CoE Migrations official: Cooperation is key for good migrant crisis management

“It can be managed well, or managed badly,” the CoE Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees said, adding that the situation in Bosnia got better after migrants were provided with shelter.

Since the beginning of 2018, scores of migrants have crossed into Bosnia as neighbouring countries closed their borders. While migrants initially avoided the country in the early years of the crisis, Bosnia has meanwhile become a migrant hotspot.

The most affected area is the Una-Sana Canton (USK), in Bosnia’s northwest, as it borders with Croatia, which is where the migrants want to go on their way toward western European countries. But locals and authorities in the towns and communities in USK have been criticising the state government over its inability to cope with the situation.

Deteriorating weather conditions and temperatures dropping below the point of freezing raised concerns about the migrants, who were staying in tent communities out in the open.

“Since July I think there is progress, at least in the Una-Sana Canton, and this is very positive,” Bocek said, explaining that the migrants there have been accommodated in shelters. “Of course a lot still has to be done, but once they are in shelters, (minimum living) standards should be now assured.”

He mentioned that families and unaccompanied minors are now being separated from the rest of the migrants.

“We can now start working in other areas related to migration, such as the possible integration of those who will stay, and the international community, international organisations are here to help,” he said, adding that apart from the CoE, there is a strong presence of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and other organisations tending to the issue.

“I will write a report for my mission with complete recommendations for the Council of Europe on how to assist Bosnia,” he said.

Bocek said that he also recently visited Croatia to talk about the issue and that authorities there have shown a strong interest for cooperation with regional countries on tackling the issue.

One way such a cooperation could be achieved would be the exchange of information among state governments, he said.

Bocek said that a good example of such cooperation is the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, an intergovernmental agreement that is to be adopted in Marrakesh, Morocco, in a few weeks.

“It is a good example of how states can come together to facilitate the migratory processes,” he said.

The CoE is mostly interested in the human rights and rule of law aspects of state migration policies, he explained.