Abstract
The emergence of the Balkan Route in 2015 and its development in 2016 has temporarily shifted the geographical axis of the refugee-related migrations, complementing the existing maritime routes in the Mediterranean with new overland itineraries. This shift has caught unprepared not only the main ‘transit countries’ and ‘arrival countries’ but also the EU institutions that until that moment had a system of control (and reception) in place which was almost exclusively focused on the Mediterranean borders. After having been taken by about one million unregistered migrants in 2015, in March 2016 the Balkan Route was officially closed; however, a significant number of people is entering the Serbian territory despite the official impossibility to continue North via Hungary or Croatia. This has led to a high number of stranded migrants in the country that counted for more than 7000 individuals by the end of May 2017. In this paper, by presenting a few key geographical issues related to the creation of some urban makeshift camp, several ‘jungles’ at the border crossings, the distribution of official asylum and reception centres, we focus the attention on the case of Preševo One Step Centre in the southern Serbia. It is not only a fundamental dowel within the European border regime but also represents a strategic knot of the Serbia’s internal political geography. The present research is part of the collaborative project led by the authors, started in mid-2016, as part of a broader project entitled ‘Camps in Europe’.
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Notes
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During the time in which the Balkan Route was ‘open’, they operated as ‘short-term accommodation centres’ for migrants who were waiting for transportation in order to continue their journey. Thanks to a 72-h permit, the migrants were allowed to reach another reception centre in the country or, alternatively, leave the country within that time limit.
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See full text in: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/18-eu-turkey-statement.
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Kosovo has declared its independence in 2008, but Serbia formerly still considers Kosovo its southern province. According to the official interpretation of the Serbian authorities, the existing administrative border cannot be converted in a state border (see International Crisis Group 2007).
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Some if these camps were previously used as refugee camps for internally displaced people, in particular to host part of the Serbians who, as a result of the Yugoslavian civil wars, moved to the present Serbian territories. Other camps consist of converted military barracks, dismissed factories, colonies for children, or even dismissed motels.
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While we are writing, official sources report around 1000 guests in the Asylum Centres and around 3000 in the Reception Centres. About 200 individuals were informally identified in the remaining makeshift camp of Belgrade, known as Afghan Park.
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For a more detailed analysis of these clustering and their geographical implications see Minca, Santić, and Umek, forthcoming.
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More specifically—according to the 2002 census—the resident population of the town of Preševo was partitioned in the following way: Albanians 11,746 (87.48%); Serbians 1231 (9.16%); Roma 321 (2.39%). Since the ethnic Albanians have refused to participate in the 2011 census, we have no more recent data available concerning the actual demographics of this region (Popis 2003).
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The Preševska Dolina in Serbian, or Lugina e Preshevës in Albanian, is an area that until 1948 was administratively part of Kosovo, from which it was later separated because of its strategic role as railway and road transportation hub; this territorial arrangement has not allowed its residents to benefit from the autonomy awarded to Kosovo by the Yugoslavian Federation after 1974 (Loi 2013).
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The registration merely consisted in finger prints and facial photos.
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On 16 February 2016, the second phase of the restructuration of this edifice was completed, thanks to the funding provided by the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs. This resulted in two new large spaces able to contain up to 350 individuals (normally families), new playgrounds for children, a new ambulatory, a 900 m2 storage space, a vast laundry room, the office for the registration of the new arrivals and a bus stop for those who are allowed to leave.
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The most recent situation of high tension was in January 2013, when the Serbian authorities have ordered (and executed) the demolition of a monument dedicated to the UÇPMB in a major square in Preševo.
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Umek, D., Minca, C., Šantić, D. (2019). The Refugee Camp as Geopolitics: The Case of Preševo (Serbia). In: Paradiso, M. (eds) Mediterranean Mobilities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89632-8_4
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