Refugee

Serbia safe country of origin, asylum requests "groundless"

BERLIN -- The German government adopted on Wednesday an asylum bill that declares Serbia a safe country of origin.

This makes asylum requests by Serbian citizens groundless in principle and shortening the procedure of repatriating asylum-seekers.

An influx of asylum seekers from Syria has exacerbated border security challenges, raised interethnic tensions, and challenged underfunded state agencies, said a US report. 

The annual US Department of State report on terrorism, released on Wednesday, notes that there are concerns that this flow of people could allow some foreign fighters to transit in and out of Bulgaria. 

BERLIN - The German government adopted on Wednesday an asylum bill that declares Serbia a safe country of origin, making asylum requests by Serbian citizens groundless in principle and shortening the procedure of repatriating asylum-seekers.

The Bulgarian Red Cross expressed support for the Interior Ministry over a Human Rights Watch report harshly criticizing the country´s immigration policies.

The European Union said Tuesday it would promote common guidelines across the bloc for the health screening of incoming migrants and refugees.

“My intention is to set up a working group... to create guidelines on what (diseases) to screen for, when and how,” EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said during a two-day informal meeting of EU health ministers in Athens.

Human Rights Watch is a fraudulent organization which cynically manipulates public opinion, president of Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees Nikolai Chirpanliev claimed.

Amnesty International on Tuesday urged the European Union to sanction Greece over the country’s failure to eradicate the practice of pushing back refugees and migrants at its borders.

Bulgaria has embarked on a "Containment Plan" to reduce the number of asylum seekers in the country, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Tuesday.

Syrian refugees have been facing discrimination from the inhabitants of Rozovo, a Bulgarian village, according to the National Ombudsman.

Penchev's comments came after three Syrian families were forced to leave Rozovo, a village in Central Bulgaria, following calls by locals that they go away until Monday.

Nikolay Chirpanliev, Chair of Bulgaria's State Agency for Refugees, has rejected the allegations of international human rights organizations of cases of violence against refugees.

Human Rights Watch has argued in a report that Bulgarian border police pushed back into Turkey asylum seekers. At the same time, the Border Monitoring NGO is also looking into similar cases.