ON THE PATH OF THE BUSINESS OF SMUGGLING MIGRANTS: MACEDONIAN CASE.

The beginning of the Arab spring and the permanent war conflicts since December 2010 made the Republic of Macedonia one of the mostly "visited" countries by illegal migrants. Using the help of the criminal groups, illegal migrants are travelling through the Macedonian territory and making efforts to get to the European Union. The increased numbers of cases of smuggling migrants is one of the many indicators showing that the Macedonian path is one of the most often used on the way to the "promised" European Union. The paper makes an overview of the most important phenomenological characteristics of this crime in the Republic of Macedonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]