13,333 Migrants reported to the Service for Foreigners

At today’s session in Sarajevo, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted individual information from the Ministry of Security on the situation in the field of migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina for August and September 2020.

In the first nine months of 2020, 13,333 illegal migrants were reported to the Service for Foreigners, which is a decrease of 40 percent compared to the same period in 2019, when 22,211 were reported.

The highest number of illegal migrants reported to the Service in this period were citizens of Afghanistan (3,725), followed by citizens of Pakistan (3,045) and Bangladesh (2,551).

Out of 13,333 illegal migrants, 12,588 persons expressed their intention to apply for asylum, of which only 209 persons applied for asylum or 1.66 percent. The largest number of asylum applications, in the nine-month period of 2020, were submitted by citizens of Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan.

In September 2020, 2,041 illegal migrants were reported, which is 11 percent less than in August this year, when 2,290 were reported. The total number of migrants staying in the centers for their accommodation, as well as the established camp in the Una-Sana Canton, has also been reduced.

On September 30, 5,946 people stayed in all centers for the accommodation of migrants, while there were 1,174 people in the “Lipa” camp in Bihac.

From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, from March to September 30, 7,086 illegal migrants were sent to preventive isolation wards, and 332 persons to symptomatic isolation wards. Also, 295 migrants were tested, of which 20 people tested positive for the coronavirus, the Council of Ministers of BiH stated in the press release.