Attachments
Executive Summary
The Western Balkans remains a key transit corridor for mixed and onward movements of refugees, stateless persons and migrants, with persistent protection risks and structural gaps in asylum systems. UNHCR’s route-based approach (RteBA) aims to deliver a coordinated, protection-focused response across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo, 1 addressing needs at entry, transit, and integration stages.
With its operational footprint, partnerships, and mandate, UNHCR is uniquely positioned to lead this multi-year initiative. The RteBA applies a holistic, cross-border framework to address mixed and onward movements along key routes (including in the Western Balkans2 ). Through this approach, UNHCR aims to support States in managing mixed and onward movements more predictably and humanely, uphold international protection, ease pressures on asylum systems, and ultimately save lives.
By reducing vulnerabilities, enhancing self-reliance, and strengthening access to protection, UNHCR pursues stabilization efforts. Mixed and onward movements are often driven by insecurity, lack of legal status, limited access to services and scarce livelihood opportunities. UNHCR’s interventions, in close partnership with IOM and other actors, focus not only on legal and policy frameworks but also on their actual implementation, including on expanding access to civil documentation, advocating for legal reforms, supporting livelihoods and complementary pathways, and promoting inclusive communication. Through these efforts, UNHCR and its partners support States in managing these movements and mitigate the pressures that compel people to move onward.