STA, 9 May 2019 - A 79-year-old man working in his vineyard around the south-eastern town of Črnomelj on the border with Croatia was kidnapped on Wednesday by a group of migrants who entered Slovenia illegally, the police told the press in Ljubljana on Thursday.

A 25-year-old Morocco citizen and two 18-year-olds from Algeria were arrested by the Italian police in the town of Basovizza last evening and returned to Slovenia.

They are in detention on suspicion of kidnapping and theft, and will be brought before an investigating magistrate within 48 hours, said Tomaž Perošlja from the General Police Department.

Under Slovenia's penal code, kidnapping carries a prison sentence from six months to five years, or less if the kidnapper releases the victim of their own accord.

Peršolja explained the man had been tied up near the village of Mali Nerajec in the Bela Krajina region in early afternoon, put into his car's boot and driven several hours around Slovenia before being untied and released in a village near the town of Sežana on the south-western border with Italy.

The kidnappers took his documents before proceeding to Italy. Upon release, the man asked for help the nearby locals, who called the police and his family after 6pm.

The police have also established that the three foreign citizens were processed by Slovenian police before, according to Peršolja.

They entered the country illegally on 29 April, did not express an intention to ask for international protection in Slovenia and were returned to Croatia on 30 April.

The kidnapped man's daughter told the news portal siol.net yesterday her father, who was not injured, had been kidnapped by four migrants.

Pršolja explained police were still trying to establish all the details, saying it was possible the fourth kidnapper had left the car earlier.

The police, which have already beefed up control at the most sensitive border areas, are still searching for him.

The incident could further heat the debate on safety along the border due to a rise in illegal migrations, especially during the ongoing campaign for the EU elections.

Two civil groups from Bela Krajina and the municipality of Ilirska Bistrica, which have been warning about poor safety of local population, will hold a news conference at 2pm, also featuring the kidnapped man's daughter.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democrats (SDS) have already demanded a session of the National Security Council to discuss the situation on the southern border.

As party leader Janez Janša said on Twitter this morning, the government was not in control of the situation and did not it take it seriously.

STA, 6 May 2019 - The Novo Mesto, Koper and Ljubljana police have recorded more than 140 illegal crossings of the border the past weekend. Two foreigners were hiding in the chassis of a train engine and a Pakistani citizen wanted to smuggle ten persons into Slovenia in his car.

In the Novo Mesto area, 27 foreigners were apprehended illegally crossing the border with Croatia in the south-east. Police proceedings against the 16 Algerians, five Syrians, and the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya are still under way.

Another two foreigners were discovered at the Dobova border crossing during a border check of a train transporting grain from Serbia.

A Moroccan and a Libyan were hiding in the chassis of the engine. The pair have already been handed over to Croatian authorities.

The Ljubljana police have registered 48 migrants in the last 72 hours. The citizens of Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Algeria and Iran were apprehended in the area of Kočevje, Ribnica and Ljubljana.

The Koper police department processed 64 people for illegally crossing the border from Friday until this morning, of whom 30 were from Pakistan, 11 from Algeria, 10 from Turkey, four from Albania and two each from Afghanistan, Iraq, Tunisia and Slovenia, and one from Kosovo.

So far, 15 persons have applied for international protection, eight have been returned to Croatian authorities, and 37 are yet to be returned to Croatia.

Three persons have been released after it was determined that they reside in the EU and one was transported to the Centre for Foreigners.

Two Italians and two Pakistanis, residents of Italy and Slovenia, respectively, are being processed for illegally crossing the border.

On Friday evening, a 40-year-old Pakistani citizen residing in Slovenia was caught transporting 10 persons in a car with Slovenian licence plates. All passengers have applied for asylum, while the driver was remanded in custody.

This morning a van was pulled over in the village of Podgorje near Koper in which an Italian driver and a Pakistani guide were smuggling 16 Pakistanis

STA, 23 April 2019 - A total of 111 foreigners were apprehended illegally crossing the Slovenian-Croatian border the past weekend, according to reports from the Novo Mesto, Celje and Koper police departments. Slovenian police have already handed over 30 of them to Croatia, while 12 have asked for asylum in Slovenia.

Since Friday, the Novo Mesto police has apprehended 67 foreigners, of whom 25 were Moroccans, 20 Algerians, 11 came from Bangladesh, four were Turks, three Libyans and one each came from Palestine, Cuba, Nigeria and Iran.

They are all yet to be processed by police.

In Novo Mesto, a man was caught illegally transporting four Egyptians in his car with Slovenian register plates yesterday. The 37-year-old driver, who is a resident of the UK, was detained.

The Egyptian citizens have already been handed over to Croatia.

The Koper police registered 37 illegal migrants between Friday and this morning. So far, 23 of them have been returned to Croatia and one is to be returned today. A dozen people have requested international protection.

The foreigners came from Turkey (19), Syria (6), Iraq (4), Kosovo (2), Bangladesh (2), and one each from Iran, India, Albania and Libya.

In Bistrica ob Sotli, three citizens of Kosovo were apprehended on Saturday and returned to Croatia.

The number of illegal crossings of the border in the first three months of this year rose by almost 150% compared to the same period last year, to 1,639.

Most foreigners came from Algeria, Morocco and Pakistan.

The most illegal crossings of the border were recorded by the Novo Mesto police department. The Ljubljana police department follows closely with its share rising. Koper comes in third.

Between January and March, a total of 699 foreigners have indicated they would ask for international protection. Most of them were Algerians.

In the same period last year, 559 migrants applied for asylum.

According to police, this year the number of illegal crossings of the border is rising faster than last year.

All our stories on immigration in Slovenia can be found here

STA, 3 April 2019 - The Administrative Court has declared unlawful the decision of the Ilirska Bistrica city council to hold a referendum on a centre for the acceptance and registration of migrants in the south-western town. The locals say they will nevertheless continue with activities against the government's plans to set up such a centre there.

The ruling of the court was announced for the STA on Wednesday by Ilirska Bistrica Mayor Emil Rojc, who added that the objective of the municipality and most of the residents remained that the centre was not established there.

The city council voted to hold a consultative referendum on the centre, planned to be set up at the Jelšane border crossing with Croatia, at the beginning of March in what was a second vote on the issue.

After the vote to hold a referendum on 14 April, Rojc said he would ask the court to rule on its legality after legal opinions suggested that under the Slovenian law, a municipality cannot hold a referendum on migration policy.

The mayor explained at the time that the municipality had obtained three opinions, from two law firms and the government's local government service, which all say a municipality cannot hold such a referendum.

Rojc told the STA today that the municipality had received the ruling of the Administrative Court last week, in which it said that the decision to hold the referendum was unlawful, which meant that it could not be held.

The mayor said that the locals had other options available but would not go into details, adding that the goal that the centre is not set up in the municipality had been reached for the time being.

"The fact is that the state wanted to start the construction and that it has not done it so far," he added.

The planned centre near the village of Ješane, which has some 250 residents, is to feature ten containers and two tents with the total capacity of between 600 and 1,000 beds.

Rojc, a member of the coalition Social Democrats (SD) said that the activities against the centre by a local civil initiative continued, adding that while the municipality had nothing to do with them, he personally supported them.

Signatures are being signed for a petition against the centre, and a protest is planned to be held on 27 April, he added.

STA, 2 March 2019 - Around EUR 7.8m in budget funds was spent on migration-related issues last year. The Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants accounted for the bulk of spending, EUR 3.48m, and it estimates outlays will rise to EUR 4m this year.

Of that, EUR 3.6m will be spent on supplies and services, EUR 100,000 for transfers to individuals and households, and EUR 300,000 for other domestic transfers, Finance Ministry data show.

The Foreign Ministry spent roughly EUR 1.2m on helping refugees in Turkey and Western Balkans, a figure projected to drop in 2019, with the Slovenian Armed Forces booking EUR 2.4m in migrations-related expenses.

The Interior Ministry, the Public Administration Ministry, the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, the government's secretariat-general, and the Financial Administration did not have any migration-related expenses last year.

The Health Ministry did not spend any money on migrants either, although hospitals and health centres recorded around EUR 338,000 in migration-related expenses.

All our stories on migrants and Slovenia can be found here

STA, 8 January 2019 - The Koper Science and Research Centre (Znanstveno-Raziskovalno Središče Koper) has won a EUR 2.8m project as part of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme to study and help overcome the obstacles to the integration of migrant children into European societies.

The three-year project will run until the end of 2021, the Koper centre said in a press release on Tuesday.

This is the first Horizon 2020 research project in the field of social sciences that will be led by a Slovenian centre, said the Koper centre, which was picked among 30 bidders from all over Europe.

The project entitled Migrant Children and Migrant Communities in the Changing Europe will study the inclusion of migrant children in the societies of European countries from the perspective of the child.

Based on field studies carried out in ten countries, recommendations for legislative changes and political measures will be made. Computer applications featuring tools aimed at improving the integration of children into the society will be developed for use in almost all EU countries.

Field research will be conducted in primary schools and high schools, migrant centres and asylum centres in Slovenia, Austria, Spain, the UK, Denmark, Poland, Italy, France, Greece and Turkey.

Researchers will develop various computer apps for teachers, migrant children and local children to promote multiculturalism and dialogue.

The Koper centre will cooperate on the project with three other Slovenian institutions - the Peace Institute, the Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences, and the Faculty of Design.

The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) has pulled together some data and made a few observations ahead of International Migrants Day on December 18.

The headline figure is that one in eight residents of Slovenia is an immigrant, with up to 250,000 (12.1% of the population) people being foreign-born, although just over half of these (137,000) now have Slovenian citizenship. Moreover, some of these individuals were born as Slovenian citizens (i.e. born to Slovenian parents abroad), while others became so by naturalisation. In addition, not all foreign citizens in Slovenia are classed as immigrants, as among the roughly 122,000 residents of the country with foreign citizenship about 8,600 (7%) were born in Slovenia, and so not immigrants.

In terms of country of origin, most immigrants, 86%, are from other members of the former Yugoslavia, followed by Germany (7,300), Italy (4,100) and the Russian Federation (3,000). The most common non-European countries of birth are China (1,000), the United States (800), and Argentina and Canada (400 each).

The number of immigrants is rising, and has been for decades. A census in 1948 found that just 5.5% of those living in Slovenia were born outside its borders. In 2002 this figure was 8.5%, and in 2018 it had risen to 12.1%. Overall, there are slightly more foreign men than foreign women in Slovenia (57% vs 43%), although this is mainly due to the greater imbalance seen in the 2000s, when roughly two men came to Slovenia for every woman. The figures for recent arrivals are much more balanced.

Finally, SURS notes that the average immigrant to Slovenia is a man with upper secondary education, citizen of Slovenia, born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged almost 49 years who first immigrated to Slovenia in the 1990s.

You can learn more about the data by visiting SURS here, where you’ll find many other links and figures of interest about the country.

Related: The places where foreigners live in Slovenia and where they come from

A Slovenian human rights NGO, Danes je nov dan (Today is a New Day), has produced a game that aims to raise empathy with regard to the difficulties migrants face in leaving their countries and trying to find a safe space in another country.

It’s called Razor Wire, and was inspired by November 2018 being the third anniversary of the placing of such wire along the border with Croatia in order to deter migrants. Moreover, although the number of people trying to cross the border has since declined dramatically, and the new Prime Minister, Marjan Sareč, made removing the wire a campaign issue, the barrier still remains in place.

Level one - escape the war

The game – which can be played online here, if you have a keyboard – is in Slovenian but relatively simple to follow, and requires you to guide a migrant through three increasingly difficult levels as they attempt to reach Europe.

Speaking to Reuters, Maja Cimerman, a project manager at the NGO, noted that "Many refugees... call their experience "the game" because it has many traps and obstacles. They have to travel at night, they have to avoid the police, they are often robbed or their documents are taken away by the police, and often or regularly they are sent back to refugee camps.”

We kept getting stuck on level 2, but perhaps you can do better.

STA, 21 November - Democrat (SDS) leader Janez Janša announced his party would seek an advisory referendum on the UN Global Compact for Migration as discussion in parliament reaffirmed the divide among parties on the matter. At the same time, around 200 protesters gathered outside the parliament in opposition to the deal.

Parliament discussed in an emergency session on Wednesday the UN global compact at the behest of the conservative opposition Democrats (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi) and National Party (SNS), which consider the compact dangerous for Slovenia and believe the government should reject it.

MP Branko Grims, the SDS's chief migrations bullhorn, reiterated their stance that the agreement, which is to be adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco, next month, was misleading and would not tackle the root causes of migrations.

Conservatives also took issue with the way the decision to back the deal was made in Slovenia, with Janša saying that parliament should have discussed it first and only then the government instead of vice-versa.

Related: Šarec - Slovenia supports UN Compact, but opposed to illegal migration

"You did not leave us any other choice but to file for an advisory referendum," he said and added that the name of the deal was misleading.

In a reference to the decision of the US not to take part in the compact, Janša said that no deal that was not supported by all members of the UN Security Council was global.

On the other hand, Foreign Minister Miro Cerar reiterated that it was key for Slovenia to remain in the group of more than 150 countries by joining the compact. "This way, we will manage together the thing that no country can manage alone - mass migrations and illegal migrations."

He told the press that the opposition was "scaring people by misleading them, telling numerous nontruths and intentional lies".

"There are a few hundred refugees in Slovenia. Our borders are controlled," he stressed.

But this view is not shared by around 200 protesters in front of the parliament building carrying banners such as Slovenia for Slovenians. Protesters, who were also invited to join by Janša, are urging the government to reject the UN compact.

The session has been suspended, but it will end without any decisions anyway, because the proposal of the conservative parties was voted down by parliamentary committees last week.

UPDATE: The STA also reports that the Democrats (SDS) filed a demand for an advisory referendum on the UN Global Compact for Migration on Wednesday following a parliamentary session on the document. For the vote to take place, the motion needs to be endorsed by a regular majority in parliament.

A statement from the SDS said after the session that the motion was filed together by the SDS and the National Party (SNS).

The debate at the plenary indicated today that the only other party opposing the the government's decision that Slovenia support the document in Marrakesh in early December is the conservative New Slovenia (NSi).

Together, the three parties have 36 seats in the 90-member legislature.

If endorsed, the referendum question will read: Are you in favour of Slovenia joining the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that equates legal and illegal migrations?

SDS head Janez Janša called on other parties to support the motion and give the people a chance to voice their position after reading the compact. The Slovenian translation of the document has been available as of yesterday.

Janša indicated that the SDS would file the referendum motion during the plenary, saying that the process in which the document was approved in Slovenia was anti-constitutional and illegal. The government decided to endorse the document without political or legal discussions.

All our stories on immigration and Slovenia are here

A statement from the SDS said after the session that the motion was filed together by the SDS and the National Party (SNS).

The debate at the plenary indicated today that the only other party opposing the the government's decision that Slovenia support the document in Marrakesh in early December is the conservative New Slovenia (NSi).

Together, the three parties have 36 seats in the 90-member legislature.

If endorsed, the referendum question will read: Are you in favour of Slovenia joining the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that equates legal and illegal migrations?

STA, 13 November 2018 - The increase in migrations has not led to higher crime rates in the border areas, but in the capital Ljubljana crime involving asylum seekers has increased, according to police figures presented at a session of the parliamentary Commission for the Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services on Tuesday.

The commission examined rumours of a spike in crime, but statistics for the police districts Novo Mesto and Koper, where the bulk of migrants are caught, do not bear that out, according to commission chair Matej Tonin.

But a spike in criminal acts, in particular theft and drug offences, perpetrated by asylum seekers has been recorded in Ljubljana and police said they would increase presence of officers in hot spots in the capital

But beyond petty crime, Tonin stressed that police have arrested 169 human traffickers so far this year, of which 29 Slovenian citizens and 140 foreigner nationals.

Slovenian police have registered almost 8,000 illegal border crossings so far this year, with the biggest groups coming from Pakistan, Algeria and Morocco.

Roughly half of them were returned to Croatia, while the majority of the others "evaporated in the course of the asylum procedure," according to Tonin.