The practice of impunity of migrants who commit crimes in Bosnia needs to end and prosecutors across the country need to start processing the small number of migrants breaking the law, Peter Van Der Auweraert, the Sub-regional Coordinator of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for the Western Balkans, told N1 on Wednesday.

“When it comes to the behaviour of the migrants, a large majority does not make trouble, but a small minority does. Some of them are involved in drugs, and some steal from the locals and other migrants,” Van Der Auweraert said adding that the problem is that migrants caught in criminal acts are not prosecuted and this needs to change.

“Migrants need to respect the law and the police cannot do its work unless the prosecutors prosecute people for the crimes they committed.”

He emphasised that the number of incidents with the migrants is not as large as media claim.
“The situation is not alarming, but what is alarming is prosecutors not prosecuting people who commit crime. This has to change quickly, so there is an end of the sense of impunity among the small group of migrants that commit crime and among the (local) population that sees people committing crimes and police arresting them after which nothing happens,” the IOM Coordinator said.

Over the past two years, Bosnia found itself on the new European migrant route. Migrants trying to get to western EU countries are entering the country mostly from Serbia and Montenegro and heading to Bosnia’s northern-most cities of Bihac and Velika Kladusa – the closest to the border with Croatia.

There, they are faced with Croatia’s border police that is much better equipped than their Bosnian colleagues and prevent migrants from entering their territory much better. This forces the migrants to flock to overcrowded centres.

For this reason, the Una-Sana Canton government, where the two towns mostly under pressure are located, said they want to make new, larger shelters, away from urban areas. The IOM Coordinator said before closing down the existing accommodation that new accommodation needs to be established.
“It is clear that if we don’t have official accommodation, people will be sleeping in the streets which obviously creates a lot of problems for the locals in Bihac. Even if the new location is identified, it takes time to put up a new location, in terms of location, water, shelter, food, etc.,” Van Der Auweraert said.

“So I think the relocation from the existing locations is going to take time.”
He argues that the existing shelters in the Una-Sana Canton and Bosnia should not close down but that additional accommodation is ensured which could bring the situation under control.

Van Der Auweraert said there are some 2,800 migrants in the camps in the Una-Sana Canton and that police believe that another 2,000 are in private accommodations in Bihac and Velika Kladusa.

He said that Bosnia’s institutions have so far treated the migrants professionally.

“It is very challenging for them to deal with this irregular migration and there are very few incidents of reported violence against migrants. We’ve seen more complaints on the border with Croatia where we have regular stories about violence from the other side of the border,” Van Der Auweraert noted, adding it is vital to have an independent inquiry on this violence.

Bosnia can be proud of the way its citizens are treating the migrants, especially the locals from Bihac and Velika Kladusa which are quite small towns, where a large number of migrants quickly flooded the streets, he said.