The languages of refugees fleeing to Bosnia
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"A path towards freedom: the new route to Europe for desperate Chinese migrants
Revealed: a small but growing number of Chinese people are travelling to the Balkans with the hope of getting into the EU" Amy Hawkins," The Guardian (9/24/24)
In a sleepy Bosnian town, barely five miles from the border with the European Union, a crumbling old water tower is falling into ruin. Inside, piles of rubbish, used cigarette butts and a portable wood-fired stove offer glimpses into the daily life of the people who briefly called the building home. Glued on to the walls is another clue: on pieces of A4 paper, the same message is printed out, again and again: “If you would like to travel to Europe (Italy, Germany, France, etc) we can help you. Please add this number on WhatsApp”. The message is printed in the languages of often desperate people: Somali, Nepali, Turkish, the list goes on. The last translation on the list indicates a newcomer to this unlucky club. It is written in Chinese.
“Staying here is not a very good option,” one of the Chinese refugees says, but “if I go back to China, what awaits me is either being sent to a mental hospital or a prison.”
Fleeing from China to Bosnia is dangerous and expensive. So why do Chinese do it?
Part of the reason that Bosnia is an attractive staging post for Chinese migrants, is that like its neighbour Serbia, it offers visa-free travel. Aleksandra Kovačević, spokesperson for Bosnia’s Service for Foreigner’s Affairs, a government department, said that Chinese people were “gaining statistical significance as persons who increasingly violate migration regulations of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. She said that along with Turkish citizens, Chinese people were trying to use legal entry into Bosnia as a way to “illegally continue their journey to the countries of western Europe”.
Everybody who wants to escape from China has their own reasons for taking such a huge risk. Often it is a burning desire for freedom of speech or craving for access to information that is severely limited by the Great Firewall. From private and public sources, it is clear that these restrictions are growing increasingly harsh as time passes, so don't expect the volume of Chinese refugees fleeing to Bosnia to diminish during the coming months and years.
Since (as shown by a UNHCR graphic in The Guardian article), the numbers of Chinese seeking asylum in Europe rose dramatically in the years following 2012, you can put 2 and 2 together and figure out what the probable main cause is.
Selected readings
- "RUN = wrong" (9/29/22)
- "RUNning away from Shanghai" (5/13/22)
- "Epochal Shanghai drone quote: 'Control your soul’s desire for freedom.'" (5/8/22)
- "Fissures in the Great Firewall caused by X" (6/10/24) — with a very long bibliography on censorship in China
[h.t.: many Language Log readers called this article to my attention]