“Counter-Mapping Informal Movements, Migration, and the Balkan Route” Seminar

Co-organized by TheGAME, in collaboration with the Center for Refugee Law and Migration, with the support of UNHCR in North Macedonia

  • Date: 27 SEPTEMBER 2024  

  • Event location: the Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Saints Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje

  • Type: TheGAME events

Claudio Minca presents on political geographies of camps

On Friday, September 27th, the seminar “Counter-Mapping Informal Movements, Migration, and the Balkan Route” took place at the Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Saints Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. The event was organized by TheGAME ERC project in collaboration with the Center for Refugee Law and Migration (Saints Cyril and Methodius University) with the support of UNHCR in North Macedonia.

By collaborating with the Center for Refugee Law and Migration TheGAME is demonstrating and fostering research interest in Macedonian spatialities as part of the Balkan Route and contributing to better understanding migration trajectories in a context of complex geography, political systems, and institutional infrastructures. 

Following the opening remarks by the event organizers—Viki Mladenova, Prof. Dr. Elena Mihajlova-Stratilati, Director of the Center for Refugee Law and Migration, and Dr. Gabriel de Godoy, the country representative for UNHCR—Claudio Minca delivered a public lecture for students and the broader audience, entitled “The GAME: Geographies of Camps and Informal Spaces along the Balkan Route.”

Immediately after the lecture, relevant stakeholders in the field of migration participated in a closed workshop, moderated by Viki Mladenova. At the workshop, presentations were made by Bratka Dejanoska, Chief of Sector for Asylum; Goran Stojanovski, Coordinator at the Center for Crisis Management; Vladimir Bislimovski, General Manager at the Center for Asylum; Mersiha Smailovic from Legis; Teodora Kjoseva, an asylum officer at MYLA; Avni Lecaj from the office of UNHCR in Skopje; Elena Mihajlova-Stratilati, Director of the Center for Refugee Law and Migration; Claudio Minca; and Dragan Umek. The workshop aimed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experiences. The presentations contributed ethnographic insights on the Macedonian (in-)visible spatialities and their positioning in relation to the other significant spaces of the Balkan Route.