EC gives EUR six million for Bosnia to manage migrant crisis

The funds will improve the capacities of Bosnia and Herzegovina for identification, registration and referral of the third-country nationals crossing the country’s border, provide accommodation and basic services for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, and strengthening the capacities for border control and surveillance.

Over 7,000 migrants entered Bosnia through its eastern border since the beginning of the year, according to the state institutions. Although most of them expressed intention to seek asylum, as a part of the regular procedure, a very low number actually did so. No migrant has been given asylum, Bosnia's Security Minister Dragan Mektic recently confirmed.

The state authorities in cooperation with local institutions in the western region Una-Sana Canton, a region the highest concentration of migrants in Bosnia, have been trying to find facilities to accommodate migrants but so far they had no success, either due to objections of municipal authorities or the lack of funds to adjust the abandoned factories and barracks for the migrants’ accommodation.

The European Union earlier provided EUR 1.5 million for Bosnia to address the migrant crisis. Since 2007, the Commission has been providing assistance to the country in the migration sector and border management, in an amount of EUR 24.6 million.

Also, since January 2016 Bosnia benefits from the regional programme ‘Support to Protection-Sensitive Migration Management’ worth EUR eight million.