Administration without Frontiers? Serbian Migration Law and Policy from the European Perspective

Administration without Frontiers:
Serbian Migration Law and Policy
from the European Perspective

Violeta Beširević / Aleksandra Čavoški

Associate Professors, Union University Law School Belgrade

The paper presents the main features of Serbian migration law and policy and the progress made for fulfilling the EU accession requirements in the field of justice and home affairs. The authors firstly examine the institutional setting for decision-making and data collection in the field of migration, the progress made in interna­tional cooperation, data protection and treatment of vulnerable migratory groups, in particular victims of human trafficking. In this respect, Serbia made significant progress by developing a wide and systematic institutional framework for dealing with the aforementioned issues, especially in providing all necessary assistance to victims of human trafficking. However, data collection proves to be still a major chal­lenge for the Serbian administration due to the lack of modern technology, the insufficient cooperation of relevant authorities and the absence of adequate training of competent civil servants. The authors also reflect on the legislative framework concerning migration and its compliance with the relevant EU acquis. As EU ac­ces­sion is a major incentive for Serbia, the Government made great efforts in pas­sing the required legal instruments, notably the Foreigners Act and the Asylum Act which provide adequate protection for migrants on the territory of Serbia. How­ever, the implementation of these and other acts regulating the problem of il­legal immigration still to be adopted represent a major challenge for Serbia in the future. Moreover, Serbia still lacks integration strategies, vocational training pro­grammes, strategies to fight gender violence and measures to promote basic values in civic orientation programmes. No less important is the shortage of financial means re­quired for the implementation of mechanisms prescribed by the afore­mentioned acts.