The project "Legal Status and Protection of Internationally Displaced Persons, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and 'Invisible' Persons without IDs" (the Forced Migrations Project) is collaborative research project which gathers four law faculties in four SEE countries making the so called Western Balkan Migration route (North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina). The Project examines the effectiveness of the current national legislation in these four countries in terms of the forced migrants and its compliance with the EU standards on the same issue. The Project is led by the Faculty of Law, University of Niš (Serbia) and our Partners are: the Faculty of Law, University of Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (North Macedonia) and Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek (Croatia). The Project is supported by the SEELS network.
The realization of the Project started in December 2019. It was interrupted for three months due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, and it has been continued in June 2020. The end of the Project is planned for December 2021.
Project Purposes
The primary purpose of the project is to strengthen the system of public institutions and NGOs managing migration and asylum issues in the countries on the Western Balkan Migration Route. In achieving its goal, the Forced Migrations Project focuses on improving knowledge and skills of stakeholders in public institutions and NGOs which are directly involved in legal protection of the forced migrants (internationally displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers, and 'invisible' persons without IDs). In that regard, Project participants will organize exchange seminars in four participating countries which will help to identify the drawbacks in the national protection system.
Likewise, the Project involves the cross-country cooperation of project participants by: 1) networking the academic staff, stakeholders and the law students from the participating Law Faculties, and 2) organizing a Regional Scientific Conference on the legal status and protection of these vulnerable migrant groups, which will serve as a platform for presenting and discussing the national reports on legal protection systems in the participating countries. The conference will be followed by the publication of a joint Guide to Good Practices, as reference material for the stakeholders in all countries involved.
Likewise, the Project involves the cross-country cooperation of project participants by: 1) networking the academic staff, stakeholders and the law students from the participating Law Faculties, and 2) organizing a Regional Scientific Conference on the legal status and protection of these vulnerable migrant groups, which will serve as a platform for presenting and discussing the national reports on legal protection systems in the participating countries. The conference will be followed by the publication of a joint Guide to Good Practices, as reference material for the stakeholders in all countries involved.
Finally, Project is also aimed at improvement the knowledge of the MA and the PhD law students in the matter of legal status and protection of migrants (which is usually not included in the current curricula).
We invite you to take a closer insight in the Forced Migrations Project and the activities which will be implemented!