The Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska, Dragan Lukac, said after the meeting with the Minister of Security in the Council of Ministers, Selmo Cikotic, that the position of the RS is clear – that it will not allow camps for migrants in the territory of the Republika Srpska.
”We will ensure their safe and unhindered movement where they want. We will continue to help the BiH Border Police in guarding the eastern border,” Lukac told reporters in Banja Luka.
Currently, 6,101 migrants reside in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this year 11,292 of them are registered in BiH, which is 7,000 less migrants compared to the same period last year.
Selmo Cikotic, the Minister of Security, stated earlier that the big problem was the porosity of the eastern border with Serbia-Montenegro, and that he believed that control would be strengthened there as well, Nezavisne reports.
He adds that the largest number of migrants come from Afghanistan, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Tunisia and Iran.
He claims that migrants abuse the institute of asylum, and that most of them apply for asylum, and they never complete that process, because they end up in one of the Western countries.
He claims that this year, 10,328 migrants expressed their intention to apply for asylum, and only 1,185 of them applied.
Border Police of BiH, work with other agencies on their return to the territory of the countries they come from, primarily Serbia and Montenegro.
Sooner or later they return and many continue their journey through the cliffs of the Balkans. They are heading towards Western Europe. And there is a readmission mechanism that BiH institutions carry out with the International Organization of Migrations and that is voluntary assisted return.
“We offer them certain funds for returns and money, funds to start living in their countries. ” In 2018, 735 people were returned to their countries of origin in this way, in 2019, 766 people were returned, and this year about 355 have been returned so far, Cikotic told BHRT.
