Belgrade, Jun 21 (IANS): Serbia, with over 86,000 refugees, has topped an "unfortunate list" of European countries with the highest refugee and internally-displaced population, a top Serbian official has said.

According to government statistics, Serbia currently has 86,000 refugees and 210,000 internally-displaced persons.

Serbia's refugees crisis began almost two decades ago with the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s and was followed by a second wave of forced migration from Kosovo in 1999.

Sasa Jankovic, Serbia's ombudsman, on the occasion of International Refugee Day Sunday said: "The time has finally come to turn words into action plans and deeds," to bring to a close the protracted refugee issue in Serbia, Xinhua reported quoting the Tanjug news agency.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Jovan Krkobabic said the International Refugee Day is the "right moment to remind the world of those who, in order to save their own lives, were forced to abandon their homes".