The international scientific conference “Challenges of Central and Eastern Europe – Conflicts and Migration”, organized by the Institute of Central and Eastern Europe, the Three Seas Foundation and the Doctoral Science Club on Politics of the University of Silesia, Poland was held online on September 13-14, 2022. The conference brought together scholars and experts from the region of Central and Eastern Europe and worldwide working on migration and peace issues and included many panels. The overall framework of the conference was set by developments from recent months during which the world witnessed the migration crisis on the Polish – Belarusian border, with currently about 2 million Ukrainian refugees in Poland. As a consequence, migration challenges in Europe intensify.
Natalija Perisic, member of the MIGREC team, presented at the expert panel her presentation “Conflicts and Migration – A View from Serbia”. She touched the challenge of migration and conflicts in the context which is social, historical, economic and legal. She focused her presentation around the impact of wars on migration and mobility in the Western Balkans, the differences between the impact of migration “crisis” of 2015 and the Ukrainian crisis in Serbia and preparedness of the state to react in emergency situations. She also presented the main obstacles and opportunities for the integration of migrants in Serbia as well as the impact of war trauma to the destination communities.
