Security for Human Beings and Borders – Combating Smuggling of Migrants in the Western Balkan

Supported by European Commission

Implemented in collaboration with Group 484, the Civic Alliance (Montenegro), the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, Vasa Prava (Your Right) Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Belgrade Center for Human Rights, the Civil Rights Program in Kosovo and the Danish Refugee Council

Project timeframe: March 2020 – June 2023

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the EU approximation process through enhancing regional cooperation and good neighborly relations in the Western Balkans through developing a unified regional response to counter migrant smuggling.

The specific objective of the project is to enhance capacities of CSOs to work on a unique regional response to the threat of migrant smuggling along with the Western Balkan migration route in line with the EU acquis. This objective will be fulfilled through the implementation of activities structured under three main directions:

• Capacity building activities for organizations operating at national and local level and institutions
• Regranting and supporting 24 national and 6 regional projects, as well as the organization of several regional conferences
• Advocacy activities for harmonization of practice and advocacy activities for the legal and policy framework harmonization.

Expected results of the project:

1. Four national, grassroot organizations will be financially supported to work on raising awareness and proactiveness of relevant actors and the community in the fight against migrant smuggling;
2. Raising and building project-implementing capacities of the subgrantee organizations;
3. Production of a national policy brief which contains an analysis of the legal and policy framework and a regional policy brief containing comparative analysis of the legal and policy frameworks of the 6 Western Balkan countries (Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina);
4. Production of one national and one regional policy paper on national statistics, basic legislation and institutional structures on the phenomenon of smuggling of migrants;
5. Creation of the National Platform for the Prevention of Smuggling and Protection of Smuggled Migrants;
6. Conduction of 15 in field monitoring sessions on migrants’ situation and 10 interviews with representatives of relevant institutions through the National Platform;
7. Production of one national monitoring report and 1 regional on the findings of the monitoring sessions and interviews;
8. Development of a national policy paper which will contain a more comprehensive analysis and fully elaborated proposals of the national standard operating procedures (NSOPs);
9. Organizing a national round table and 2 regional conferences to present the policy papers in order to familiarize CSOs and government representatives with the provided recommendations;
10. Organizing six National Trainings with trainers trained by EU experts on combating migrant smuggling in a regionally-unified methods;
11. Producing a TOT handbook with the aim to unify the regional approach towards the smuggling of migrants;
12. Selecting and supporting six regional projects on preventing/combating the phenomenon of smuggled migrants.