Germany desperately needs medical professionals, and many in the Western Balkans are just as keen on a way out of their home countries. Highly skilled migrants are rushing westwards in a seemingly unstoppable wave.
The Slovenian government has presented a draft law to limit the activities of self-styled "village guards" created to control the border, many of whom do so as part of an anti-migrant trend.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) have warned that the conditions of migrants stuck on the border in Bosnia are worsening by the day. The organization says migrants there are forced to live in inhumane conditions and that they are reportedly subjected to violence by Croatian police when they try to cross the border.
After being overwhelmed with migrants, authorities in the Bosnian city of Bihac moved hundreds of them to an old garbage dump. DW looks into key elements of what has become an escalating crisis.
In EU member state Slovenia, paramilitaries say they are facing down a migrant 'threat' on the border with Croatia. Their patrols includes trying to catch migrants climbing over the border fence and signalling their presence to the police. The founder and group commander this year served time in jail for forming the vigilante group and urging the overthrow of state institutions.
The Bosnian government claims none of the local communities in the country agreed to the construction of new migrant centers in their territories.
A group of NGOs in Italy and the Balkans have denounced that migrants along the Balkan migrant route continue to be illegally expelled from one state to the next. The Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe meanwhile has warned of a "humanitarian emergency" due to squalid conditions at the Vucjak migrant camp in Bosnia.
Around 1500 migrants were rounded up in northwestern Bosnia and moved to a camp in the country on Wednesday. The town of Bihac cannot provide adequate shelter for these people in the winter weather, authorities said.
Slovenia has reported 11,291 irregular border crossings since the start of this year, according to the interior minister.
A Serbian NGO has accused Croatian border police of inflicting "physical and psychological torture" on an Afghan minor last month. Croatia's interior ministry dismissed the allegations as "unfounded and incomprehensible." In the past, international organizations and NGOs have repeatedly criticized Croatia of using excessive force as migrants try to enter the EU member state from Serbia.
The number of migrants in Serbian reception centers has fallen significantly. Meanwhile, authorities throughout the Balkans are continuing operations to arrest traffickers.
Serbian authorities have reported that an estimated 3,500 migrants are currently living in the country. Nearly 3,000 people live in hosting facilities, while the others are living outdoors, including in parks, according to Vladimir Cucic, the local commissioner for refugees and migration.