The reproduction of borders and the contagiousness of illegalisation: A case of a Belgrade youth hostel
For the past couple of years, Serbia has become a transit country for the ever increasing number of migrants from Africa and Asia, travelling towards the EU. As part of the process of approaching the EU - first achieving the liberalisation of the visa regime for entry into the Schengen area...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute of Ethnography, SASA, Belgrade
2015-01-01
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| Series: | Glasnik Etnografskog Instituta SANU |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-0861/2015/0350-08611503623S.pdf |
| Summary: | For the past couple of years, Serbia has become a transit country for the
ever increasing number of migrants from Africa and Asia, travelling towards
the EU. As part of the process of approaching the EU - first achieving the
liberalisation of the visa regime for entry into the Schengen area in 2009
and then getting the official status of a candidate member in 2012 - Serbia
needed to harmonise its policies with those of the EU, especially in the
areas of border control and migration management. As a result, Serbia adopted
a series of laws and policies which effectively illegalise migrants. In this
paper, we first look into how migrant “illegality” is produced by Serbian
migration legislation and policy, and second, we look at the consequences of
this illegalisation. The first set of consequences are those that are felt by
migrants themselves, as they are its principle target. The second set of
consequences affects those persons that come into contact with the
illegalised migrants. We speak of contagiousness of illegalisation, which
affects those people who are providing professional services to illegalised
persons. Under the treat of possible criminalisation, pressure is put on them
to conduct “legality” checks and thus reproduce borders far away from the
actual state border. We look particularly at reproduction of borders in the
area of accommodation of migrants, taking as a case study a Belgrade youth
hostel. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-0861 2334-8259 |