Understanding Transit Asylum Migration: Evidence from Serbia
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12237 |
| Author | Vesna Lukić |
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
Understanding Transit Asylum Migration:
Evidence from Serbia
Vesna Luki
c
ABSTRACT
Due to its geographic location and borders along the European Union (EU), in recent years,
the Republic of Serbia has faced an increased number of irregular migrants from third-world
countries claiming asylum on their way into a western EU member state. Some of these
migrants stay for a while in asylum centres in Serbia to rest or renew contacts. In order to
explore the main socio-demographic features of the study population, their migration history
and intentions, a questionnaire-based research was conducted in Banja Kovilja
ca asylum cen-
tre. The results also give insights into the underlying question “how”and the role of social
networks in migration. Most of asylum seekers are unmarried males at peak working age, from
countries affected by war and political turmoil. The results indicate this is a transit migration
where, besides fleeing to safety, economic status and migration networks have a significant
impact on migration flows.
INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary world, mixed migration flows are on the rise. This is partly a consequence of
war and its impacts on the refugees’countries of origin, and partly a confirmation of the important
role of the law and migration policies in the migration process. Increasing use of the asylum system
and the interconnection of the asylum system and migration, i.e. the fact that the asylum applica-
tion is often an alternative for immigration, has been discussed by many researchers engaged with
migration (Hysmans, 2006; Jandl, 2004; Kraler and Rogoz, 2011).
An important consequence of mixed migration flows is an increase in negative social and politi-
cal climates towards refugees and asylum seekers in many Western European countries (McKeary,
2007). As noted by Neumayer (2005), there is a popular perception of asylum seekers being mostly
economic migrants, therefore false or artificial –“bogus,”rather than real or “genuine”. This is
why the complexity of the distinction between refugees and economic migrants actuates the need
to re-examine the way in which asylum-seekers and refugees are socially constructed (Lynn and
Lea, 2003).
While discussing the concept of “transit migration”, which has been increasingly used since the
early 1990s, Duvell (2006) said that the concept was often used in conjunction with irregular
migration, illegal employment and human smuggling. On the other hand, due to the economization
and securitization of the European international migratory regime, asylum seeker flows are, to a
certain extent, entangled with transit migration in the case of countries labelled as transit ones, i.e.
countries such as Turkey (Icßduygu and Y€
ukseker, 2012). Although largely focussed on countries
on the external border of the European Union, asylum seekers’transit migration also takes place
Institute of Social Sciences - Demographic Research Centre, Belgrade.
doi: 10.1111/imig.12237
©2016 The Author
International Migration ©2016 IOM
International Migration Vol. 54 (4) 2016
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
To continue reading
Request your trial