A migrant humanitarian crisis had already happened in Bosnia and what is happening now is only the tip of the iceberg, Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic told N1 Thursday.

“When I was in Bosnia in 2019, I visited Camp Vucjak and I'll never forget it. I saw people wallowing in the mud, faeces, waste, without water or electricity. Luckily the camp was closed but the situation remained,” Mijatovic said.

She noted that she spoke with the local authorities to try to grasp the reasons why it was so difficult to find a solution for the migrants. She even sent a letter to the BiH government where she tried to explain why BiH is important and how that shameful situation could change for the better but she never got a response.

“The biggest problem is the lack of coordination, political will and understanding of how serious the situation is. Migrations are nothing new, the people are looking for a better future and who are we, as a state, to prevent them in their quest? Of course, this must be in line with the law,” Mijatovic said.

She noted that the situation with the Lipa camp in the north-west of the country is not the only problem, knowing that 3,000 migrants are still sleeping in the open.

She mentioned neighbouring Serbia where 10,000 migrants reside, pointing out that they are all accommodated and have enough food.

“The accommodation of migrants should have been resolved much earlier. I'm no judge, but everyone's responsible for this – the state, the international community and everyone else taking part in these processes because, obviously, what we see in the field is not giving results. Everyone needs to sit down and make urgent decisions, not negotiate for months. Someone will have to answer for this when the time comes if a disaster happens, meaning when people start dying of cold because they have no health care,” Mijatovic pointed out, stressing that the fact that migrant children are not attending school is a huge problem.

In her opinion, everyone is acting hypocritically in this situation.

“The money invested in the control of migrations is not helping. We have a problem with the lack of solidarity in EU member states refusing to be part of the conversation or quotas on how many migrants they can take in. We still don't have a clear image of how this will end,” EU Human Rights Commissioner said.

In the end, she warned that she will talk about the “push backs” by the Croatian police officers when returning migrants from the border back to BiH, at the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights next week.

“I warned about the push-back and violence perpetrated by the Croatian police on the border with BiH. I have talked to organizations that have very seriously documented all the evidence of these horrible situations that do not befit a democratic country. I addressed Prime Minister Plenković on several occasions. Next week, I will have an intervention regarding the “push-backs” before the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It's is a case where three Syrians were returned to BiH. I hope this will serve as an example so it doesn't happen again. We'll have to see what decision the Court will make. It is a very powerful mechanism that I have at my disposal,” Mijatovic added.