An operational meeting bringing together government representatives and migration experts from the Western Balkans was successfully held
Since the establishment of a new migration route through the Western Balkans which includes Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, since 2017, migration patterns have experienced continuous changes, the effects of which are visible on a wider, global level, which often includes the countries of origin of persons in migration, but also negative phenomena on sub-routes and routes of key regions of movement of persons in migration. The mentioned countries of the Western Balkans are daily faced with the challenge of strengthening institutional frameworks, strategies and regulations in order to effectively manage the problem of irregular migration flows and ensure an adequate response to the problem of suppressing their negative aspects.
With the aim of promoting cooperation with the neighboring countries of the region that face the aforementioned security challenges in the field of migration, a joint operational meeting of government representatives and migration experts from the Western Balkans was organized by Hilfswerk International in the period from March 18 to 20, 2025 in Ljubljana (Slovenia). The aim of this important meeting was to influence the development of standardized procedures and guidelines for defining the return process in the Western Balkans, which sought to improve established administrative processes related to migration and return issues in the Western Balkan region.
Since the aforementioned dynamics of migration flows in addition to constantly changing categories of migration practices throughout the Western Balkans resulted in different responses from competent authorities and institutions in each individual country of the WB region, it is important to point out that such practices and initiatives are subject to timely and important reactions that will result in the harmonization of uniform guidelines for an ethical approach to migration.
In this regard, the importance of this meeting was also reflected in the effort to achieve a quality exchange of current practices between the participants of relevant institutions and services from the area of ZB, who, in addition to sharing best practices in the return process, also worked on creating a relevant SORP tool for its future, coordinated use.
This type of tool is aimed at raising the standardization of procedures to a higher level, including assessing needs and harmonizing the work of key actors for the return and asylum process itself. As such, a standardized approach will make an indispensable contribution to a context in which migration and return processes are in line with fundamental rights and international standards, guided by a humane and ethical approach through promoting cooperation between the Western Balkan countries, which face significant security challenges in the area of migration.
The project "Strengthening migration management, asylum and return processes in the Western Balkans", within which the aforementioned operational meeting was held, is implemented by Hilfswerk International (HWI) in partnership with the Joint Coordination Platform (JCP), financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Federal Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Austria.
More about the project: https://hwi.ba/en/projects/refugees-migrants-displaced-persons/strengthening-migration-management-asylum-and-return-processes-in-the-western-balkans/22
