The minister also explained that we are seeing an increase in illegal border crossings by nationals of countries that were previously undetected as countries of origin, namely Burundi, India and Cuba. As a result, Slovenia recently sent a proposal to the European Commission for Western Balkan countries to harmonize their visa liberalization regime with the European Union visa regime. “Serbia already did this at the end of October for citizens of Burundi and Tunisia. On an operational level, we are already seeing a decrease in the number of illegal border crossings by these citizens,” said the Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar, adding that another proposal calls for the European Commission to do everything in its power in terms of development aid, respect for human rights and the prevention of human trafficking in countries original was also made.
“Today’s conference is just one of many activities carried out by Slovenia, or by the Slovenian Ministry of the Interior and the Slovenian police.. I would like to emphasize that the Ministry of the Interior and the Slovenian police monitor the migration situation on a daily basis and adjust their activities and tasks accordingly. One of these tasks is accelerated international cooperation,” Bobnar said, adding that “today’s meeting of police directors general, which we announced a few weeks ago and which takes place today in Portorož, is dedicated to the topic of immediate exchange of operational data. between the policies of different countries with emphasis on the prevention of human trafficking.
Meanwhile, Acting Director General of Police Boštjan Lindav stressed that organized criminal groups have a significant impact on the migration phenomenon by playing a significant role in the smuggling of migrants and refugees from crisis regions along the Western Balkans route to destination countries: “They also take advantage of the vulnerability of people who, for one reason or another, have decided to undertake this difficult journey, exploiting them financially and thus making big profits. The aim of today’s conference is to formulate a concrete initiative on how to designate contact points and a network of contact points in the Western Balkans region to exchange data on the activities of organized criminal groups. We believe that this can improve and increase the effectiveness of policing in this area throughout the region, which will – we hope and believe – will later result in a better security situation in the region.
“I am very pleased that the Directors General of Police have responded in such large numbers, which shows that we are all aware of the seriousness of this problem and willing to find common solutions, putting us on the right path to success.. We will all continue to work on this issue and all – each of us – will continue to ensure a high level of security for all citizens of the region,” Lindav concluded.
