In Bosnia, close to the border with EU member Croatia, as the opening of new housing facilities has been delayed many times, asylum seekers will soon face sub-zero temperatures outside the refugee camps, and they are still worried about cold, isolation and deportation.
A teenage girl from Balochistan Province, Pakistan, and her family of seven crowded into an abandoned building near the Croatian border. She said: “At present, as you can see in our situation, there is no electricity. Nothing.”
As winter approaches, she is one of hundreds of asylum seekers who remained outside the camp in mid-October.
The new factory in Lipa, half an hour’s drive from Bihać, a city in the northwest -One of the hot spots on the European immigration route through Bosnia-will open on Monday (November 1st) and can accommodate 1,000 single men, 200 children and 300 people with families.
It was built on the site of an old temporary camp of the same name that burned (or burned, according to some officials) in January last year, leaving thousand It freezes in the winter in Bosnia.
The authorities began construction of the facility in April, possible Complete within three months.
However, as often happens in Bosnia’s highly dysfunctional governance, delays ensue, so that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has to take over the search for power contractors to ensure that new facilities can be opened before the harsh winter in Bosnia.
This is just the latest example of the Bosnian authorities Long-term record Insufficient resources and capacity to accommodate EU immigrants, mainly from the Middle East and Africa, flow through its territory.
At the same time, about 700 people have been living on the opposite side of the dirt road, looking like a military camp.
“They call it a camp. This is not a camp, but a survival mission,” Belmin, a new camp manager from the Bosnian Foreign Affairs Bureau, told EURACTIV.
Human rights groups worry that the new camp is about 20 kilometers away from the border and may hinder those who try to cross the border and stay in the camp.
“I think the site has many shortcomings,” Laura Lungarotti, Coordinator for the Western Balkans of the International Organization for Migration and head of the Bosnian delegation, told EURACTIV that he pointed out that there are no urban centers and public services nearby.
However, the isolated location is a hard-won compromise between all levels of government, and all political actors try to keep the facilities as far away from the local residents as possible.
Lungarotti said: “Therefore, we are making it the most humane and most liveable place,” and pointed out that the International Organization for Migration plans to provide children with transportation services to the city center, hospitals and schools.
The problem of establishing camps near the city has become apparent at about 55 kilometers north of Bihać in Velika Kladuša (Velika Kladuša), about 55 kilometers north of Bihać, where the original Miral Temporary camps have slowly become a permanent feature of border towns.
After initially supporting the new immigrants, the residents of Kladusa became tired and started protesting against the refugee camp last year.
Alma, a school teacher who has been distributing food and clothes to people in need since 2018, said that “I didn’t feel well” at the time. After that, she was forced by the authorities to set up her own charity organization Rahma to keep her activities legal.
“If I had to provide something, I would ask people to come to places where there was no one, where no one could see me, then take the things out of my car and leave,” she said.
In August 2020, the local coordination committee announced restrictions on the movement of migrants, set up roadblocks and intercepted buses to check passengers. Helping refugees outside the camp is also forbidden.
Although the pressure has eased since then, the local authorities confirmed to EURACTIV that they plan to continue clearing the pit.
“I think there are still many people who are worried. Even if they do provide help, they will do it silently because they don’t want to run into problems,” Alma said.
Nevertheless, she said that with the arrival of immigrant families, the situation has improved, not just single men, which has prompted many locals to accept the existence of immigrants more.
Uncertain capacity
Most institutional participants argue that the various camps in Bosnia have enough capacity to accommodate people currently outside the camps. However, not everyone agrees.
Amnesty International researcher Jelena Sesar told EURACTIV that she is concerned that “even if a new camp is set up in Lipa, the number of people sleeping in Una-Sana Canton will exceed the available capacity.”
According to the September IOM report, There are currently about 1,100 people living in squats.
Sesar warned, “I have recently visited dozens of such locations, each with hundreds of people, and our assessment is that this number may be much higher.”
“Although other parts of the country are capable, the distance of such facilities from the Croatian border and strict restrictions on immigrants, including the ban on public transportation, are making it very difficult for them to cross the country, especially in winter,” she added road.
National Director of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Hector Carpintero agrees with the analysis of the International Organization for Migration that there is enough space for everyone. He said his main concern is those who choose to stay outside the camp.
“I am more worried about people outside the reception center,” Carpintero said, adding that his team is developing “our emergency winterization plan so that we can have enough resources so that we can support the population” to go to the camp.
According to Carpintro, many people chose to stay outside the camp because all those who entered were forced to quarantine for 7 days.
“Free” to leave
Although the camp is open and residents are free to leave, local activists expressed concern that the authorities might force people to move into the camp for the winter.
In early September, the authorities came to a stronghold in Velika Kladuša and tried to clear a tent called Helicopter Place. Alma said: “They will only come to force them, put them on the bus, only those who hide or run away will not be taken away. Everyone else is forced to leave.”
“They just came to destroy the tent… but maybe two days later, half of the people returned,” she added.
When asked if the Democratic Republic of the Congo is afraid of such forced evictions, Carpintro said that they have not heard of the “strongly encourage people to go back” plan, but they are negotiating with other organizations about their response.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
