Prof Dr Florian Bieber
Email: florian.bieber@uni-graz.at
Florian Bieber is a political scientist and historian working on inter-ethnic relations, ethnic conflict and nationalism, focusing on Southeastern Europe. He is a Professor in South East European History and Politics and director of the Center for South East European Studies at the University of Graz . He coordinates the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group . He is also a Visiting Professor at the Nationalism Studies Program at Central European University and is the editor of the book series Southeast European Studies , published with Routledge (formerly Ashgate) and edits the open access journal Contemporary Southeastern Europe .
He studied at Trinity College (USA), the University of Vienna and Central European University (Hungary) and received his M.A. in Political Science and History and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Vienna, as well as an M.A. in Southeast European Studies from Central European University (Budapest). Before coming to Graz, he was a Lecturer in East European Politics at the Department of Politics and International Relations of the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. From January to May 2009, he held the Luigi Einaudi Chair at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and in Spring 2010, he was a visiting fellow at LSEE – Research on South Eastern Europe at the London School of Economics. Between 2001 and 2006, he has been working in Belgrade (Serbia) and Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina) for the European Centre for Minority Issues. His work includes expert advice on minorities and minority rights for the European Commission, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe and has provided advice to governments and international organizations on the Balkans. He has extensive training experience in the field of diversity and minority rights.
Dr Ivana Djuric
Email: ivana_duric@yahoo.com
Dr Djuric is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Nottingham. Her most recent research deals with problems of reconstruction of post-conflict societies in Southeastern Europe/former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo). Dr Djuric’s doctoral research dealt with minority refugee repatriation in Croatia in the period of 1995-2006. She has had involvement with cases of Croatian refugees who are trying to reclaim their property in Croatia. She spent five years working in the governmental sector and international development, and continues to collaborate with practitioners as advisor and consultant, and on the development of various research projects.
Eric Gordy
Email: e.gordy@ucl.ac.uk
Eric Gordy is a political and cultural sociologist concentrating on Southeast Europe, especially the states of the former Yugoslavia. He is a Senior Lecturer in Politics of Southeast Europe at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) of University College London. He has taught at universities across Europe and North America. His publications include the books The Culture of Power in Serbia: Nationalism and the Destruction of Alternatives (1999) and Guilt, Responsibility and Denial: The Past at Stake in Post-Milošević Serbia (2013). His book Practices of Democracy in Southeast Europe project looks comparatively at four countries in the region, investigating what people expect from democracy and what their actual experience of political parties and popular relations with government looks like. Eric’s wider comments on the region have appeared in international outlets including The New York Times , BBC, Agence France-Presse, as well as regional outlets including Danas, BH Dani, Slobodna Bosna, Peščanik , and Novi List . He has taught and held visiting positions at a variety of institutions, including University of California Berkeley, Clark University, University of Bologna, Institute of Advanced Study Budapest, University of Belgrade and University of Niš. You can view his full bio at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/people/eric-gordy .
Dr Robert M Hayden
Email: rhayden@pitt.edu
Robert M. Hayden, JD, PhD, is Professor of Anthropology, Law and PUblic & International Affairs at the University of PIttsburgh, USA. He has conducted research on social, legal and constitutional issues in the former Yugoslavia and its successor republics since 1981, is fluent in the languages once known collectively as Serbo-Croatian and now as “BCS” (Bosnian/ Croatian/ Serbian) and has substantial experience in refugee claims form the region. He has provided reports for immigration cases based on political oppression or social discrimination without effective government remedies in successor states to former Yugoslavia.
Nadeane Helajzen
Email: hello@ethnovision.org
Nadeane is a Serbian Australian anthropologist with expertise in human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment, conflict related sexual and gender based violence, International humanitarian law, refugee and IDP’s, inter-ethnic relations, ethnic conflict/cleansing, genocide and nationalism. She is living between Belgrade and Sarajevo. Over the past 17 years she has worked with refugees, IDP’s and other minority populations in 22 countries, mostly post-conflict, across the Asia Pacific region, Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. She has provided expert advice including technical report writing on minorities and minority rights to governments, multilateral agencies and international organisations. She brings to her work a depth of technical knowledge and analysis grounded in pragmatism and strategic thinking developed through many years as a practitioner.
Vebi Kosumi
Email: info@albkos.co.uk / Website: www.albkos.co.uk
Vebi Kosumi is an international lawyer holding a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law with International Relations from the University of Kent, the UK and a Law Degree (LLB) from the University of Prishtina, Kosovo. He is an international legal expert, author, and prominent leader in the international human rights movement. As the former Director of the Dover Detainee Visitor Group (Now Samphire) he led the support efforts to improve the treatment of asylum seekers, working across the UK to raise awareness in the community. Before serving as a Team Leader of Hestia – Modern Slavery Response Team (Anti-Human Trafficking) in Kent in 2017, he volunteered with the British Red Cross and Save the Children (London).
Vebi is accredited Country of Origin Witness Expert by Academy of Experts. He is a trustee of Music in Detention since 2006, board member of Kent Coast Volunteering (Connecting Communities in Dover, Thanet, Folkestone & Hythe. He was a trustee of the Asylum Aid (2013-2020), and the Migrant Resource Centre (changed name to Consonant), 2016-2020. Vebi has written over 100 country expert reports focusing mainly on Human Trafficking, blood feud, honour, mafia risk of harm and other issues. Covering countries: Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia (Presevo Valley). Fluent in Albanian, Serbian, and English languages. Free initial assessment of the case. Some pro bono work may be taken.
Prof Siniša Malešević
Email: sinisa.malesevic@ucd.ie
Siniša Malešević is a Full Professor/Chair of Sociology at the University College, Dublin. He is an elected member of Royal Irish Academy and Academia Europaea (the European Academy). He is also a Senior Fellow and Associate Researcher, at CNAM, Paris, France. Previously he held research and teaching appointments at the Institute for International Relations (Zagreb), the Centre for the Study of Nationalism, CEU (Prague), NUI, Galway, the London School of Economics, the Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna), Université Libre de Bruxelles (Visiting Professor/Eric Remacle Chair in Conflict and Peace Studies) and Uppsala University. His recent books include Contemporary Sociological Theory (Sage, 2021) and Classical Sociological Theory (Sage, 2021) both with S. Loyal, Grounded Nationalisms: A Sociological Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2019, runner up/honorable mention in the 2020 Stein Rokkan book award), The Rise of Organised Brutality: A Historical Sociology of Violence (Cambridge University Press, 2017, American Sociological Association PWSC outstanding book award 2018), Nation-States and Nationalisms: Organisation, Ideology and Solidarity (Polity 2013) and The Sociology of War and Violence (Cambridge University Press). He has also authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and his work has been translated into 13 languages.
Prof Dr Branislav Radeljic
Email: BRadeljic@nebrija.es or branislav.radeljic@gmail.com
Branislav Radeljic is an academic, consultant, and policy analyst, specializing in EU, Balkan and East European political and socioeconomic developments. He has a BA from the University of Rome La Sapienza, two MA degrees from the Free University of Brussels, and a PhD from the University of London.
Currently, he is a professor of international relations at Necmettin Erbakan University. He also serves as a visiting professor of European politics at Antonio de Nebrija University. Previously, he lectured for many years at the University of East London. In addition, he held visiting appointments at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pittsburgh.
Professor Radeljic is the author of Europe and the Collapse of Yugoslavia: The Role of Non-State Actors and European Diplomacy (2012), editor of Europe and the post-Yugoslav Space (2013), Debating European Identity: Bright Ideas, Dim Prospects (2014), European Community-Yugoslav Relations: Debates and Documents that Mattered (1968–1992) (2017), and The Unwanted Europeanness: Understanding Division and Inclusion in Contemporary Europe (2021), and co-editor of Religion in the post-Yugoslav Context (2015) and Kosovo and Serbia: Contested Options and Shared Consequences (2016). He has presented his research findings at numerous conferences and workshops and has regularly been invited to give talks and commentary to different media outlets.
Outside academia, Professor Radeljic conducts research and provides consultancy services within his area of expertise. He is also a registered expert witness for asylum, refugee, and immigration cases. He covers Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Russia. His working languages are English, Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), Italian, Macedonian, and Russian. Professor Radeljic divides his time between Konya, London, and Madrid.
Dr Dejan Stjepanović
Email: d.stjepanovic@dundee.ac.uk or dejan.stjepanovic@eui.eu
Dr Dejan Stjepanović is Lecturer in Politics at the University of Dundee, School of Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, Florence and an MA in Nationalism Studies from Central European University, Budapest. His expertise includes territorial politics, security studies, nationalism and migration, focusing on the region of southeastern Europe. He is widely published and is fluent in his native Serbo-Croat, English, Macedonian and Greek. He uses Russian and Italian in his research as well. His considerable international experience includes having lived, worked and conducted fieldwork in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia and the UK.
ALERT: Serbia as a Safe Third County: A Wrong Presumption
The writing of this report was triggered by a significant increase in the number of asylum seekers returned by the Hungarian authorities to Serbia in 2011. Hungary modified its Asylum Act in December 2010 and introduced the concept of a safe third country among the criteria examined in the admissibility procedure. The result of this amendment is that asylum seekers arriving in Hungary through Serbia can be returned to Serbia without an in-merit examination of their claim. As the application of this concept concerns a significant number of asylum seekers in Hungary, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) decided to examine whether the utilisation of the safe third country concept in relation to Serbia is justified.
Report: Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Sept. 2011