From 2013 the so-called Balkan route, crossed by thousands of refugees heading
to Europe, has seen an exponential increase. Government sources (FRONTEX 2015)
say that in 2015 some 800,000 people have made the journey that begins in the
Greek islands and ends in Central European countries. The majority of migrants
that in recent years have travelled the Balkan route, which embraces countries
such as Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia;
were fleeing conflicts and political repression. It is not a coincidence that
the increase in refugee arrivals, went hand in hand with the continuation and
escalation of the Syrian and Afghan conflicts.
The huge crisis of refugee arrivals that has taken place in 2015, and
which is continuing in 2016, could have easily be predicted and prepared for if
the governments of Europe had paid more attention to what was happening in neighbouring
countries such as Serbia and Bulgaria. Since 2012 these counties bordering the
EU have experienced a constant incoming migrant flow; but in the vast majority
of cases, Europe has put in place only temporary solutions without any long-term
strategy. Solutions such
as the temporary reception centres (where people are housed for long periods
with no answers concerning their future), and the erection of walls and razor-wire
border fences that have simply moved the flow of migrants from one country to
another.
This situation has put a strain on European immigration policies, which
have often been blind or backward in their approach to what is happening beyond
Europe's borders (and also within Europe itself).
In the last two years, the situation has become unmanageable from a
humanitarian point of view. It has also become politically dangerous, resurgent
populist groups across Europe have used the crisis as a political propaganda
tool. The
neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in Greece, the far-right National Front in France and in Austria the
far-right Freedom Party to name a few have all made significant gains in the
polls.
The European Union still has not found a concrete solution to put in place
that suits all countries of the union for the management of the crisis. Often
giving individual countries arbitrary choice on how to manage the transit flows
on their territory. This situation has seen the actualization of policies that
are often openly xenophobic, as in the case of Hungary, which in mid-September
2015 closed its border to the passage of refugees, and violently pushed thousands
of people into neighbouring countries.
The Balkan route, however, has much deeper origins than the one the
media has presented during the coverage in 2015. In Greece (the country where
this route theoretically begins on European territory) the issue of refugees and
migrants receiving an unwelcome reception and the non-inclusion into society,
has existed for many years.
Greece has historically been the gateway to Europe for thousands of
people fleeing countries at war or repressive regimes. It is a country of limbo
for asylum seekers; due to the great economic crisis foreigners have become the
most vulnerable part of society, with no rights and no chance to request them. Greece
has become a kind of hell for these people, where obtaining a residence permit
is extremely difficult and where racism, due to the growth of xenophobic and
fascist movements, has intensified in recent years.
The current immigration crisis in Europe stems from the lack of a European
plan for the management of the migration flow, and the development of adequate
policies to help and welcome those seeking refuge.
The Balkan route is part of a broader body of my photographic work (entitled
“From There to Here”) that began in 2010.It is an investigation of the migration routes to Europe and the conditions
of those who have already arrived and have been living in Europe for several
years. It is a report that spans 15 countries and endeavours to be a visual historic
archive of this period.
The migration crisis is a metaphor for our world
and its inequalities. The arrival and the perpetuity of the hundreds of thousands of new migrants in
Europe, unmasks the reality that in our society, the right to freedom of
movement and the right to a decent life is not the same for everybody, and
demonstrates how Western society, through these inequalities, seeks to preserve
its privileges.