Balkans: Death toll rises to 12 in migrant river tragedy
The death toll from the sinking of a migrant boat in the Drina river on the Bosnia-Serbia border has risen to 12. Local residents found another body on Saturday.
The death toll from the sinking of a migrant boat in the Drina river on the Bosnia-Serbia border has risen to 12. Local residents found another body on Saturday.
At least three migrants have been found dead and several more are reported to be missing after their boat capsized during an attempt to cross the Drina River from Serbia to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Omid and Milad undertook the mammoth journey on foot as well as boat, plane and bus in the wake of the 2022 mass protests.
Human trafficking experts and humanitarian groups warn that the closures will drive migrants to take more dangerous routes to reach northern Europe.
Serbia has signed an agreement with EU border agency Frontex to deploy border guards across the non-EU country's borders. The Balkan state has long been a transit country for migrants hoping to enter the EU.
In 2016, Hungary effectively legalized pushbacks. These pushbacks are often violent, but in the absence of an accessible asylum system, many migrants still attempt to cross the border, leaving them reliant on smugglers for entry into Europe.
Rights groups claim that Hungary's migration policy is driving migrants into the arms of smugglers, as the country continues to disregard both European and international legal standards.
The Hungarian government has made it virtually impossible for people seeking protection to apply for asylum in Hungary, outsourcing its asylum system and barring access. Several infringement procedures are ongoing. InfoMigrants takes a look at the so-called embassy system in Hungary and how it contravenes European asylum law.
Serbian authorities have denied claims they abused over 70 migrants and pushed them back across the border into North Macedonia.
A car crash near the border with North Macedonia has left three people dead and 11 more injured. The accident occurred on the Balkan land route used by migrants to reach Europe.
A new investigation by various European media outlets, including Lighthouse Reports, Spiegel, The Independent, and German public broadcaster ARD, claims that more and more migrants are "dying without a trace" along the Balkan route, often laid to rest in unmarked graves.
Thousands of migrants have been detained with several arrested in Serbia's days-long crackdown on migrants in the wake of a shooting in the border area with Hungary.