International Migrants Day marked creatively, with messages about tolerance

Nataša Stanisavljević, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration, reminded on the occasion of the International Migrants Day, which was observed on December 18, that 5,200 migrants reside in 16 reception and asylum centers managed by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, of which 4,780 are men, 156 are women. and 264 children. As for the national structure, the migrants are from Morocco, Afghanistan, Syria, Burundi, and Pakistan.

“Regardless of the length of their stay in Serbia, accommodation, food, clothing, medical care are provided for all of them, and the children are included in the education system,” she said.

On the occasion of the International Migrants Day, children from the Center for Accommodation of Foreign Minors Unaccompanied by Parents or Guardians in Belgrade, with the help of educators, organized and implemented a creative workshop titled “Equal rights for all children of the world and the best interests of the child”. The children expressed their creativity, imagination, ideas and thoughts through their works.

In the Reception Center for Migrants in Sombor, field worker from the Center for Social Work Sombor Anja Radoš and educator from the Ecumenical Humanitarian Organization (EHO) Dragana Drljević held the workshop “We Walk Together”. The workshop was held in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, with the support of volunteers from the Sombor educational center. Through various activities at the workshop, attention was paid to human rights, anti-discrimination and solidarity.

An educational and creative workshop was also organized in which minor migrants who are accommodated in the Center for accommodation of foreign minors unaccompanied by parents/guardians in Nis participated. At the workshop, they discussed the rights of migrants, where the teachers and children singled out the right to peace, freedom, progress, justice, dignity, and then the children creatively displayed it on the board.

The young people who are placed in the Center for the Protection of Infants, Children and Youth in Belgrade, together with the teachers, decided to decorate the Christmas tree, ennobling the space where they live and where they will welcome the new year 2023. It was a good reason to spend time together and reflect on the previous year, as well as to make plans for the next one. They made decorations for the Christmas tree out of paper, messages that the young people intended for each other and that will be opened on New Year’s Eve.

The European Union is the largest donor to the Republic of Serbia and a partner in migration management.