Brecht De Vleeshauwer
Welcome, But not too much
Worldwide, more than 65 million people are fleeing from war, terror, poverty or climate changes. An all time record. Although only a small percentage of these refugees make their way to Europe, the political discourse on migration and refugees hardly gets away from the sphere of “an evil to overcome collectively, which should be stopped as much as possible”. In an almost impossible spread between a humane asylum policy and hermetically sealed external borders, European leaders are doing everything they can to curb the flow of migration towards Europe. In an attempt to lock up the European back door, billion deals are made with shadowy regimes to stop the refugee flow. And while West European leaders are the first to ridicule Donald Trumps border wall they seem to forget that at the same time no effort is spared to build new border barriers on the European continent. 'Welcome. But not too much.” is a sketch of the current situation on the Balkan Peninsula, two years after the so called closure of the infamous 'Balkanroute'. A reality of intensive border control,newly built border fences and stranded refugees with only one goal. Europe. This report was produced with the support of Fonds Pascal Decroos
Brecht De Vleeshauwer
Brecht (°88) is a Belgian photographer and journalist. After studying radio at Artevelde University College in Ghent (Be) and anthropology at the ISCSP in Lisbon (PT) he became more devoted to tell stories in a visual way which evolved in several photographic projects. Nowadays he works mainly on autonomous projects covering social issues.