Population Migration in Regard to the Migrant Crisis of 2015-2016 in the Republic of Croatia

Prekogranični kriminal, nezakonite migracije i krijumčarenje ljudi globalni su problem koji ne zaobilazi ni Republiku Hrvatsku. Ona se nalazi uzduž smjera migracijskih kretanja osoba iz istočnoeuropskih i azijskih zemalja prema zapadnoeuropskim razvijenim zemljama. Zbog izuzetno povoljnog zemljopisnog položaja i otvorenosti granica sve je više privlačna za migrante. Migrantska kriza je potaknuta pogoršavanjem političkih odnosa između država na Bliskom istoku te zaoštravanjem tih problema u ratno stanje na nekim područjima. Sukob u Siriji i dalje je najveći pokretač migracija, međutim, trajno nasilje u Afganistanu i Iraku, zlostavljanje u Eritreji, kao i siromaštvo na Kosovu također su razlog odlaska velikog broja ljudi i njihovog ulaska u Europu. Stotine tisuća izbjeglica suočava se s najtežim i najopasnijim putovanjem života te s teškoćama različitih azilnih politika unutar europskih država. Migracijski val koji je zahvatio Europu u drugoj polovici 2015. godine poprima toliki doseg da s razlogom možemo reći da je nastupilo krizno stanje. Migrantska je kriza zatekla europske države u potpuno nepripremljenom stanju, odnosno nepripremljene na tolike široke razmjere krize, te izazvala političku, javnu i medijsku pomutnju.Cross-border criminal, illegal migrations and human smuggling are a global issue that also occurs in the Republic of Croatia. Croatia is located along the direction of migration movements of people from Eastern European and Asian countries towards the Western European developed countries. Due to its extremely favorable geographical position and openness of its borders, it is becoming more and more attractive to migrants. The migrant crisis was initiated by the deterioration of political relations between the states in the Middle East and the escalation of these problems into the state of war in some areas. The conflict in Syria remains the biggest initiator of migrations, however, the lasting violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the abuse in Eritrea, as well as poverty in Kosovo are also reasons of departure of a great number of people and their entry into Europe. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are faced with the most dangerous journey of a lifetime, as well as with difficulties of various asylum policies of European states. The migration wave that seized Europe in the second half of the year 2015 has taken on such proportions that it is justified to call it a crisis. European states were completely unprepared for the migrant crisis, i.e. for its proportions, which caused political, public and media commotion