Nenad Nesic, Bosnia's Security Minister, said that there is no migrant crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the moment and that there is no threat to security.

Speaking before the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Nesic said that he talked to representatives of local authorities in the northwestern Una-Sana Canton and its administrative centre Bihac during his latest visit there, and that the area is not faced with security threats.

“There is currently a total of 254 migrants at the Lipa centre and they in no way jeopardise the safety. Also, we agreed that we fully respect the readmission agreement between BiH and Croatia” said Nesic, answering the question about the increasing number of migrants arriving in Una-Sana Canton.

Presenting the dana for the first three months of 2023, Nesic said that based on the readmission agreement with Croatia, a total of 768 foreigners were accepted in the country. At the same time, 1,816 requests for the acceptance of foreigners based on the same document was rejected in the same period.

“That clearly shows that our Foreigners Affairs’ Service is doing its job responsibly and that there is no influx of migrants in BiH. Migrants are equally distributed and most of them are currently in Sarajevo Canton, 630 of them,” he stressed.

As for the detention unit within the Lipa camp in Una-Sana Canton, the minister explained that its construction is funded by the European Union and that at this moment there is no single person returned within the readmission process that could jeopardise the security in BiH.

Sattler confirms EU is funding construction of detention unit at Lipa camp

“There is no migrant crisis at the moment. The security hasn't been jeopardised. There are 254 persons in Lipa camp, which has the capacity for 1,500 people, at the moment. As for the readmission agreements with Serbia and Montenegro, as there is insisting on the respect for this agreement with the Republic of Croatia, we also insist on this agreement with the neighbouring countries to be respected,” he underlined.