document are granted the opportunity of soliciting one time financial assistance from the Centre for Social Employment, while upon obtaining their documentation and fulfilling certain conditidtions as defined by law, are entitled to recieve material assistance for their families. Those individuals who do not possess the financial resources necessary for the payment of transportaion costs are entitled to demand from Centre for Social Employment a free, oneway ticket in order that they might reach their intended destination.

Amongst those returned, the majority are Roma, followed by Serbs and Muslims.