Refugee Commissioner says refugees won’t be evicted

Human rights activists prevented the eviction of refugees and displaced persons from apartments that they occupied illegally in the past two days. The apartments were allocated to refugees who applied for housing but so far they have been unable to move in. Under Serbian law, refugees are people who fled from former Yugoslav republics while people who fled from Kosovo are classed as displaced persons.  

Cucic said that no one would be evicted if they have no other place to go but that would not hold true for “someone who comes over from Sarajevo once every three months and needs a place to sleep”.  

“Why hasn’t anyone asked when a woman with cancer will be able to move into her apartment so that she can have 200 Euros a month more to pay for her treatment,” the commissioner said.   Speaking about the building in Ustanicka street, the commissioner said that his staff spoke to one of the people who are illegally occupying an apartment and were promised that he would move out by August 15 in return for help in finding a house outside Belgrade.  

The people illegally occupying the apartment can apply for housing, a village house or construction material. “We have offered them everything that we can give,” he said.  

Cucic said that claims that the Commissariat was to blame for the situation are not true. “This is not Commissariat housing, this is the apartment of some poor soul who has been waiting for years, since 2016,” he added.