Kamendin is home to 270 refugee families who received apartments under RHP
20.06.2019. Refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, residing in the territory of the City of Belgrade, received keys to their new apartments in Kamendin today. The complex of 270 apartments is constructed under the fifth subproject of the Regional Housing Programme (RHP).The total value of the project in Kamendin is 7.9 million euros with the funds provided from the RHP Donor Fund, where the European Union is the largest donor, while the City of Belgrade has donated land and infrastructure in the total value of 226 million dinars. The foundation stone for the construction of these 270 apartments was laid on November 17, 2017.
Commissariat for Refugees and Migration of the Republic of Serbia, as the leading institution, is implementing the Regional Housing Programme in Serbia. So far, through the RHP in Serbia, 3,500 families received roof over their heads, while for additional 3,900 families housing solutions will be provided until the end of the project, in 2021.
A large number of Serbian officials, representatives of donors, foreign embassies, international organizations, state institutions and beneficiaries attended the ceremonial delivery of keys.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Commission for Coordination of the Process of Permanent Integration of Refugees of the Government of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic, Commissioner for Refugees and Migration Vladimir Cucic, representative of the largest donor, the Delegation of the European Union to Serbia, Ingve Engstroem, the U.S. Ambassador Kyle R. Scott, the Swiss Ambassador Phillipe Guex, the Vice Governor of CEB Tomas Bocek, H.E. Andrea Orizio, Ambassador of OSCE Mission to Serbia and Hans F. Schodder, Representative of the UNHCR to Serbia, addressed the beneficiaries in Kamendin, thanking them for their patience and wishing them a prosperous life in their new apartments. On behalf of the City of Belgrade, Mayor dr Zoran Radojicic addressed the gathering.
Commissar Cucic thanked the donors, the City of Belgrade and all participants of the Regional Housing Programme, and also wished a peaceful and happy to all 270 beneficiaries life in their new homes.
"Today, on the World Refugee Day, when, through a joint commitment, we deliver keys to 270 most vulnerable refugee families from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, we are once again showing that Serbia has not forgotten the refugees from the 1990s, but continues to solve the problems of people who were forced to leave their homes.”
First Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic emphasized that the Republic of Serbia has suffered great sacrifices in the past decade and has made enormous efforts to help restore the dignified life of refugees from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija.
"Today, when 270 families receive their new apartments through the Regional Housing Programme, we have proved that this is the best contribution to the realization of the basic human rights of refugees contained in the UN Convention on Refugees," Dacic said.
Eleven year old Katarina Cavic, who received a key from Minister Dacic, thanked everyone who contributed to her happiness as well as to the happiness of all 270 families, to finally have a new home.
