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Integration

For the past two and a half decades, the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration have been working continuously to solve the problem of persons who had to leave their homes during the conflict in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The adoption of the Law on Refugees and the National Strategy for Resolving the Issues of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons confirms the readiness and the political will of all relevant government authorities to assist those who opt for residency in the Republic of Serbia in their integration.

Reduced number of refugees is mainly the result of their integration in the Republic of Serbia. Of 537,937 refugees and 79,791 war-affected persons, registered in the 1996 census, more than 350,000 persons acquired citizenship of the Republic of Serbia, which is the largest process of integration of refugees in modern Europe.

Although a large number of refugees, displaced and war-affected persons are naturalized, these people still need help in resolving their housing issues as well as assistance in exercising their rights in the country of origin, which would alleviate the economic aspect of the integration process in local communities in the Republic of Serbia.
Despite the enormous efforts and the extensive support of the international community, the question of refugees in this region has not yet been closed. Great progress has been made, primarily in solving the existential issues of this population and the dynamics of providing permanent housing solutions.
Integration is carried out through the provision of housing units with lease rights, village houses, packages of building material for the completion of commenced works or adaptation of the existing facilities in order to improve the living conditions, and prefabricated houses to individuals who own plots, as well as through social housing in protected conditions.

Apart from the Regional Housing Programme (RHP), housing problems of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia are provided from the budget allocated to the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration by Law on the Budget of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the Decree on the Use of Program Funds for Housing Needs and other Programs for Integration of Refugees enacted by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, as proposed by the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration through the budgetary proposal each year.