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:

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

22 gennaio 2022 - Teatro Miela, a fine proiezione di Trieste è bella di notte - N.Corritore
Nicole Corritore  3 March 2023

In Trieste, the border between Italy and Slovenia crosses the Carso. For some it is a dream territory, for others a nightmare. Interview with Matteo Calore, Stefano Collizzolli, Andrea Segre – the directors of the documentary "Trieste è bella di notte", premiered at the Trieste Film Festival

Erzsebet Nagy in the kitchen of one of the hotels where she worked – photo Sielke Kelner archive
Sielke Kelner  17 February 2023

For families who emigrated from Eastern Europe, affection and memory are also handed down through culinary inheritances. Distant and recent memories of a Transylvanian grandmother intertwine remembering Erzsebet's passion for coffee and her lost pickled gherkins recipe

Some elderly people at a bus stop in Gorna Bela Rechka, Bulgaria - Ivo Danchev
Newsroom  19 January 2023

In the whole of South-Eastern Europe, the data on depopulation are dramatic and require urgent reflections. In the rest of Europe the trend is less negative, but remains alarming

Croatian flag and Euro coin © Andrzej Rostek/Shutterstock
Giovanni Vale   |  Zagreb
10 January 2023

For the Croatian government, 2022 was the year of the objectives achieved: entry into Schengen, the single currency, and the Peljesac bridge. But if the Croatian authorities celebrate the treble, the population looks with concern at the arrival of the single currency

A sign in the mountains indicates the state border - photo G. Vale
Giovanni Vale   |  Zagreb
23 December 2022

Croatia will enter the Schengen area from January 1st. As the president of the European Commission and the Croatian Prime Minister focus on celebrations, humanitarian organisations fear an increase in violence and pushbacks against migrants

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