OBC is following the dramatic conditions of the migrants trying to cross the Balkans on their way to the EU. Find a selection of our latest materials collected for the World Refugee Day

Our articles on migration:

EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson and Executive Director of the European Border and Coast Guard (FRONTEX) Hans Leijtens © Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock
Massimo Guglietta  18 July 2024

Despite various reports of migration mismanagement and human rights abuses in Serbia, the European Commission at the end of June signed an agreement with Belgrade to strengthen cooperation on migration control

Across the Mediterranean - © davide bonaldo/Shutterstock
Mary Drosopoulos   |  Thessaloniki
10 July 2024

Driven by economic difficulties, European public opinions have taken increasingly skeptical positions on migrants and asylum seekers in recent years, an extremely visible phenomenon in "front line" countries such as Greece and Cyprus

Arbër Agalliu ©Gezim-it/Wikimedia
Gianluca De Feo  27 June 2024

The Italian-Albanian activist Arbër Agalliu has been advocating for more than a decade for a reform of the obsolete Italian citizenship law, which not only makes life impossible for aspiring Italian citizens, but also makes many young people feel like foreigners in their own country. Our interview

Shëngjin and its port (photo E. Gjatolli)
Erion GjatolliGiovanni Vale   3 June 2024

Despite the inconsistencies and uncertainties around the agreement signed between Rome and Tirana for the reception of migrants on Albanian soil, and while awaiting the judgment of the European Court, work on the two centres has already begun in Gjadër and Shëngjin. We went to see how they were progressing

Elvira Mujčić - foto di Salvatore Madau
Nicole Corritore  30 April 2024

Writer, translator from Bosnian to Italian, Elvira Mujčić arrived in Italy when she was 14 years old, escaping the war. Today she is an Italian and Bosnian citizen: a long, almost Kafkaesque journey of dual citizenship that only the support of the community of the country that welcomed her has made more bearable

The fire in Moria - © Nicolas Economou/Shutterstock
Mary Drosopoulos   |  Thessaloniki
19 April 2024

In the controversial trial for the disastrous fire that destroyed the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesvos, which ended with a conviction, the defence used new scientific data on the fragility of ecosystems to the threat of fire

Armine Avetisyan   |  Yerevan
6 March 2024

The number of Indians moving to Armenia is increasing and for thousand of them Armenia is a dream, but not everyone's dream comes true right away

Day Centre in Trieste - Francesco Cibati ICS
Chiara Milan  2 March 2024

In the 'Silos' area in Trieste, history repeats itself: in the places that once housed Istrian refugees, people arriving via the Balkan Route now live in degrading conditions. While waiting for a more dignified solution, the transnational solidarity network tries to make up for the ills produced by a short-sighted political vision of migration policies

Wildfire in the Evros region - © Eleni Saitanidi/Shutterstock
Mary Drosopoulos   |  Alexandroupolis
11 January 2024

The Greek region of Evros, devastated by fires last summer, is also the external border of the EU: there is a strong temptation to blame the fires on the migrants who cross it. Experts, however, point out the responsibilities of the Greek institutions

Along the Balkan route - Francesco Cibati ICS
Sara Varcounig Balbi   3 January 2024

Trieste, a border city, is the last stop on the Balkan route. In 2023 the data recorded an increase in the arrivals of unaccompanied minors. What does it mean to grow up along the Balkan route? What happens once in Trieste? An analysis

Migrants - © Pressmaster/Shutterstock
Aleksandar Samardjiev   |  Tetovo
27 October 2023

Located at the heart of the "Balkan route", North Macedonia has been a transit country for many migrants in search of a new life in Europe. Some of them, however, decided to stay

Writings in solidarity with migrants in Athens by iolanda fresnillo (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Mary Drosopoulos   |  Thessaloniki
19 September 2023

It could be the plot of a psychological thriller movie. It's the true story of a young investigative journalist, Stavros Malichudis, who unintentionally became one of the protagonists of the Greek Watergate. His reports, awarded with many international prizes, told the stories of refugees in Greece

Welder - © Zahovaev K/Shutterstock
Aleksandar Samardjiev   |  Tetovo
13 April 2023

In recent decades North Macedonia has been affected by a very strong emigration trend and today more and more companies struggle to find staff. Among the solutions proposed, there is that of encouraging the arrival of workers from non-European countries

A Lacoste store in Yerevan - @ BigTunaOnline/Shutterstock
Armine Avetisyan  5 April 2023

Many Russian citizens buy in Armenia – and resell in Russia – what cannot be found at home because of sanctions

Mohammed (photo T. Miglierina)
Tomas Miglierina  27 March 2023

Eight years ago Mohammed had pitched a tent in Idomeni, he was one of the many Syrian refugees travelling on the Balkan route. Today he is a Belgian citizen with an EU passport. He has recently returned where this story began, in Idomeni, a place that occupied European chronicles for a long time

From Afghanistan to Rome

A modern Odyssey: On the trail of Mussa Khan

Months, years, constantly moving. Rejected, invisible, on the margins. This is the destiny of the Afghan muhajirins, on a tenacious search for the dream called “Europe”. Starting from today, with the episodes of the “Mussa Khan” blog, we are going to tell their odyssey through Turkey, Greece and Italy, until the Ostiense Station in Rome

Returnees

The road home

In April 2013 the first census of the population since the war years will take place in Bosnia Herzegovina. Official data say that over a million refugees and displaced persons have returned home after the ethnic cleansing of the '90s. The real picture of the country, however, seems a lot different. Our report

Ukraine

Fleeing Crimea

Thousands of Tatar families have left the Crimea after the annexation by Russia. The community, which has always been in favour of the union with Ukraine, feels now threatened by the new authorities. Many have found hospitality in Lviv