Erased in life and death: intersecting injustices faced by people on the move in Serbia - Summary 2/7
A knowledge-mapping report
Release 2:Mapping and Overview of Deaths of People on the Move in Serbia
Introduction:
Our full report ‘Erased in life and death: intersecting injustices faced by people on the move in Serbia’ explores the systemic neglect, institutional silence, and structural violence surrounding the deaths of people on the move in Serbia. It is not a new intervention, nor a pioneering effort. Rather, it builds on the longstanding work of civil society organisations, cemetery workers, communities of faith, journalists, researchers, and families who have long documented, buried, and remembered the dead. Our aim is to contribute capacity, coordination, visibility, and documentation to efforts already underway.
Following Monday’s overview of our initial findings and the realities of death on the move in Serbia, we present the second of six sections to be released ahead of publication of the full report in July. This summary section focuses on our work to map the deaths of people on the move in Serbia.
Mapping
Our effort to map named and unnamed burial sites of people on the move in Serbia aims to monitor and in turn prevent the deterioration of burials sites - fighting against the erasure of border deaths through collective memory, and contributing to their memorialisation in the Western Balkans. The secondary goal of this effort is to raise awareness about broader issues associated with these tragic and almost always preventable deaths.
You can find our map of undocumented burial sites (hereafter referred to as ‘the map’) by clicking here, or scanning the QR code below:
The data presented on the map maintains the anonymity of the deceased using the same methods within our reporting. This decision was taken to protect the privacy of the individuals who have passed and their families - from whom we do not have consent to share this information. A form will be provided to submit information regarding burial sites that could be added to the map.
The Map depicts known burial sites of people on the move who have died within and around border areas of the territory of Serbia.Pinned burial sites are divided by municipalities and cemeteries [in municipalities that contain burial sites across more than one cemetery].
Each burial site is tagged as either “Named” or “Unnamed”. Birth dates, names, are withheld to respect the privacy of the deceased.
Each pinned burial site contains the following information:
Birth date, death date and nationality: Listed as ‘Known’ or ‘Unknown.
Material: Wood, concrete, marble, depending on the type of burial. We decided it was important to record the ‘material(s)’ used, as this is a crucial factor that determines rates of deterioration.
Deterioration: The ‘deterioration grade’ is a subjective grading system created as a means to monitor when a maintenance intervention is necessary. 1 represents no/minimal deterioration, 5 represents significant deterioration and requires an urgent maintenance intervention. It should be noted that our understanding of ‘deterioration’ and thus our grading system is built from the perspective of Western European norms and traditions surrounding burial practices. Therefore the system may not reflect of the traditions, values or practices of cultures elsewhere.The system is subjective and based on a loose scoring structure with the following guidelines;*
1 = Nearly new / minimal deterioration
3 = Weeds growing / clear discolouration of material(s)
5 = Headstone unstable / dates/lettering fading / totally overgrown
Location: Exact or unverified [unverified sites have not been visited by Collective Aid]
Last visit and by whom:Date and names of organizations or persons who visited the site, to provide a record of maintenance and accountability.
Each red dot represents either a single burial site or an area with several burial sites. By clicking on them, the reader will be able to see detailed information about the grave site, a photograph of the site, and find directions to the exact location of the grave.
Information can be contributed to this effort through the Mapping Contribution Form. This form exists for individuals and organisations to submit information they have independently collected regarding burial sites that could be added to the map.
*Guidelines provide examples only - these are not set requirements
An overview of deaths and burials
Deaths
The 4D database represents the most accurate data available for deaths of people on the move in Serbia - and along the Western Balkan route at large. 4D is a data set created as part of the ERIM research project. It is compiled of information submitted by researchers, NGOs, civil society members, and activists.
Despite being the most comprehensive information available, 4D can only represent the least number of known border deaths in Serbia and beyond. We know from our work speaking to people transiting through Serbia that many deaths go unreported or documented.
From 2016 - 2025, 4D recorded 231 people who have died in the territory of Serbia and along the Drina (natural river border between Serbia & Bosnia). The locations of these deaths are concentrated in border zones where people are forced to cross in ‘irregular’ ways. This is due to the lack of safe and legal routes to asylum in the EU for undocumented people.
From 4D data we have classified the causes of these deaths into the following categories:
Drowning (and disappeared reported drowning): 124
Murder: 25
Unknown: 24
Motor vehicle accidents: 12
Specific medical Issue: 11
Heat related (hypothermia or hypoxia): 7
Train accident: 7
Suffocation: 7
Electrocution: 5
Physical accidents: 3
Drugs or alcohol related: 3
Suicide: 3
These causes of death reflect the various physical and psychological threats faced by people transiting through Serbia. These include navigating dangerous terrain, using clandestine transportation methods, experiencing physical and mental stress, facing both basic and medical neglect, enduring pushbacks, and encountering hostile border infrastructures.
We consider all deaths of people on the move in Serbia; those reported in 4D, those not yet reported, and those that may never be known, to be the result of an imperially imposed border regime. We want to clarify that the above statistical representation of individual lives is provided solely for reporting purposes.
Burials
When a person on the move dies in Serbia, and their body has been discovered or made known to the authorities there are technically 3 possible medium-term outcomes, these being:
Identified, buried domestically with a named grave.
Unidentified, buried domestically with an unnamed grave.
Identified, repatriated.
A fourth outcome of cremation without identification has been alleged, but cannot be proven at this point in time.
Our research has substantively identified, in Serbia, the burial sites of 16 named, and 35 unnamed people on the move, totalling 51 across eleven cemeteries in the following municipalities: Bujanovac, Bosilegrad, Lajkovac, Loznica, Pirot, Sid, Sjenica,Tutin, Subotica, Vranje. Only one location was relayed to us by trusted collaborators, but we didn’t visit. In addition, we were able to visit 6 unnamed graves in Rozaje, in Montenegro, at the border with Serbia and Kosovo. In doing so, we were able to monitor the conditions and level of deterioration of these sites. All this data is depicted on our map of undocumented burial sites, 57 in total.
At the time of writing, new burial sites and disappeared persons have been reported to us. However, they are not represented in the map due to lack of precise information.
At the Orlovaca (Belgrade) cemetery we visited three lots within the cemetery, which amounted to approximately 70 separate burial plots/ tombs. Each of these plots/tombs houses up to three unnamed people per tomb.It was confirmed to us by a local funeral director that unidentified people on the move who died in the vicinity of Belgrade are buried amongst other unnamed individuals at this site. The exact number of people on the move buried here is unknown.
For us to consider a burial site as named, the name of the person buried must be currently visible. Therefore, sites which have been weathered to the point a name is no longer visible are considered unnamed - 3 of the 41 unnamed graves that we visited appear to have been initially named prior to deterioration.
A total of 22 burial sites (including the ones in Montenegro) we identified lie within a Muslim cemetery despite the overwhelming majority of people who transit through Serbia being from Islamic backgrounds. We observed that most of them are located in Muslim majority regions in Serbia and Montenegro.
The third summary section of this report, which details the role of Intergovernmental Organisations in handling, reporting, and at times obscuring the deaths of people on the move across Serbia, will be published on Tuesday 24 June.