A. Situation analysis
Description of the situation
Since 2011, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been a crossroad for migrants, and in the past 10 months the number of migrants, particularly those from Syria, has been rising. According to the statistical data1 in the period between January 2015 and May 2015, over 2,300 migrants transited through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and about 500 persons are sheltered at the reception centre located in the capital city of Skopje as undocumented migrants where they usually stay from one to six months.
On the basis of the conducted analysis, it can be concluded that the migrants transiting through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia would look for temporary shelter in the villages scattered around the cities of Gevgelija and Valandovo close to the border with Greece, and then they walk along the railroad line Gevgelija – Veles towards the villages Lojane, Vaksince and other local villages in Kumanovo area city close to the border with Serbia, from where they try to continue their trip towards the EU countries. Only one family has officially requested a residence permit in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia so far. In the villages, migrants usually reside in deserted houses, without any elementary conditions for normal life, or they rent rooms for a short period of time in the homes of the local population, and after that they continue their trip towards the EU countries. Having in mind that these people travel mainly at night on a hardly passable terrain, tired and starving, 27 persons lost their lives on the railroad tracks in train accidents during the last several months.