page_title: European migrant crisis
section_title: Slovenia
hierarchical_section_title: European migrant crisis / Developments / Slovenia
caption_attribution_description: Slovenščina: Slovenska vojska pri reševanju migrantske situacije z več zmogljivostmi.
context_page_description: The European migrant crisis, also known as the refugee crisis, was a period characterised by high numbers of people arriving in the European Union overseas from across the Mediterranean Sea or overland through Southeast Europe. In March 2019, the European Commission declared the migrant crisis to be at an end.
  The migrant crisis was part of a pattern of increased immigration to Europe from other continents which began in the mid-20th century. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees observed that from January 2015 to March 2016, the top three nationalities among over one million refugees arriving from the Mediterranean Sea were Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi.
  Many refugees that arrived in Italy and Greece came from countries where armed conflict was ongoing or which otherwise were considered to be "refugee-producing" and for whom international protection is needed. However, a smaller proportion was from elsewhere, and for many of these individuals, the term "migrant" would be correct. Immigrants included asylum seekers and economic migrants.
context_section_description: Slovenia established temporary controls on the otherwise unsupervised border with Hungary to the northeast on 17 September 2015, following Germany and Austria's similar actions. On 18 September, Slovenia experienced the first of many illegal border crossings, coming mostly from Croatia, which was already overwhelmed by the large influx of migrant groups.
  On the evening of 18 September, the Slovenian riot police used pepper spray on a bridge at the Harmica border to prevent migrants and activists from illegally crossing the border from Croatia.
  By midday of 19 September, the country had registered around 1,500 migrants, with all of them being accommodated in temporary reception camps or asylum centres. The largest traffic was seen at the Obrežje border crossing, Dobova border crossing and Brežice. Prime Minister Miro Cerar visited the reception centre in Brežice on Saturday, stressing that Slovenia had the situation under control, while criticising the Croatian government for being uncooperative.
  There were also various humanitarian and non-governmental organisations, mostly from Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, aiding the migrants on the border.
  On 18 October 2015, the country began receiving large numbers of refugees, which soon exceeded the upper admission limit of 2,500. On 22 October, the police reported 12,600 migrant arrivals in 24 hours, more than Hungary had ever received. The Slovenian government passed a law giving the army more powers and asked the EU for aid. The latter responded by sending the commissioner for migration to Slovenia and announced a "mini EU summit". On the same day the Slovenian government accused the Croatian police of leading migrants through cold waters in an effort to bypass the Slovene controls by crossing the green border, and released a night time thermovision video allegedly showing the events the night before.
  By 24 October, Slovenia reported more than 56,000 total migrant arrivals.
  On 10 November, Cerar announced that Slovenia would impose temporary technical hurdles to control migrants, but that the country would not close border crossings. On 11 November, Slovenian military personnel began building a razor wire fence. The Austrian minister of the interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner expressed full support for the Slovenian government's action on the border with Croatia.
  On 23 February 2016, German media noted that Slovenia decided to deploy its army on the border with Croatia to assist the police. The bill did not approve military action, but authorised the army to use force in case of an emergency.
caption: Arrival of migrants in Dobova, Slovenia
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