Debate_A4: The most beautiful corner in the wide world – global migration and Slovakia

According to the United Nations, the total estimated number of migrants in the world is more than 281 million, according to the United Nations. If international migrants were to establish a state, they would create the fourth most populated country in the world. More than 85 million people of them are refugees – internally displaced persons, people seeking asylum.

Slovakia is not one of the traditional destinations for migrants. The dramatic increase in global migration in the recent decades has not affected the country much. Although the share of foreigners in the population has increased since the country joined the EU, compared to other member states it still remains at a low level. The significant influx of people from Ukraine in 2022, as well as the current movement of people mainly from Turkey and Syria as part of transit migration again poses several important questions to Slovakia:

Why do we show so little sensitivity towards the people on the run or towards people traveling in search of a better life, when the topic of migration, i.e. emigration from Slovakia, is a permanent part of Slovak culture?

Why is it that only a tiny fraction of the small number of people who apply for asylum in Slovakia actually get it?

Do we have any idea what the real migration crisis, which for example Italy or Greece is facing, looks like and how it can be managed?

What is the state of the public policy of integration of foreigners? Have we updated this strategy recently, especially in relation to the lessons we have learned in connection with the integration of expatriates from Ukraine?

Discussion participants: Elena Gallová Kriglerová, director of the Centrum for research of ethnicity and culture and Ján Orlovský, director of the Migration office of Ministry of the Interior SR    

Dramaturgy and moderation of the debate: Bohdan Smieška