Conference Presentations by Jovana Mastilovic
My Presentation at the 2018 International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) C... more My Presentation at the 2018 International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) Conference, hosted by the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies @ the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Theme One: Crises, Precarity and Refugeeness.
Date: 24-27- July 2018.
Panel: Regional Perspectives - Greece.
Abstract:
The European Union (EU) has implemented many policy developments in the field of asylum due to the arrival of more than one million people seeking international protection in 2015. Conflict was the primary reason people arrived on the Greek islands from Turkey and continued their journey to northern European countries via the Western Balkans route. The EU response to this influx of people was increased co-operation with Turkey and the Western Balkans countries in the field of border management. This presentation will first describe the policies implemented on behalf of the EU Member States to ‘better manage migration’. It will then present the results of empirical data collection conducted with non-governmental/intergovernmental organisations assisting people seeking asylum and policy-makers on the Greek island; Lesvos, the countries of the Western Balkans, and Hungary. The intention of empirical research was to find out whether the intentions of the EU – Turkey Statement and the closure of the Western Balkans route have been achieved, what impacts they have on people seeking asylum, and whether they have elevated security (and for whom). There are currently tens of thousands of people seeking asylum restricted in movement in the Western Balkans countries and Greece as a result of border closures and more people lost their lives trying to reach the EU to seek asylum in 2016 than they did in 2015. This presentation will address the consequences of EU policies and their impact on people seeking asylum.
Papers by Jovana Mastilovic
Representing 21st-Century Migration in Europe
Southeastern Europe, 2021
This article examines a migration pattern which has been overshadowed by the ‘security turn’ domi... more This article examines a migration pattern which has been overshadowed by the ‘security turn’ dominating European discourses: depopulation. Across Europe, emigration is responsible for significant demographic transformations, especially in rural and remote areas. Depopulation leads to the reduction of services provided to citizens, further diminishing the attractiveness of these territories. Against this background, migration can counterbalance depopulation as part of a strategy for rural regeneration. This article analyses the case of Riace, an Italian town that has been hosting people seeking asylum and refugees for decades, and compares it to the Serbian town of Sjenica, where increasing numbers of non-EU migrants are settling after the ‘closure’ of the Western Balkans route. Our empirical findings indicate that there is both an opportunity and a political will to implement a similar model to that of Riace in Sjenica and in the southwest Sandžak region.
Approximately one million people used the Mediterranean Sea routes to reach the European Union (E... more Approximately one million people used the Mediterranean Sea routes to reach the European Union (EU) and seek asylum in 2015. The vast majority of these people used the eastern Mediterranean route from Turkey to EU member state, Greece. They continued along the Western Balkans route to re-enter the EU, either through the Republic of Croatia (Croatia) or Hungary. In March 2016, the Western Balkans route was declared closed by EU representatives. These border closures coincided with the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. Agreements between the EU, Turkey, and the countries of the Western Balkans ended the influx of people seeking asylum in the EU. More people lost their lives trying to reach the EU to seek asylum in 2016 than in 2015 using alternative routes to the eastern Mediterranean route, such as the central Mediterranean route, and there are increasingly more people seeking asylum being detained in Turkey and Greece. In addition, as of May 2019, there were just under 4000...
Southeastern Europe, 2021
This article examines a migration pattern which has been overshadowed by the ‘security turn’ domi... more This article examines a migration pattern which has been overshadowed by the ‘security turn’ dominating European discourses: depopulation. Across Europe, emigration is responsible for significant demographic transformations, especially in rural and remote areas. Depopulation leads to the reduction of services provided to citizens, further diminishing the attractiveness of these territories. Against this background, migration can counterbalance depopulation as part of a strategy for rural regeneration. This article analyses the case of Riace, an Italian town that has been hosting people seeking asylum and refugees for decades, and compares it to the Serbian town of Sjenica, where increasing numbers of non-EU migrants are settling after the ‘closure’ of the Western Balkans route. Our empirical findings indicate that there is both an opportunity and a political will to implement a similar model to that of Riace in Sjenica and in the southwest Sandžak region.
Talks by Jovana Mastilovic
Berghahn, 2022
Zoom Book launch event. REPRESENTING 21ST-CENTURY MIGRATION IN EUROPE: Performing Borders, Identi... more Zoom Book launch event. REPRESENTING 21ST-CENTURY MIGRATION IN EUROPE: Performing Borders, Identities and Texts. Edited by Nelson González Ortega and Ana Belén Martínez García. Berghahn Books, Feb. 2022. Roundtable with authors.
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Conference Presentations by Jovana Mastilovic
Theme One: Crises, Precarity and Refugeeness.
Date: 24-27- July 2018.
Panel: Regional Perspectives - Greece.
Abstract:
The European Union (EU) has implemented many policy developments in the field of asylum due to the arrival of more than one million people seeking international protection in 2015. Conflict was the primary reason people arrived on the Greek islands from Turkey and continued their journey to northern European countries via the Western Balkans route. The EU response to this influx of people was increased co-operation with Turkey and the Western Balkans countries in the field of border management. This presentation will first describe the policies implemented on behalf of the EU Member States to ‘better manage migration’. It will then present the results of empirical data collection conducted with non-governmental/intergovernmental organisations assisting people seeking asylum and policy-makers on the Greek island; Lesvos, the countries of the Western Balkans, and Hungary. The intention of empirical research was to find out whether the intentions of the EU – Turkey Statement and the closure of the Western Balkans route have been achieved, what impacts they have on people seeking asylum, and whether they have elevated security (and for whom). There are currently tens of thousands of people seeking asylum restricted in movement in the Western Balkans countries and Greece as a result of border closures and more people lost their lives trying to reach the EU to seek asylum in 2016 than they did in 2015. This presentation will address the consequences of EU policies and their impact on people seeking asylum.
Papers by Jovana Mastilovic
Talks by Jovana Mastilovic
Theme One: Crises, Precarity and Refugeeness.
Date: 24-27- July 2018.
Panel: Regional Perspectives - Greece.
Abstract:
The European Union (EU) has implemented many policy developments in the field of asylum due to the arrival of more than one million people seeking international protection in 2015. Conflict was the primary reason people arrived on the Greek islands from Turkey and continued their journey to northern European countries via the Western Balkans route. The EU response to this influx of people was increased co-operation with Turkey and the Western Balkans countries in the field of border management. This presentation will first describe the policies implemented on behalf of the EU Member States to ‘better manage migration’. It will then present the results of empirical data collection conducted with non-governmental/intergovernmental organisations assisting people seeking asylum and policy-makers on the Greek island; Lesvos, the countries of the Western Balkans, and Hungary. The intention of empirical research was to find out whether the intentions of the EU – Turkey Statement and the closure of the Western Balkans route have been achieved, what impacts they have on people seeking asylum, and whether they have elevated security (and for whom). There are currently tens of thousands of people seeking asylum restricted in movement in the Western Balkans countries and Greece as a result of border closures and more people lost their lives trying to reach the EU to seek asylum in 2016 than they did in 2015. This presentation will address the consequences of EU policies and their impact on people seeking asylum.