The impact of the opening and closing of the “Balkans route” on the work of the OSCE Missions in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia
The migration crisis that hit Europe from the opening of the Balkans route in late summer 2015 to its purported closing in the beginning of 2016 has had a differential impact on the work of the field operations deployed by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Southeast Europe. The article provides an overview of the activities pursued by the OSCE field operations in the Western Balkans region in response to the migration crisis. It sheds light on the gradual involvement of the OSCE Secretariat in this area. Based on field research, it scrutinises the implications the migration crisis has had for OSCE field operations in terms of monitoring activities; reporting & liaising activities; promoting a human rights-based approach to the crisis; raising awareness at the community level; building local governance and civil society capacity; building policing capacity and addressing migration-related crime; as well as supporting research activities. The research presented here shall serve as a contribution to further analysis on how far the current developments have the potential to change the work of the OSCE and its field operations in Southeast Europe.
