Erased in Life and Death: Intersecting Injustices faced by People on the Move in Serbia
A knowledge-mapping report.
Supporting families in the pursuit of justice and preserving the memory of those lost:
The role of activists in documenting, reporting, and challenging official failures in the handling of deaths of people on the move across Serbia
Friday 27 June 2025
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 Tuesday’s release, the third of six sections we’re sharing ahead of publication of the full report in July, this fourth summary section focuses on the role of activists in documenting, reporting, and challenging official failures in the handling of deaths of people on the move across Serbia As they support families in the pursuit of justice and preserve the memory of those lost.
Role of activists, NGOs, civil society and researchers
Despite the lack of state engagement on issues of dead and missing people on the move in Serbia, various individuals, groups, and communities of people do engage with the topic at multiple levels. These people range from activists in Serbia and home countries (self-identified as such or otherwise), researchers, civil society actors, NGOs (at various operating levels), journalists, and online communities.
Our research shows that despite the varying points and levels of engagement from these actors, all share the fact that their actions fill the gaps left by state and authority.
We have found that the most dignified burial procedures have been carried out by actors independent of the state, often with minimal funding or resources. This section highlights the concrete actions and ongoing efforts of key actors identified through our research.
First and foremost, any reflection on this issue must centre the activism and resilience of individuals like Noureddine and his family, who—despite the unimaginable pain of personal loss—have found the strength to channel their grief into a public struggle for justice. Their determination to secure dignity for their son, and to fight for better outcomes for others who may follow, is a testament to the transformative power of grief-driven advocacy. It is their courage and moral clarity that should guide all future efforts in this field.
ERIM
The work of the research project The European Irregularized Migration Regime at the Periphery of the EU: from Ethnography to Keywords (ERIM), examines how irregularised migration is governed and experienced in the transnational region encompassing Croatia and its neighbouring countries.
The ERIM research project and associated 4D database of border deaths in the Western Balkans has, as previously outlined, been a fundamental baseline for our research and mapping of burial sites. ERIM is made up of ethnographic researchers from a number of Universities across the Balkans.
ERIM’s map of border deaths and 4D database is described by research coordinator Marijana Hameršak as follows:
“This map symbolically represents places of border deaths along the Balkan migratory trail following the final closure of the Balkan corridor in 2016. The map is based on ethnographic and archival research conducted within the ERIM research project and data published in the 4D database. Locations of graves along the trail are marked on a separate layer and encompass a longer period (1973-2024). The database and this map are works in progress and, as such, only partially represent the mortality path of the Balkan migratory trail.”
Contributions to 4D are open source, with data on border deaths submitted via an online form. Contributors typically belong to an informal network of activists, researchers, and grassroot NGO workers who are active in Balkan countries and have engaged with the topic of dead and missing people. Together this network of actors - platformed by ERIM - have created the most comprehensive archive of border deaths in the Balkans.
Alongside the 4D database and map of border deaths, ERIM has produced an ‘online network of keywords of the European irregular migration regime at the periphery of the EU’. Each highlighted keyword is associated with migration through Balkan countries and has an accompanying academic article. ERIM researchers have established the cornerstone of academia associated with contemporary Balkan migration.
Colletivo Rotte Balcaniche
An open source collaborative archive similar to 4D, that maps and shares the stories of those who have died on the Balkan route has recently been developed. Border Memory was launched in 2025 by Colletivo Rotte Balcaniche - an activist collective who have been supporting people on the move on the Balkan route since 2018. They explain that the website was created as a “shared and open” place of collective struggle, mourning and resistance;
“ to remember, document, and research the lives of those who went missing or died along the migratory routes through the Balkans. Our goal is not merely to collect statistics, but to transform personal grief into collective action for truth and justice - for our missing loved ones and for the end of the European border regime.
At the time of writing this report, Border Memory highlights the stories of 8 individuals who have died or gone missing at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.
Digital spaces of remembrance
Online and publicly accessible archives of border deaths, burial sites, and the stories of those who have passed and gone missing (such as Border Memory, 4D database, and our accompanying map of burial sites) act as spaces of digital remembrance in the hole left by state, regime, and imperial entities (e.g. intergovernmental migration orgs.) who do not provide information on these topics to this detail or at all. By using the online space, these platforms allow somewhat a surpassion of borders, and have the potential to foster solidarity between communities in different parts of the world. Digital spaces of remembrance are what ERIM would understand as a form of Grief Activism.
In most cases in the Balkans, these digital spaces of remembrance have been built by grassroots actors (activists or NGOs) whose work in the transitory spaces of migration that exist in the region have developed from basic humanitarian interventions to platforming research, monitoring border violence, and now creating spaces of digital remembrance. The shift in the focus of their work demonstrates a reaction to how the imperial border regime has developed over time. Borders in the Balkans have and continue to become increasingly militarised, increasingly violent, and people who travel on these routes are subjected to increasingly vulnerable and sometimes deadly circumstances - the work of grassroots actors in the region reflects this.
Klikactiv
Klikactiv, a Serbian civil society organisation based in Belgrade - who provide free legal and psychosocial support to asylum seekers and people on the move in Serbia - have a public hotline associated with their work. Due to the lack of an alternative provided by state or large-intergovernmental organisations, this hotline has become the de-facto point of call for people who have lost contact with someone travelling in Serbia.
We are aware of at least 6 active Facebook groups which exist to share information about people who have died or gone missing travelling on migration routes to Europe. Generally speaking these groups have a shared unofficial operating procedure whereby the following information is often shared; news articles of people who have died, information about people who have gone missing, information about people who have died, death certificates (or other official documents relating to a death), referrals to organisations active in specific regions.
In Serbia, people connected to grassroots organisations have played various contributing roles in bringing around more dignified ends and legacies to some of the people who have died in the region. These efforts can range from commemorative actions to interventions in standard state procedures.
No Name Kitchen
The grassroots organisation No Name Kitchen (NNK) has carried out several commemorative actions over the years of its work in Serbia, including the construction of a DIY memorial plaque and bench in the Šid cemetery, which holds at least nine graves belonging to people on the move. Similarly, during this research, our field visits to burial sites have often included ad-hoc acts of remembrance, such as laying flowers or pausing for moments of silence and reflection.
In terms of state procedural involvement, we are aware of at least one case in Serbia where an individual linked to a grassroots organisation coordinated with the family of a deceased person on the move to arrange a culturally appropriate burial. The individual was laid to rest in the Muslim section of a state cemetery—buried facing Mecca—with their name inscribed in Arabic and a photo placed on a marble headstone. The burial was attended by people who had known them. These basic considerations, often overlooked in state-led procedures, were made possible through the use of private funeral services.
The fifth summary section of this report, which considers the Border Regime, will be published on Tuesday 1 July.