The report, Outsourcing Violence: The UK’s Border Externalisation Plan in the the Balkans, argues that UK externalisation is a three-stage process: a domestic asylum system that produces refusal without removal, a growing transnational architecture of security cooperation and return-hub planning, and the landing of those policies in the Balkans, where they would deepen existing detention, precarity, and abuse. It shows that externalisation is not a technical fix to migration management but a way of relocating the harms of a broken system, turning domestic dysfunction into outsourced violence and weaker accountability.
Read MoreThe report, Outsourcing Violence: The UK’s Border Externalisation Plan in the the Balkans, argues that UK externalisation is a three-stage process: a domestic asylum system that produces refusal without removal, a growing transnational architecture of security cooperation and return-hub planning, and the landing of those policies in the Balkans, where they would deepen existing detention, precarity, and abuse. It shows that externalisation is not a technical fix to migration management but a way of relocating the harms of a broken system, turning domestic dysfunction into outsourced violence and weaker accountability.
Read MoreThis article forms part of a blog series exploring what the implementation of the EU Migration Pact is likely to mean in practice, drawing on the realities we observe in the countries where we work. The series examines how policies associated with EU migration externalisation are already shaping migration governance and border management beyond the EU's borders.
In this part, we reflect on the Migration Pact, the broader externalisation agenda, and how these dynamics are playing out in Serbia.
Read MoreThis article forms part of a blog series exploring what the implementation of the EU Migration Pact is likely to mean in practice, drawing on the realities we observe in the countries where we work. The series examines how policies associated with EU migration externalisation are already shaping migration governance and border management beyond the EU's borders.
In this part, we reflect on the Migration Pact, the broader externalisation agenda, and how it plays out in Bulgaria.
Read MoreThis article forms part of a blog series exploring what the implementation of the EU Migration Pact is likely to mean in practice, drawing on the realities we observe in the countries where we work. The series examines how policies associated with EU migration externalisation are already shaping migration governance and border management beyond the EU's borders.
In this part, we reflect on the Migration Pact, the broader externalisation agenda, and how civil society was left out of forming the Pact in Greece and Bulgaria.
Read MoreThis article forms part of a blog series exploring what the implementation of the EU Migration Pact is likely to mean in practice, drawing on the realities we observe in the countries where we work. The series examines how policies associated with EU migration externalisation are already shaping migration governance and border management beyond the EU's borders.
In this part, we reflect on the Migration Pact, the broader externalisation agenda, and how these dynamics are playing out in Greece.
Read MoreThis article forms part of a blog series exploring what the implementation of the EU Migration Pact is likely to mean in practice, drawing on the realities we observe in the countries where we work. The series examines how policies associated with EU migration externalisation are already shaping migration governance and border management beyond the EU's borders.
In this part, we reflect on the Migration Pact, the broader externalisation agenda, and how these dynamics are playing out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Read MoreThe report, Outsourcing Violence: The UK’s Border Externalisation Plan in the Balkans, argues that UK externalisation is a three-stage process: a domestic asylum system that produces refusal without removal, a growing transnational architecture of security cooperation and return-hub planning, and the landing of those policies in the Balkans, where they would deepen existing detention, precarity, and abuse. It shows that externalisation is not a technical fix to migration management but a way of relocating the harms of a broken system, turning domestic dysfunction into outsourced violence and weaker accountability.
Read MoreThis blog post spotlights Bosnia's Lukavica Detention Center, the country's sole immigration facility, where 4,631 people, including 115 children, were held from 2018-2024 amid EU-backed expansions and lax oversight. It contrasts official claims of safeguards with detainee testimonies of degrading conditions, arbitrary detention, and rights violations like denied medical care and Ombudsman access blocks.
Read MoreThis blog post spotlights Bosnia's Lukavica Detention Center, the country's sole immigration facility, where 4,631 people, including 115 children, were held from 2018-2024 amid EU-backed expansions and lax oversight. It contrasts official claims of safeguards with detainee testimonies of degrading conditions, arbitrary detention, and rights violations like denied medical care and Ombudsman access blocks.
Read MoreThis blog post spotlights Bosnia's Lukavica Detention Center, the country's sole immigration facility, where 4,631 people, including 115 children, were held from 2018-2024 amid EU-backed expansions and lax oversight. It contrasts official claims of safeguards with detainee testimonies of degrading conditions, arbitrary detention, and rights violations like denied medical care and Ombudsman access blocks.
Read MoreA joint report with Global Detention Project highlights systemic concerns about Serbia’s immigration detention, including arbitrary detention, poor conditions, limited access to justice, and the detention of vulnerable groups. Although Serbia operates official detention centres, migrants and asylum seekers are also held in informal, de facto detention without legal safeguards, often for prolonged periods despite no realistic prospect of removal. These issues are compounded by laws that criminalise irregular entry and allow lengthy detention, practices criticised as arbitrary and disproportionate under international standards
Read MoreThis blog post spotlights Bosnia's Lukavica Detention Center, the country's sole immigration facility, where 4,631 people, including 115 children, were held from 2018-2024 amid EU-backed expansions and lack oversight. It contrasts official claims of safeguards with detainee testimonies of degrading conditions, arbitrary detention, and rights violations like denied medical care and Ombudsman access blocks.
Read MoreThis blog post spotlights Bosnia's Lukavica Detention Center, the country's sole immigration facility, where 4,631 people, including 115 children, were held from 2018-2024 amid EU-backed expansions and lax oversight. It contrasts official claims of safeguards with detainee testimonies of degrading conditions, arbitrary detention, and rights violations like denied medical care and Ombudsman access blocks.
Read MoreA joint report with Collective Aid highlights systemic concerns about Serbia’s immigration detention, including arbitrary detention, poor conditions, limited access to justice, and the detention of vulnerable groups. Although Serbia operates official detention centres, migrants and asylum seekers are also held in informal, de facto detention without legal safeguards, often for prolonged periods despite no realistic prospect of removal. These issues are compounded by laws that criminalise irregular entry and allow lengthy detention, practices criticised as arbitrary and disproportionate under international standards.
Read MoreThis four‑part blog series presents key findings from the 2024–2025 Aegean Sea Border Incidents dataset, a rigorously cross‑verified, incident‑level analysis of border violence patterns. Drawing on Collective Aid’s Evidence‑Based Action for Human Rights at Borders methodology, it first shows how Turkish apprehensions, “rescues,” and Greek pushbacks systematically prevent people from ever accessing asylum in Greece. The second part examines violent Hellenic Coast Guard practices such as pushbacks, high‑speed boat chases, and gunfire incidents, while the third traces how these tactics contribute to persistent deaths and disappearances despite fewer crossings. The final article explores how both Greek and Turkish authorities criminalise people on the move and alleged “facilitators,” turning survivors of border violence into suspects in a system that obscures state responsibility
Read MoreThis four‑part blog series presents key findings from the 2024–2025 Aegean Sea Border Incidents dataset, a rigorously cross‑verified, incident‑level analysis of border violence patterns. Drawing on Collective Aid’s Evidence‑Based Action for Human Rights at Borders methodology, it first shows how Turkish apprehensions, “rescues,” and Greek pushbacks systematically prevent people from ever accessing asylum in Greece. The second part examines violent Hellenic Coast Guard practices such as pushbacks, high‑speed boat chases, and gunfire incidents, while the third traces how these tactics contribute to persistent deaths and disappearances despite fewer crossings. The final article explores how both Greek and Turkish authorities criminalise people on the move and alleged “facilitators,” turning survivors of border violence into suspects in a system that obscures state responsibility
Read MoreThis four‑part blog series presents key findings from the 2024–2025 Aegean Sea Border Incidents dataset, a rigorously cross‑verified, incident‑level analysis of border violence patterns. Drawing on Collective Aid’s Evidence‑Based Action for Human Rights at Borders methodology, it first shows how Turkish apprehensions, “rescues,” and Greek pushbacks systematically prevent people from ever accessing asylum in Greece. The second part examines violent Hellenic Coast Guard practices such as pushbacks, high‑speed boat chases, and gunfire incidents, while the third traces how these tactics contribute to persistent deaths and disappearances despite fewer crossings. The final article explores how both Greek and Turkish authorities criminalise people on the move and alleged “facilitators,” turning survivors of border violence into suspects in a system that obscures state responsibility
Read MoreThis four‑part blog series presents key findings from the 2024–2025 Aegean Sea Border Incidents dataset, a rigorously cross‑verified, incident‑level analysis of border violence patterns. Drawing on Collective Aid’s Evidence‑Based Action for Human Rights at Borders methodology, it first shows how Turkish apprehensions, “rescues,” and Greek pushbacks systematically prevent people from ever accessing asylum in Greece. The second part examines violent Hellenic Coast Guard practices such as pushbacks, high‑speed boat chases, and gunfire incidents, while the third traces how these tactics contribute to persistent deaths and disappearances despite fewer crossings. The final article explores how both Greek and Turkish authorities criminalise people on the move and alleged “facilitators,” turning survivors of border violence into suspects in a system that obscures state responsibility
Read MoreThis 2026 assessment in Bosnia examines the material, service, and advocacy needs of displaced individuals in Sarajevo’s TRCs. It highlights significant gaps in basic necessities, healthcare, legal support, and access to information, while documenting widespread experiences of abuse, violence, and systemic mistreatment across borders and camps. The findings provide actionable insights for improving services, strengthening protection, and guiding advocacy efforts to uphold the rights and wellbeing of people on the move.
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