Refugee

Refugees in Bulgaria are staging a protest to demand papers allowing them to head for Germany or another EU member state.

The protest is to be held Wednesday in front of the European Commission Representation in Sofia, according to reports of Trud daily.

BELGRADE - The leader of the Coalition of Refugee Associations Miodrag Linta announced on Tuesday that he will request that UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres reject the Croatian initiative aimed at rescinding the refugee status of Serb expellees, adding that this would be the final act of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Croatia.

Amnesty International

European countries must not transfer any asylum seekers to Bulgaria until the country truly improves its appalling reception conditions and addresses its deeply flawed asylum procedures, said Amnesty International.

Sixty-one illegal immigrants were apprehended at Bulgaria's “green” border with Turkey in the last 24 hours, Interior Ministry said. 

They are taken to the primary holding centers and are receiving medical attention. Later they will be processed in accordance with the legal requirements. 

Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev said authorities are preparing for a new wave of refugees in spring. 

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom has arrived on a two-day visit to Bulgaria with regards to the refugee situation in the country.

"I welcome the recent steps that Bulgaria has taken to deal with the refugee wave," Malmstrom said during the conference called 'The Common European Asylum System: Challenges and perspectives', BGNES reports.

ZAGREB - The Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF) accused on Friday the Croatian government that its announcement that it would remove the refugee status from the people who fled Croatia during the 1990s war was intended to stop the return of Serb refugees and complete the ethnic cleansing.

The UN refugee agency issued a report saying there was a sharp rise in asylum claims in 44 industrialized countries in 2013. driven primarily by the crisis in Syria.

UNHCR's "Asylum Trends 2013" report says 612,700 people applied for asylum in North America, Europe, East Asia and the Pacific in 2013, which is the highest total for any year since 2001.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom will be visiting Bulgaria on 24-25 March, with regards to the refugee situation in the country.

EU Commissioner Malmstrom will participate in a conference "The Common European Asylum System: Challenges and perspectives", Monday.

1,539 people sought asylum in January and February

BELGRADE -- In the first two months of 2014, 1,539 people sought political asylum in Serbia, while the total for 2013 was 5,065, authorities have announced.