In the Migrant Center “Lipa” near Bihac, a Detention Center was recently established, which is a kind of detention unit, and which is intended for the accommodation of migrants who are prohibited from moving in BiH. The conditions prevailing in the center are not acceptable, and everyone is avoiding responsibility.
In the previous days, the issue of migrants returning from the European Union, that is, from Croatia thanks to the interstate agreement on readmission, came into focus again due to the number of migrants that is increasing day by day. For this reason, the Detention Center was opened, which is a kind of detention unit where it is planned to accommodate migrants who are prohibited from moving and are under surveillance.
In addition to the fact that the “center” resembles a detention unit and the inhumane conditions in which people should be housed prevail, the authorities in the Una-Sana Canton and Prime Minister Mustafa Ružnić are concerned because the ministries of security and foreign affairs, as well as the Service for Affairs with Foreigners, have not informed the cantonal authorities about taking these steps.
For this reason, we contacted the Minister for Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sevlid Hurtić, who visited the camp last week and saw for himself the conditions prevailing in the camp and the center.
Hurtić says that he was informed about the opening of the center by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, after which he spoke with the Prime Minister of USK, Mustafa Ružnić, who was not informed about it at all.
“Last week I visited the camp and I saw on the ground that a unit that looks like a classic prison has been built within the center. From the point of view of human rights, this is disgusting; that such a thing exists in a human environment,” says Hurtić.
Hurtić explains that wires have been erected around that “center” and that people with long pipes will certainly have to work there.
“Whoever works there will have to carry weapons with them, at least 50 people will work. From the aspect of human rights, it is illogical that you have people with long pipes and besides women, children, mothers”, he adds, Klix.ba reports.
The process of organized return of migrants from the Republic of Croatia to the Lipa Migrant Center near Bihać continued today. Members of the Service for Affairs with Foreigners and the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina unofficially escorted around 70 people in buses from the Izačić Border Crossing to the Lipa location today.
Last week, more than 200 migrants were returned from the Republic of Croatia to the center of Lipa in the same organized manner. The migrants were transported to this border crossing, which is 12 kilometers from the center of Bihać, under the escort and control of the Police of the Republic of Croatia.
The citizens of Bihać, the representatives of the city and cantonal authorities are increasingly complaining about the lack of any official and more detailed information about this process.
Probably because of this, during one of last week’s transports of migrants, the column secured by the Service for Foreign Affairs and the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina was stopped by members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Una-Sana Canton (MUP USK).
“During that stop, our members received information that the Police of the Republic of Croatia brought a group of 93 migrants to the Izačić Border Crossing, who, in accordance with the Agreement on the Readmission of Migrants, were transferred to our country, i.e. the area of our canton,” said the spokesperson of the Una Sana Canton, Bahrudin Dželalagić.
After that, the Prime Minister of the Una-Sana Canton, Mustafa Ružnić, said that he is still waiting for an official answer as to what it is about and why hundreds of migrants are returning to Bihać in an organized manner.
“Who is doing this, who is allowing this kind of entry into the country? I officially asked for an explanation from the Ministry of Security and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Suddenly, everyone is an actor and nobody knows anything… I openly ask if we will go to Bihać again tomorrow to have several thousand migrants who were returned in an organized manner from the Republic of Croatia,” said Ružnić.
Unofficially, this procedure of returning migrants from the Republic of Croatia to the Lipa Migrant Center near Bihać will continue in the coming days.
