New items of surveillance equipment known as 'camera traps' are to be installed along the border between Slovenia and Italy. The devices will be used to detect undocumented migrants and smugglers on this part of the so-called Balkans route.
Joint efforts to tackle irregular migration - in particular along the Balkan route - was one of the central themes discussed by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during a visit to Croatia and Slovenia last week.
NGOs working on the Balkan route compare the idea of setting up defensive walls against migrants to Brexit, a decision that brought back to Europe the concept of borders. A wall is not sufficient to stop the flow of migrants, just like water finds its way, they said.
Slovenia saw an increase in migrant and refugee arrivals in 2022. More than 32,000 people crossed into the country irregularly last year, according to national police. That's three times as many as in 2021.
The migrants, who were mostly from Afghanistan, India, Burundi and Nepal, will face proceedings for attempting to illegally cross the border after leaving asylum centers in Slovenia.
Slovenian police have detained a Syrian national, alleged to have transported 17 migrants using irregular means. The foreign minister meanwhile announced that Slovenia would start to tear down a razor wire fortification on its border with Croatia.
Slovenia has announced that it will be taking down its border fence on the Croatian border by the end of the year. The Interior Ministry confirmed the plan to the news agency STA.
The European Union and its border agency Frontex are using increasing amounts of technology to monitor migration at external and internal borders across Europe. Experts say that tracking technology is often being deployed to evade legal responsibilities.
Several Italian migrant rights organizations have organized a 'walk of hope' in Italy from the Slovenian to the French border to raise awareness for the many challenges migrants and refugees face.
The body of a 10-year-old Turkish girl was recovered from the Dragonja River between Slovenia and Croatia on Saturday. She had been swept away while her family had been trying to cross the swollen river.
The body of a migrant from Bangladesh has been found in Slovenia near the border with Croatia. Police say it is the first such death in this part of the border region.
The 2021 Immigration Report by the IDOS research center noted that, between January and mid-November 2020, "Italy sent back 1,240 migrants and asylum seekers to Slovenia" as part of readmission agreements.