Refugees

The United Nations food agency said March 6 it had been forced to withdraw aid from nine Syrian refugee camps in Turkey due to a lack of funds, calling on donors to step up and help fill the funding gap.

BELGRADE - Serbia has played a constructive role regarding halting asylum seekers from Kosovo, European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Thursday.

Director of the temporary refugee center in Harmanli, Marko Petrov has been suspended from office Thursday.

The order was given by the Chair of the State Agency for Refugees with the Council of Ministers in Bulgaria, Nikola Kazakov on February 27.

Serbian citizens top list of asylum seekers in EU

BRUSSELS -- Serbia is still ranked first when it comes to the number of its citizens seeking asylum in Western Europe, a recent report by the European Commission has said.

It is necessary to take a series of measures to stop it, the report added.

BRUSSELS - Serbia is still ranked first when it comes to the number of its citizens seeking asylum in Western Europe and it necessary to take a number of steps to put a stop to that, according to the latest report by the European Commission.

16,500 people sought asylum in Serbia last year

BELGRADE -- Deputy Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Ivan Gerginov said on Wednesday that 16,500 people have sought asylum in Serbia in 2014.

11,300 of them found shelter in asylum centers, he revealed.

Amnesty International released its annual report on Wednesday, which documents the state of the human rights during 2014 in 160 countries, including Bulgaria.

The NGO notes that Bulgaria achieved partial improvements to reception conditions for asylum-seekers entering the country, but concerns remained over access and integration of refugees.

European rights officials are to urge Montenegro to shut the largest refugee camp in the country, where Roma displaced from Kosovo by the late 1990s war are still living in desperate conditions.

Approximately 40% of asylum seekers in Bulgaria perceive themselves as vulnerable.

The strongest effect could be sensed among children, young adults, pregnant women, elderly people and those that went through physical or psychological torture and violence, the Bulgarian National Radio reported.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) dismissed media reports suggesting Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are planning to expand their family by adopting a two-year-old Syrian boy named Moussa from a refugee camp in Turkey.