Members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina (AFBiH) have been repairing the access road at the Lipa area near Bihac for several days now, which is the basic condition for starting the construction of a reception center for the long-term stay of about 1.500 migrants and refugees.
Currently, about 900 people are staying in the prepared tent settlement, where heated living space, food meals, sanitary facilities, and medical care are provided.
Everything takes place under the supervision of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of BiH, while the help with taking care of migrants and refugees at this area is being provided by volunteers of the Red Cross of Una-Sana Canton (USC) and the City of Bihac, as well as many humanitarian organizations.
“We work every day on improving living conditions. In a few days, the space for the preparation and distribution of food will be completed, then the space for performing religious rites, but also the quarantine section just in case, ” said the Secretary of the Red Cross of the City of Bihac, Selam Midzic.
Also, the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of BiH is already conducting the process of biometric identification of all persons in the tent settlement.
“All migrants will need to pass this biometric processing, in order to determine whether they are already in the system or not. This process is necessary for us to find out which of these people expressed their intention to seek asylum, and who did not so that we can act accordingly, ” said Mirsad Buzar, Deputy Director of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs.
Migrants themselves are much more satisfied with the secured living conditions in the recent period.
“I have been here for six months and now I can honestly say that we have almost normal living conditions. We were provided with heating, food, water, the help of medical staff and we got clothes and shoes. We finally have the human treatment and we are grateful for that. Now I am able to prepare in peace for another attempt of going to Italy,” said Asir from Iran.
Medical care of the users of the tent settlement services in Lipa near Bihac is led daily by medical staff and emergency duty teams from the health centers in the USC.
