RAILWAYS IN LITHUANIA: FROM TSARIST RUSSIA TO RAIL BALTICA

Lithuania is a transit country. It is a small but significant territory between East and West. This fact is substantiated by the history of the country railways, which started when Tsarist Russia launched the construction of the railway between Saint-Petersburg and Warsaw. There is not much research into the history of railways in Russia, also in Lithuania. Besides, not all available information is reliable due to the nihilistic attitudes towards Tsarism of that time. Only some of the railways in the former Soviet Union were written and talked about. The history of the Lithuania railway is not an exception. Different written sources provide a variety of dates for the first railway to be built in Lithuania. They mirror varied events in the history of Lithuanian railways, thus all of them must be taken into consideration. The article presents the evolution of Lithuanian railway transport from Tsarist Russia to Rail Baltica, which is the European railway project currently implemented in Lithuania. The article discusses the world’s first railways including the ones in Tsarist Russia when the history of Lithuanian railways started. The article also considers the building of the first railway in Lithuania, construction of railway stations, setting the transportation tariffs, selection of railway employees. The author of the article employs historical and online resources as well as a long-standing personal experience in railway transport. The research into Tsar Family’s diaries and historical novels makes it possible to disclose the facts that are not widely known. The author considers the future of Lithuania with reference to the construction of the European railway Rail Baltica. The article would be useful for the readers who are interested in the historical development and future of Lithuanian railways.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN INDONESIA, THE DIALECTIC OF POVERTY AND CORRUPTION

After thirteen years of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of the Crime of Trafficking in Persons implemented, it still unable to release Indonesia from cases of trafficking in persons. Indonesia, is not only as primarily a source country in the trafficking process, but it is also used as a destination and transit country. And which is very terrible, all provinces (34 provinces) in Indonesia are the origin and destination of trafficking in persons and the victims are mostly experienced by women and children. The most common forms of trafficking are for forced labour and sexual exploitation as women, children and men are moved domestically and across international borders. They are exploited in the sectors of the fishing and fish processing industry, construction; plantation, oil palm plantation, mining and manufacturing. The poverty factor is considered to be the main trigger for prospective Indonesian workers. Another thing is because of natural disasters which are also vulnerable to human trafficking. In addition, endemic corruption among government officials contributes to the vulnerability of trafficking in persons, especially in the travel, hotel and labour recruitment industries. The phenomenon of globalization is one of the factors in the spread of contemporary (modern) issues, which affected to human trafficking. Advances information technology, are opportunities for the expansion of crime networks, both national and transnational (across borders). The borderless world maks cross-cultural social integration, people move around freely without any obstacles, causes various modes of crime to emerge, such as human trafficking.

Counterterrorism and Immigration in Hungary

The European migration crisis beginning in 2014 served as a turning point in Hungarian politics where immigration issues effectively altered the nation’s security environment. The migratory routes as a pathway for illegal border crossings positioned Hungary on the frontline as a transit country for migrants seeking asylum in Western Europe. A critical analysis of Orbán's rhetoric and Hungary’s behavior in the realm of immigration and counterterrorism (CT) policy during and after the immigration crisis is relevant in understanding the state’s security environment. Anti-immigrant sentiments reflected in the population and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's rhetoric aims to tie refugee migration to terrorist acitvity. Migrants were targeted as a risk to the traditional European identity and survival of the state with a specific emphasis on Muslim migration from the Middle East and North Africa. This study seeks to understand Hungary’s regional and global security role and how CT activity is used by the government to legitimize government actions, particularly on immigration via securitization theory from the Copenhagen School. Hungary has heightened its role on the international stage through transnational CT cooperation and capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiments through speech acts to further exercise its influence in border control and the international fight against global terrorism. By examining a total of 36 speeches presented by Orbán from 2015 to 2020, the study is able to examine how immigration issues were securitized to develop pathways for extraordinary actions and authoritarian reforms performed by securitizing actors.

Bordering Through Exemption: Extracontinental Migration Flows in Mexico

This paper examines Mexico’s governmentality of extracontinental migration in transit to the United States. It argues that, in the context of transit control regimes, exemption is instrumentalised as a bordering mechanism and practice in which transit states assume, react and utilise their role as a ‘transit’ country. By drawing on statistical information about migrant populations from Asia and Africa intercepted by Mexican authorities from 2010 to 2019, four arrangements are identified: (1) sporadic expulsion, (2) regularisation façade, (3) guardianship and (4) self-deportation. The analysis sheds light on the transformative and adaptive dimension of the Mexican Transit Control Regime and how this is geared towards maintaining its focus on intercepting and deterring Central American migrants in transit to the United States.

Human Trafficking in Thailand in Perspective of Human Rights Law

Trafficking in human beings is increasingly due to the greatest gain of the perpetrators. Human trafficking is a global humanitarian problem. With the involvement of many countries, both as a country of origin, destination and transit country, making this problem more complex. The complexity of the problems is increasing as the neighbors and organized transnational crime networks are organized. Thailand is one of the transit countries, sources, and destinations for international human trafficking. These conditions led to the Government of Thailand began to realize the urgency of the dangers of human trafficking. This problem is increasingly complex because human trafficking is related to child and female prostitution.

Multicultural education as a new trend in pedagogy

Ukraine is now actively experiencing mass immigration movements due to its location. For immigrants, it is rather a "transit country" on the EU route, but often it is in our country that the transit route ends. Research shows that immigrant children face several challenges in their educational lives. Among them are communication problems and discrimination that arise due to linguistic and cultural differences. Many countries experiencing immigration movements around the world often use multicultural approaches to education to address the educational issues of foreigners. That is why there is a need for a comprehensive study of the literature, and this study, in particular, will be useful for considering the topic as a whole. The results of the study showed that three main approaches to education could solve the problem of the integration of foreign children into Ukrainian society. Research methods are comparative analysis, generalization, systematization, synthesis, analogies, classification, grouping, correlation, and cluster analysis.

Frictions of implementing EU humanitarian aid in Greece (2016–2019)—the Emergency Support Instrument and its practical ramifications

With the closure of the border with then-Macedonia in early 2016, it was foreseeable that Greece would become the “last station” for a large number of refugees. Flanked by the agreement between Turkey and the European Union of March 2016, Greece underwent a profound transformation from a transit country to a recipient country. Through a new regulation, the Emergency Support Instrument, initially activated by the European Commission 2016–2019, international humanitarian aid operations were supported for the first time in the EU. The article analyzes the resulting frictions on the basis of empirical field research and a broad literature review. While frictions similar to those in other non-European humanitarian operations exist, specific peculiarities due to the operation taking place in an austerity-ridden member state of the EU must also be noted.

Considering Local Integration for Refugees in Indonesia

This study discusses refugees who have been stranded in a transit country for years. These protracted refugees have to deal with a reality that the chance of getting resettlement in a third country has become slim, and the option of returning to their country of origin will only jeopardize their lives. Indonesia is not a state party to the 1951 Refugee Convention that lays a responsibility to assimilate refugees in the resettlement countries. Indonesia, however, has opened its door for refugees based on humanity’s solidarity and the fact that Indonesia’s legal framework on human rights acknowledges the right to seek asylum in other countries and abides by the non-refoulement principle. The situation has become problematic when the number of refugees coming to Indonesia has continued to increase, but Indonesia does not have a comprehensive refugee policy to support them. By looking at the case of refugees living in Pekanbaru, this study concludes that Indonesia should consider the local integration option as one of the viable solution to the protracted refugee situations in Indonesia.

THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN REFUGEE IN TRANSIT COUNTRY UNDER THE CRC, A CASE OF INDONESIA: AN INTENDED NEGLIGENCE?

Civil wars in Middle Eastern countries and several countries in Africa have resulted in an increased influx of refugees seeking refuge in Indonesia every year. Although Indonesia is not their final destination, they prefer to wait in a transit country rather than experience terror and persecution in their home country., As a non-signatory country to the 1951 Geneva Convention, for humanitarian reasons, Indonesia allows those people who already in the territory of Indonesia to temporary stay until they status are clear. 28% of the refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia are under 18 years of age. Being a refugee child in a transit country keeps them away from the threat of war crimes in their country, nonetheless it turns out that there are basic rights that cannot be fully fulfilled. The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) regulates state obligation to fulfil the rights of the child in any situation without discrimination. Indonesia as a transit country and state party to the CRC facing dilemma in assisting the child refugees. This article will analyse whether Indonesia has responsibility for child refugee in its jurisdiction as regulated in the CRC. By research, Indonesia can be considered fail to conduct its obligation under CRC. Hence Indonesia can be held responsible for its negligence in complying its obligation under the CRC. Nonetheless, there are measures that can be taken by the Indonesian Government through cooperation with international communities as well as corporations to tackle the challenges in implementing the CRC particularly in regards to refugee children. Keywords: Basic Rights, Refugee Children, State Responsibility AbstrakPerang sipil di negara Timur Tengah dan beberapa negara di Afrika menghasilkan gelombang pengungsi yang mencari perlindungan ke Indonesia meningkat setiap tahunnya. Mereka lebih memilih untuk menunggu di negara transit daripada harus merasakan teror dan persekusi di negara asalnya. Indonesia bukan negara peserta Konvensi Jenewa 1951, namun dengan alasan kemanusiaan menampung untuk sementara para pencari suaka sampai status mereka jelas berdasarkan penilaian UNHCR. Sebesar 28% dari pengungsi yang terdaftar di United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Indonesia berumur di bawah 18 tahun. Menjadi anak yang berada di negara transit memang menjauhkan mereka dari ancaman kejahatan perang di negaranya, namun ternyata tidak seluruh hak asasi mereka dapat dipenuhi di negara transit. Konvensi Hak Anak 1989 mengatur kewajiban negara untuk memenuhi hak asasi anak dalam situasi apapun tanpa diskriminasi. Indonesia sebagai negara transit dan juga a peratifikasi Konvensi Hak-hak Anak 1989 (KHA) menghadapi dilema dalam menghadapi anak-anak pencari suaka. Artikel ini akan menganalisa apakah Indonesia melakukan pelanggaran terhadap pemenuhan hak bagi para pengungsi anak sehingga dapat dikenai tanggung jawab negara. Indonesia dapat dikatakan gaal dalam memenuhi kewajibannya berdsarkan KHA sehingga dapat diminta pertanggungjawaban atas kelalalainya. Namun terdapat berbagai upaya yang dapat dilakukan oleh pemerintah Indonesia dengan bekerjasama dengan berbagai Lembaga internasional maupun nasional serta perusahaan untuk mengatasi permasalahan dalam penerapan KHA terutama terkait hak pengungsi anak. Kata Kunci: Hak-Hak Dasar, Pengungsi Anak, Tanggung Jawab Negara

Lessons Learned from ISIS Recruitment in Turkey: A Paradigm Shift in Counterterrorism Is Needed

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been unprecedentedly effective in recruiting foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). While Turkey has been a transit country and a major hub for ISIS’s logistical and human resources, it also has become a prolific hotbed for its recruitment. Based on face-to-face interviews and open-source reports, this paper provides an in-depth assessment of ISIS’s recruitment structure and the challenges that Turkey faces in relation to ISIS’s activities and FTFs. We conclude with a set of recommendations and a roadmap for pursuing effective and sustainable policies against ISIS. Overall, Turkey should adopt a paradigm shift on counterterrorism, transform the security and intelligence apparatus, and develop rehabilitation programs that consider the specificity of individuals’ radicalization at different levels.