29 September 2022

The 16th International scientific conference “Social Justice in Post-Communist Societies”, organized by the Serbian Political Science Association (SPSA) took place at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, from 24-25 September 2022. The Conference focus was on the analysis of social justice in post-communist transformation, from political and economic perspectives.

MIGREC team members presented two papers.

Dejan Pavlović, Danica Šantić and Natalija Perišić presented their paper titled „Policy Considerations when Facing Asylum Applications Influx”. They pointed to increased numbers of asylum applications globally, including the Western Balkans and Serbia, along with low rates of positive decisions. They showed that a governmental stance is influenced by numerous factors, some of them being: solidarity, international obligation to non-refoulment, political considerations, level of xenophobia in that state, media coverage, pressure from the civil society. In that context, authors showed governments’ actions in the region regarding the social justice in their treating asylum seekers.

Nevenka Žegarac, Anita Burgund Isakov and Violeta Marković presented their paper titled “Multiple and prolonged traumas – experiences of children with violence on the Western Balkans Route”. They pointed that children migrating along the Balkans Route have been exposed to all basic (physical, psychological and sexual) and many other types of violence, along with other endangering circumstances, in the countries of origin and transit. In children and in their narratives, there are symptoms characteristic of prolonged exposure to multiple traumatic experiences. Authors highlighted that experiencing such traumas in the most vulnerable part of children’s life has consequences on their development and can be connected with immediate and long-term negative impact on their health.