Introductory visits to Slovenia and Bosnia | November 2022

Velika Kladuša: the “helicopter makeshift camp"

On November 21, 2022, Claudio Minca and I conducted introductory fieldwork in Ljubljana. Together with Lucija Klun, from the University of Ljubljana, we visited the Asylum Seeker Center in Vič, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city. Vić is a Slovenian governmental center used for the reception of asylum seekers, many of whom are en route to Italy. In addition to visiting the facility, we met with the center's camp manager who presented the situation of migration movements in Slovenia and the activities carried out in the reception center. The centre has a capacity of 200 people but was rarely full at the time of our visit. We learned that most migrants, in fact, stay only a few days to rest before departing.  

From 23-26 November we travelled onward to key sites related to migrant presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina where we were joined by Roberta Gentili. The first day we visited Bihać in Una-Sana Canton, a Bosnian city that has seen the constant transit of migrants to Croatia (and pushed back from Croatia) since 2017. We met with Silvia Maraone, director of IPSIA BiH, an expert on migration in the region who has been engaged in projects aimed at protecting refugees and asylum seekers along the Balkan Route in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia for many years. The following day we visited 'TRC Borići,' a Temporary Reception Center for families and unaccompanied minors, and 'TRC Lipa' –a Temporary Reception Center for single men. Lipa is located thirty kilometers from the center of Bihać.  

We also travelled to Sarajevo, where we met with the Italian Deputy Ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Italian Embassy. On that occasion, we presented the ERC project 'The Game' and discussed the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding migration and reception of asylum seekers. On the same day, we wrapped up our visit to Sarajevo with a meeting with Dr. Nermin Oruč, director of the Centar za razvojne evaluacije i društvena istraživanja (CREDI--Centre for Development, Evaluation, and Social Science Research), a research center engaged in several international projects in the social and migration fields.  

After returning to Una-Sana Canton, we visited a number of informal camps near the Croatian border at migrant crossing points, before departing for Italy.