Florian Schmitz is a multimedia journalist who reports from Greece and the eastern external borders of the EU with a special focus on migration, minorities, environment and human rights.

Florian was the DW correspondent in Thessaloniki until 2024 and has reported extensively on the situation of migrants and asylum seekers in Southeast Europe, also for other media, like Tagesspiegel, Radio Bremen or WDR. He has been part of internationally acknowledged investigations regarding human rights violations at the External borders of Europe.

He currently focuses on the intersection of migration and technology as well as migration and environment, with the aim to offer new insights and narratives into the nature of migration and how it is handled.

Florian also trains young journalists in the Balkans in the hope that cross-border journalism will have a positive impact on the future of the region.

Florian Schmitz

Basic information

Name
Florian Schmitz
Title
Multimedia journalist
Expertise
Migration, human rights, minorities and environment
Country
Germany
City
North Rhine-Westphalia
Website
www.dw.com
Links

Supported projects

Inside Europe’s AI Border Fortress

  • Human Rights
  • Migration
  • Technology

ATHENS/BERLIN/ZURICH -The European Union is deploying AI-driven technologies along its borders in an to attempt to control migration flows, raising legal and ethical concerns about the impact on migrants' rights. While these systems are promoted as improving efficiency and security, they have raised concerns about privacy violations and restrictions on the right to asylum, concerns that this research confirms.

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Camera at refugee camp on Samos

Nature for Sale: Why Protection of Endemic Species Isn't Enforced

  • Environment
  • Trafficking

SKOPJE - The Macedonian grayling is a unique butterfly species which resides exclusively on the outskirts of a small Macedonian town, with no other known locations worldwide. The specimen of this rare and endangered butterfly can be purchased at low prices across Europe — how did this become possible?

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