The European Union has recently allocated additional €14.8 million in grants to continue to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in migration and border management in the context of the increased number of refugees and migrants present in the country since the end of 2017.
This includes €13 million of support to migration management – for which an implementation agreement has been signed recently with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and €1.8 million of humanitarian aid provided by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
As part of the project, two new vans have been donated, with a total value of more than EUR 56,000 (KM 110,400.00) to the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs (SFA), which will support the work of SFA staff on field, which has been a challenge so far. These vehicles will support SFA’s regular activities on field.
The keys to the two vehicles were handed over to the Director of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, Mr. Slobodan Ujic by Mr. Peter Van der Auweraert, Coordinator for the Western Balkans and Chief of Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Service for Foreigners’ Affairs will be further enhanced with IT equipment and software to improve border management and migration flows in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this valuable equipment and software will also be provided by the European Union.
“We thank the European Union for this valuable donation. The vehicles will be a great support to our employees who have a much more work due to the presence of migrants in our country”, said Mr. Ujic.
The previous assistance to the SFA also enabled donation of two vehicles and financed the deployment of officials reinforcing the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs at field offices and temporary reception centres.
The project “EU Support to Migration and Border Management in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is funded through an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) special measure and is implemented by the IOM in partnership with UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC).
