The UN Office in Serbia presented today a regional plan in response to the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe which stipulates Serbia being granted $40 million in financial assistance in 2016.
The plan, which covers the East Meditterranean and West Balkan route, was presented in Geneva yesterday under the patronage of the UNCHR and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and calls for assistance to Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey in dealing with the problem of refugees and migrants this year.
At the official presentation of the plan, the UN Resident Coordinator for Serbia, Irena Vojáčková-Sollorano said that the planned assistance included humanitarian aid and providing mid-term development support to the Serbian government in meeting the refugee and migrant needs particularly in areas like protection, education, food, healthcare and nutrition, logistics and shelters, sanitation and supporting local communities.
The implementation of this plan requires a full operational cooperation between governments and the UN agencies, as well as between NGOs – she said.
Vojáčková-Sollorano also added that the Plan’s goals was to build on the existing capacities of governments in order to protect the migrants and refugees and to have access to long-term solutions.
In reply to the questions from the journalists, Sollorano also mentioned that the plan was based on the experiences from 2015 and that it remained to be seen how the situation would develop.
In terms of the amount set aside for helping other countries in the region, she said that that plan was not finalised as yet, hence she could not give out more information about it.
(Tanjug, 26.01.2016)
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