Serbia is faced with the problem of asylum-seekers and people without personal documents, who are at risk of becoming stateless individuals, which represents an additional burden, but in solving these problems, Serbia can count on the assistance of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Head of that international humanitarian organization in Belgrade Eduardo Arboleda said on Sunday.

In an interview for Tanjug, Arboleda underlined that in the last year, the number of asylum-seekers, who use Serbia as a transit country, has increased five times, and the UNHCR projections anticipate a further increase.

According to the data from June 13 this year, 1,087 asylum-seekers were currently in Serbia, while their number in the same period of 2010 was only 157, Arboleda noted.

Most of these people are Afghan nationals who are coming to Greece, but due to the severe economic crisis in that country, are trying to get to other countries, passing through Serbia on their way.

It is Serbia's duty to record their asylum claims, to provide housing, food, to take care of them while they are in the country, while their applications for asylum are being considered, Arboleda said, adding that this is one of the obligations of a state in the EU integration process.

That is a new problem, which Serbia has not expected, he said, stressing that this is indeed an additional burden, and that Serbia holds the first position in Europe and 13th in the world as regards the number of refugees and internally displaced persons.

Arboleda said that the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed him that the procedure for joining the Convention for reducing the number of stateless people is underway, and that the meeting in Geneva will be attended by Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.