Five years later: the Balkan route of 2015 was an exception

Research report led by Göttingen University reconstructs the Balkan route based on the experience of 500 refugees. The research report -Border Experiences and Practices of Refugees - by the EU project -Multi-level Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and beyond ( RESPOND) - provides a unique documentation of the experiences of refugee-migrants with the borders of Europe. The events in 2015, which were labelled as the -European refugee crisis-, are still affecting the European public and politics. There has been much discussion about the 2015/2016 migratory movements into European soil without paying attention to the life experiences of people on the move, crossing borders with the hope of finding -safety-. Most of these people were escaping from violence, human rights violations and from the devastating effects of civil wars, but then faced violence and traumatic experiences at the borders of Europe. Based on 507 interviews with refugees from various countries of origin who made their way to Europe between 2013 and 2018, the report vividly describes the risks and diverse forms of violence and hardship brought about by the current migration and border control policies of the European Union and its member states. Sabine Hess from the University of Göttingen, who led the report said: -This report clearly shows that there is a direct correlation between the level of life-threatening risks as well as human rights violations, and the border-control policies.