Bosnian Council Recommends Migrant Relocations Over Local Protests
Many of the migrants have been sleeping rough for a week since the Lipa camp burned to the ground.
Bosnia-Herzegovina's governing executive on December 31 recommended that authorities transfer around 900 migrants from a burned-out refugee camp in northwestern Bosnia to be overwintered in a nearby reception center in Bihac amid local protests over their transfer to another location.
The migrants -- from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East -- have been in limbo without shelter in freezing temperatures as the dispute plays out this week.
Many have been sleeping rough at the site of a camp at Lipa that was destroyed in a fire on December 23, the same day it was due to be temporarily closed.
Migrants In Bosnia Face Freezing Winter Without Shelter
1/15Migrants wait to be relocated during snowfall at the Lipa camp in northwestern Bosnia, near the border with Croatia on December 26.
The Lipa migrant camp near Bihac was almost entirely destroyed by a fire that broke out on December 23, with many former residents left with nowhere to go.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
2/15Migrants walk through the snow at the burnt-out Lipa camp on December 26.
The temporary tent camp at Lipa was opened on April 21, and was intended for men only. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,359 migrants were housed at the camp.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
3/15A policeman pushes migrants as they wait to be relocated at the Lipa camp on December 26. The camp was to be closed on December 23 and relocated. However, officials said the move had to be postponed since the camp was almost entirely destroyed in the fire.
Bosnia has become a bottleneck for thousands of migrants hoping to reach neighboring European Union member Croatia and then head toward other Western EU members.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
4/15A migrant looks for belongings at the camp after the fire.
Lipa was a temporary reception center, but when local authorities in September 2020 closed another camp, Bira in Bihac, which could sleep around 3,000 people, about 300 people from Bira were sent to Lipa, which was already overcrowded. Bira was closed, according to local authorities, because the it posed a security and health risk.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
7/15A resident walks through the snow at the camp. The fire in Lipa broke out after the IOM, due to the lack of a decision by the authorities on finding accommodation for migrants, began withdrawing from the camp on December 23. That left around 1,400 men stranded in a squalid, burnt-out tent camp in Bosnia as heavy snow fell.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
8/15Migrants sit in a temporary shelter at the Lipa camp.
Despite the fire, Bosnian authorities have failed to find new accommodations for the migrants at Lipa. State officials blame local authorities for being unwilling to open the Bira camp again, so they could have time to prepare Lipa for the long-term housing of migrants.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
11/15Since the beginning of 2017, Bosnia has faced a migrant crisis. There are five migrant centers: Miral and Sedra in the northwest, Usivak and Blazuj in the Sarajevo region, and Salakovac near Mostar in the south. According to the Security Ministry, there are around 10,000 migrants in Bosnia. Around 6,000 of them are in camps and reception centers, and an estimated 3,500 living on the street or in squats without adequate shelter.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
13/15Bosnian Security Minister Selmo Cikotic said that his ministry had made a plan to relocate temporary reception centers for migrants from urban and populated areas.
"The plan is to build a reception center for migrants at the Lipa location, for which the Council of Ministers has provided 5,000,000 KM (256,000 euros) and 500,000 euros from the European Commission, while several embassies have promised concrete assistance in equipping the center," he said after the fire at Lipa.
Hundreds of migrants at the Lipa camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina are stranded amid heavy snowfall after a fire destroyed much of the camp on December 23.
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The decision by Bosnia's Council of Ministers suggests the refugees and migrants will be sent to the Bira facility -- in Bihac, near the border with Croatia -- which had been closed since October.
It came as EU officials appeared to be losing patience with the drawn-out humanitarian crisis in nonmember Bosnia.
The European Commission on December 31 called on Bosnia's national and local authorities to work together to give shelter to the asylum seekers and migrants.
Bihac
In Brussels, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said the quickest and most practical solution was reopening the Bira center.
Many of the migrants had been forced to disembark from buses on December 30 on which they had spent the previous night as residents near a former barracks at Bradina, near Konjic, protested plans for their arrival.
Peter Van der Auweraert, the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) coordinator for the Western Balkans, had tweeted grim video of the migrants at Lipa with “close to no shelter for the night” after “last minute political negotiations failed to produce a viable outcome.”
Even before the fire, the much-criticized tent camp at Lipa lacked basic facilities such as running water and heating to house people in winter.
Bosnian authorities have failed to fulfill pledges to upgrade facilities to brace them for the cold weather, including by providing utilities and road access.
In a joint statement, humanitarian groups on December 30 called on Bosnian authorities to address the "dire humanitarian conditions and uncertainty” of the stranded migrants.
“Forcing people once again to stay out in the open in these conditions cannot be an acceptable solution. The lack of immediate action by responsible authorities risks grave consequences to human safety and lives,” the groups, including the IOM and the UN refugee agency, said.
About 10,000 migrants and asylum seekers are stuck in Bosnia, hoping to cross into EU member Croatia in order to reach wealthier countries in the bloc.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Balkan Service and Balkan Insight
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