The Wages of Fear: Attitudes Towards Refugees and Migrants in Croatia
Creators: name: Jurlina, Petra
name: Vidović, Tea
Publisher: name: Foundation Institute of Public Affairs/Fundacja Instytut Spraw Publicznych
Year: 2018
Subjects: refugees
migrants
attitudes

description: For the purpose of the analysis on European communities living with refugees in Croatia, research team has conducted 3 focus groups in local communities where Reception Centres for Asylum Seekers (2) are located or communities where some refugees granted international protection are permanently located (1). Croatia has been developing its asylum system since 2004 (when first Asylum Act was announced), and until today has had many challenges that needed to be faced. Research team has therefore conducted focus groups in two cities where Reception Centres for Asylum Seekers are located:

• The City of Kutina - located 80 km east from Croatian capital Zagreb, in Sisak-Moslavina County. According to the census from 20111,   it has a population of 13 735, while the total municipality population is 22 760. In Kutina, Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers was open in 2006, and since them asylum seekers have been living there while waiting for the state decision on international protection. In 2013 the Centre was transformed into the centre for vulnerable asylum seekers (women, children, elderly people). Focus group was conducted on May 31st 2017. 7 participants confirmed their participations, but in the end only 3 of them showed up - 2 females (adults in the age range between 3040, working in schooling system) and 1 male (adult, in the age range between 30-40, working in schooling system).

• The City of Zagreb - capital of Croatia, located in the Zagreb County. According to the census from 2011, it has a population of 792 875 citizens. The focus group was conducted in the neighbourhood of Dugave, where in 2011 a second Croatian Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers was opened. Dugave is a residential neighbourhood situated on the outskirts of the Croatian capital. Built in the 1970s to accommodate to growing housing needs of the city of Zagreb, it is self-sufficient in sense that it has all the necessary facilities (local health clinic, kindergarten, primary school, post offices, super markets). Focus group was conducted on May 25th 2017 - 7 participants confirmed their participation, but in the end only 5 of them joined. All participants were females in the age range between 30-40 years, and they all had interactions with refugees so far (either through their work or private life). Two of them are working in schooling system in the neighbourhood - one, a primary school teacher, works in the local primary school since last year, and already in her first class to teach has had a few refugee children, who were at the time living in the Dugave reception centre (hotel Porin). Second, a psychologist from a primary school close to Dugave, works on trauma, crisis and personal loss issues within her school but cooperates with the relevant stakeholders and other schools on integration issues, as well as NGOs, volunteers, and the university of Zagreb. One participant is working in child care system in the neighbourhood - as director of the kindergarten close to Porin. Last two participants are locals, parents of children that go to school with refugee kids - one is professionally connected to this particular vulnerable group as a government employee and formerly a volunteer providing Croatian lessons to asylum seekers; and the other has been living in Dugave neighbourhood since 2010, and has initiated different local community actions, all with the aim of bringing people together, getting everybody know each other better, and including refugees while doing that.

The City of Zagreb - last focus group was conducted in the neighbourhood of Peščenica, on June 27th. It is the area where few refugees are located after they have been granted international protection. 6 participants confirmed their participation, and in the end 5 of them actually joined - 3 males (in the age range between 25-50) and 2 females (in the age range between 25-40). Methods of recruitments that were used to motivated participants to join were based on public procurement, email list and invitations. Some of the participants stated how they decided to join because their friends/colleagues told them about the possibility so they joined. All conversations lasted up to 2 hours and were jointly facilitated by two researchers.