prijava
BIHAĆ, February 6 (FENA) - Head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peter van der Auweraert, believes that the competent state institutions must get engaged more concretely in the creation of a central system that will manage, control and monitor the overall situation with migrants in BiH, as is the practice in some neighboring countries.
“There must be some kind of a system and I have advocated it from the beginning. The state must take control and responsibility over it and I really hope that we will soon sign such an agreement with the Ministry of Security of BiH and the Service for Foreigners Affairs.
That does not mean that the IOM will withdraw, we stay here of course, but we should not be the ones that govern the situation. We have agreed to the present situation only because we did not want thousands of people to remain in the street without any control,” said Head of IOM in BiH Peter van der Auweraert.
During the handover of snowmobiles to the members of the Mountain Rescue Service in Bihać, he spoke about the current situation with migrants and refugees in the area of USC, the situation in camps and cooperation with all levels of government in BiH.
He also referred to the recent mass physical confrontation in the reception camp Bira, in which more than 40 people were injured.
“Unfortunately, the situation happened, however, I must immediately point out that this was precisely an example that has shown how important it is that we managed to place all the migrants and refugees in the reception camps. Imagine what the consequences would be if such a conflict happened somewhere in downtown Bihać, that is, while migrants are on the streets. It is also important to say that the IOM is doing everything to calm the tensions in those centers, to prevent them, but it is very difficult to control the situation when there are so many people in one place,” said Auweraert.
He adds that the International Organization for Migration has hired a security agency, whose members have been trained by a specialized UN Security Agency, and also pointed out excellent cooperation with the Una-Sana Canton Police Administration, but that, nevertheless, sometimes it is very difficult to prevent such conflicts from happening.
“The conflict was placed under control by the prompt and professional response of police officers. Certainly, a lot more can be done and we are still working on security factors in the camps, even though IOM is investing maximum efforts.
I must also say that most of the problems are initiated by almost the same group of migrants, some 30 to 40 people, which endanger security and create problems for other migrants. I also understand the concern of the local population. Therefore, together with state institutors, we are trying to move these people to some place under more stringent care, and we will do so in due time,” said Head of the IOM in BiH.
He also spoke about the reasons for the overcrowding of the capacities of the reception camps in the USC, especially when it comes to Bira and Miral in Velika Kladuša.
“There are two reasons for such a situation. The first is that, unlike in Serbia, where there is a Commissariat that accepts and distributes migrants to reception camps, there is no such institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, migrants are in some way allowed, conditionally speaking, to choose where to stay temporarily, and then it is completely understandable why they choose Una-Sana Canton, specifically Bihać and Velika Kladuša. Another reason for the overcrowding of Bira and Miral camps is that people who arrive here have nowhere else to go from that point on,” he explained.
Auweraert also noted that he fully supports the request and the decision of the USC Government that all families with unaccompanied children and minors be placed in the reception centers Sedra and Borići, which are made adequate for this purpose.
“We will do this in the next few days, of course with the help of our partners and the Task Force for dealing with the situation with migrants, because that category of migrants certainly does not belong in Bira. We will do everything to move them to Borići, in the shortest possible time,” he added.
The International Organization for Migration in BiH in recent months, through several projects, has tried to respond and in some way thank the citizens of the Una-Sana Canton, who accepted people in distress.
Thus, Peter van der Auweraert mentioned the projects of renovation and introduction of street lighting system in some parts of Bihać, procurement of a multifunctional utility vehicle for the needs of the City of Cazin, cleaning of city parks, purchase of snowmobiles for the needs of the Mountain Rescue Service, Bihać station, and several other projects whose implementation is yet expected.
(FENA) S. R.
