Rade Kovac, Head of the Operational Support Sector of the Service for Foreigners Affairs, and Ahmed Kico, an expert in the field of security, spoke in an interview about the migrant crisis, the visa and visa-free regime in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), work permits for foreigners, the status of persons with diplomatic immunity and persons who are prohibited from entering BiH.
Kovac notes that the Service for Foreigners Affairs has had successful cooperation with all security agencies in BiH from 2006 until today, and during that period nearly 15.000 foreign citizens were deported on various grounds. Some of them, says Kovac, represented a threat to the national security of BiH due to their connection with terrorism, organized crime, and people smuggling.
“This year, we received information about some 15 people. Three of them are outside BiH. Those persons who are not in BiH are automatically banned from entering BiH. If we find a person on the territory of BiH, we expel him, with a ban on returning for a certain period of time,” Kovac explained.
Kico believes that there are conflicting intelligence and security interests in BiH, from Western countries, Eastern countries, and the Russian Federation, to regional interests.
Moreover, he claims that there were omissions in the case of Russian diplomats.
The entry of two expelled Russian diplomats into BiH without checks or subsequent procedures is a violation of the security of BiH. It is a complete failure of the security system – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Border Police, and the Intelligence – Security Agency of BiH (OSA BiH). We must learn from this. Determine who is responsible for this failure. OSA must cooperate, not only with domestic but also with regional agencies. I cannot accept that OSA and the ministry do not have a register of foreign diplomats who have been expelled from BiH and the countries of the region,” says Kico.
