Serbia with several other states protest the US and other states' recognition of Kosovo's declaration of its status as a sovereign and independent state in February 2008; ethnic Serbian municipalities along Kosovo's northern border challenge final status of Kosovo-Serbia boundary; several thousand NATO-led Kosovo Force peacekeepers under UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo authority continue to keep the peace within Kosovo between the ethnic Albanian majority and the Serb minority in Kosovo; Serbia delimited about half of the boundary with Bosnia and Herzegovina, but sections along the Drina River remain in dispute
bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working group negotiations continue in 2006 with Slovakia over Hungary's failure to complete its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along the Danube; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Hungary has implemented the strict Schengen border rules
Illicit drugs
transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin moving to Western Europe on the Balkan route; economy vulnerable to money laundering
transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and cannabis and for South American cocaine destined for Western Europe; limited producer of precursor chemicals, particularly for amphetamine and methamphetamine; efforts to counter money laundering, related to organized crime and drug trafficking are improving but remain vulnerable; significant consumer of ecstasy
Refugees and internally displaced persons
refugees (country of origin): 17,972 (Croatia), 8,198 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2019)
IDPs: 196,995 (most are Kosovar Serbs, some are Roma, Ashkalis, and Egyptian (RAE); some RAE IDPs are unregistered) (2021)
stateless persons: 2,144 (includes stateless persons in Kosovo) (2020)
note: 779,905 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-August 2021); Serbia is predominantly a transit country and hosts an estimated 6,165 migrants and refugees as of April 2021
refugees (country of origin): 5,950 applicants for forms of legal stay other than asylum (Ukraine) (2015)
stateless persons: 145 (2020)
note: 432,744 estimated refugee and migrant arrivals (January 2015-December 2018); Hungary is predominantly a transit country and hosts 137 migrants and asylum seekers as of the end of June 2018; 1,626 migrant arrivals in 2017
