As part of the project of the European Union to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in the areas of migration and border management, five new Ford SUVs worth 124,000 euros have today been handed over to the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This donation will support the efforts of the BiH Border Police in their day-to-day operations due to the increased presence of migrants in the country.
Nicolas Bizel, Head of Operations Section I (Justice and Home Affairs, Public Administration Reform) handed over the keys of the new vehicles to Fahrudin Halač, Deputy Director of BiH Border Police.
“This type of vehicle will greatly help improve the capacity of border police officers facing the challenges of the migrant situation and will be used in our five Field offices,” Halac said.
As of 2018, the European Union has allocated €36 million in grants so far 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.
Thanks to EU assistance, five temporary reception centers in BiH have been established, providing basic accommodation, food and water, sanitation, clothing and psychological counselling services, as well as access to education and health services for migrants residing in BiH. The donated funds are also used to purchase equipment and provide expert assistance to the Border Police and the Sector for Asylum of BiH, the Ministry of Interior of Una-Sana Canton, and the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs.
So far, the Border Police has been supported with one minibus vehicle donated in February this year as well as through capacity building through financing the accommodation of the officials and fuel for the vehicles used by the police officials used in their day-to-day activities.
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).
