FORCE MIGRATION PROJECT SEELS

EXTERNAL EXPERTS

One of the goals of the Forced Migrations Project is to improve the regional collaboration on the territory of the Western Balkan Migration Route by means of cross-country cooperation of project participants. This project goal will be implemented, inter alia, by organizing a Regional Scientific Conference on the legal status and protection of these vulnerable migrant groups, which will serve as a platform for presenting and discussing the national reports on legal protection systems in the participating countries. The national reports will offer an overview of legal systems in the three groups of countries which constitute the Western Balkan Migration Route: EU candidate states (Serbia and North Macedonia); an EU potential candidate states (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and an EU member state (Croatia).

Besides, the external experts will provide the model reports on the certain EU standards in a context of the Dublin III Regulation, Geneva Refugee Convention and Private International Law. These reports will create a base for defining the differences in the national legal systems and analyzing the possibility of overcoming the shortcomings. The Conference will be accompanied by the publication of A Guide to Good Practices (which could serve as a foundation for further research in this area).

In this regard, we have honor to cooperate with three distinguished experts:
Mr. J.H.A van Loon, the former Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law;
Professor Fabienne Jault-Seseke, Faculté de droit et de science politique de l’Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (member of the Trans Europe Experts network) - CV; and
Professor Sabine Corneloup, Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (member of the Trans Europe Experts network) - CV.

MANAGEMENT

On 26th February 2020, representatives of all project teams has held a meeting at the Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. At the meeting, they agreed on the topics of exchange seminars for practitioners, established the methodology of A Guide to Good Practice and elected the members of the Steering Committee, Organization Board and the Editorial Board of the Exchange Seminars.

The contact person and the Project manager is Professor Goran Obradović, Faculty of Law, University of Niš.

The project is also managed by the Steering Committee, which is composed of four members, one representative from each Project Partner:

1. Professor Toni Deskoski, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia;
2. Professor Mirela Župan, Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia;
3. Professor Zlatan Meškić, Faculty of Law, University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
4. Associate Professor Sanja Marjanović, Faculty of Law,University of Niš, Serbia.

The members of the Editorial Board are:

1. Professor Toni Deskoski, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia;
2. Professor Goran Obradović, Faculty of Law,University of Niš, Serbia;
3. Professor Zlatan Meškić, Faculty of Law, University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
4. Assistant Professor Helga Špadina, Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia;

The members of the Organization Board are:

1. Professor Toni Deskoski, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia;
2. Assistant Professor Vangel Dokovski, Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia;
3. Professor Zlatan Meškić, Faculty of Law, University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
4. Assistant Professor Dženana Radončić, Faculty of Law, University of Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina;
5. Assistant Professor Ana Džanić, Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia;
6. Assistant Professor Dunja Duić, Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Croatia;
7. Associate Professor Sanja Marjanović, Faculty of Law,University of Niš, Serbia;
8. Assistant Professor Marko Dimitrijević, Faculty of Law,University of Niš, Serbia.

ABOUT

The project "Legal Status and Protection of Internationally Displaced Persons, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and 'Invisible' Persons without IDs" (the Forced Migrations Project) is collaborative research project which gathers four law faculties in four SEE countries making the so called Western Balkan Migration route (North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina). The Project examines the effectiveness of the current national legislation in these four countries in terms of the forced migrants and its compliance with the EU standards on the same issue. The Project is led by the Faculty of Law, University of Niš (Serbia) and our Partners are: the Faculty of Law, University of Zenica (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Faculty of Law Iustinianus Primus, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (North Macedonia) and Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek (Croatia). The Project is supported by the SEELS network.

The realization of the Project started in December 2019. It was interrupted for three months due to the pandemic of the COVID-19, and it has been continued in June 2020. The end of the Project is planned for December 2021.

Project Purposes

The primary purpose of the project is to strengthen the system of public institutions and NGOs managing migration and asylum issues in the countries on the Western Balkan Migration Route. In achieving its goal, the Forced Migrations Project focuses on improving knowledge and skills of stakeholders in public institutions and NGOs which are directly involved in legal protection of the forced migrants (internationally displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers, and 'invisible' persons without IDs). In that regard, Project participants will organize exchange seminars in four participating countries which will help to identify the drawbacks in the national protection system.

Likewise, the Project involves the cross-country cooperation of project participants by: 1) networking the academic staff, stakeholders and the law students from the participating Law Faculties, and 2) organizing a Regional Scientific Conference on the legal status and protection of these vulnerable migrant groups, which will serve as a platform for presenting and discussing the national reports on legal protection systems in the participating countries. The conference will be followed by the publication of a joint Guide to Good Practices, as reference material for the stakeholders in all countries involved.

Finally, Project is also aimed at improvement the knowledge of the MA and the PhD law students in the matter of legal status and protection of migrants (which is usually not included in the current curricula).

We invite you to take a closer insight in the Forced Migrations Project and the activities which will be implemented!

FORCE MIGRATION PROJECT SUPPORTED BY THE SEELS

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