Giving voice to the voiceless? The realities of interviewing irregular migrants in Croatia

Irregular migrants remain one of the most invisible and vulnerable groups in Europe. While their legal rights are already limited compared to asylum seekers and regular economic migrants, their ability to exercise these rights is even more constrained in practice. Understanding their lived realities is therefore crucial—not only to inform better policies but also to ensure that human rights protections are meaningful beyond legal frameworks. However, capturing these experiences requires direct engagement with irregular migrants, which presents significant challenges.

As part of the PRIME project, researchers at the University of Zagreb conducted interviews with irregular migrants in Croatia to gain insight into their daily struggles, working conditions, and access to basic services. Yet, reaching and engaging with this population proved to be an extraordinarily difficult task. This blog explores the key challenges encountered during these interviews and highlights the critical role of trust, communication, and ethical engagement.

Key challenges in interviewing irregular migrants in Croatia

Gaining Trust and Overcoming Fear

First and foremost, locating and approaching irregular migrants was the biggest challenge, as most were in hiding and suspicious of anyone asking them questions. Even those who agreed to participate in the project remained wary, nervous, and fearful unless they had prior contact with or experience of the NGO conducting the interviews. This was particularly the case with respondents from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Egypt in Zagreb. In other cases, encouraging irregular migrants to speak openly about their situation proved difficult, as they feared that being questioned could lead to their deportation.

Interviewers found that even those working fifteen-hour shifts in poor conditions, without pay for months and with no formal work contract, still spoke positively about Croatia and expressed a desire to stay. Many of the interviewees were simply grateful for the opportunity to leave their country of origin. Only those who had previous interactions with the NGO conducting the interviews and had developed a sense of trust were willing to share negative aspects of their lives in Croatia. This underscores the crucial role of trust when interviewing irregular migrants.

A lack of trust was especially evident in cases where migrants were initially unaware of their irregular status at the beginning of the interview. Once they realised their situation based on the interview questions, they often became extremely anxious and abruptly altered their accounts. This highlights the need for interviewers to approach these conversations with sensitivity, patience, and an awareness of the complex realities that shape migrants’ perceptions and responses.

Balancing Research with Immediate Needs

Another challenge were the vulnerability and precariousness of irregular migrants’ situations were strongly reflected in the interviews.

Many struggled to understand that the interviews were conducted for research purposes and that the primary role of the interviewers was to collect data rather than provide financial, psychological, or other forms of assistance. It was often difficult for the respondents to answer the questions designed for research purposes while they were preoccupied with existential concerns, such as finding food and shelter for the night. As a result, they frequently detailed their hardships and sought help, which left interviewers emotionally drained and feeling powerless.

Additionally, some irregular migrants refused to participate, as they saw no immediate personal benefit from the interviews, while the broader, long-term objectives of the research project seemed too distant and abstract. To address this challenge, interviewers sometimes took respondents for a drink or a snack during the interview, helping to create a more relaxed and informal atmosphere. This approach often made participants feel more comfortable and willing to share their experiences in greater depth. This highlights the challenge of balancing ethical research practices with the complex realities of vulnerable populations and further underscores the importance of building trust and clearly communicating the purpose of such projects.

Overcoming Language and Communication Barriers

Another key challenge was language. Interviewers spoke English, Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Pashto, and German, and sometimes relied on translators for respondents who spoke Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. However, communication was occasionally hindered by dialectical differences, such as those between standard Arabic and the Egyptian dialect. Furthermore, certain English terms lacked direct translations in the respondents’ languages and required additional explanation, which extended the length of interviews.

The need for translators further prolonged the process, sometimes causing respondents to lose patience and interest. These linguistic barriers further complicated efforts to establish trust, reinforcing the broader challenge of securing candid testimonies from individuals already reluctant to engage. To overcome these challenges, using interviewers who were either of the same ethnic origin or who were acquainted with the respondent’s country of origin proved as an efficient way to build trust with irregular migrants by communicating in a culturally sensitive manner.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gaining a clearer picture of the rights of irregular migrants in the EU is not just an academic exercise but a vital tool for shaping more just and effective policies. Understanding these rights allows for better identification of legal uncertainties, ensuring that safeguards exist against exploitation and arbitrary treatment. Moreover, such knowledge strengthens advocacy efforts, providing concrete evidence to support reforms that can lead to more equitable and humane treatment of irregular migrants across different Member States.

But in order to ensure meaningful change, both research and policymaking must be informed by the lived experiences of migrants themselves. Yet, as this project has shown, gaining access to those realities is no easy feat. Research methodology must be flexible, empathetic, and ethically sound. It must be capable of responding to distrust and precarious living conditions without compromising the dignity and safety of participants. Only then can we gain a complete picture of the living conditions of irregular migrants and advocate for policies that will genuinely reflect their needs and rights.

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Iris Goldner Lang is Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law, Head of the Department of European Public Law and Vice Dean at the University of Zagreb – Faculty of Law.

Nejra Kadić Meškić is the CEO at the Centre for Cultural Dialogue in Croatia.