The Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ugochi Florence Daniels stated today at the “Sarajevo Dialogue on Migration” conference that last year the number of migrants in the Western Balkans increased by 60 percent compared to 2021.
She emphasized that at the same time, five percent of the local population leave the region every year due to social and economic factors.
Daniels said that it is necessary to continue efforts in the fight against human trafficking circles and to establish a system for the return to the countries of origin of those migrants who do not meet the legal requirements to stay.
The Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nenad Nešić, said that the countries of the Western Balkans will be even more united and united in overcoming all the problems that come with migration.
He added that the geostrategic importance of the region has not been more obvious for a long time than during the migrant crisis, which, in addition to the humanitarian one, also represents a political and security challenge.
“Criminality in the migrant crisis is mostly reflected in illegal transport and trafficking in people, but also in drugs and weapons,” Nešić emphasized.
She pointed out that the countries of the region showed by their attitude towards that crisis that they should become part of the European Union as soon as possible.
Swedish State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Anders Hall emphasized that migration is at the top of the priorities of the Swedish presidency of the European Union, and that the countries of the Western Balkans are key partners of the EU in the effort to preserve a safe and prosperous Europe.
He underlined that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a historic opportunity to become a full member of the EU and called for it to be used because the other members will be happy to receive it.
At the conference in Jahorina mountain, an action plan for the implementation of obligations from the Skopje Declaration adopted at the Ministerial Conference on Sustainable Migration Management in the Western Balkans in November 2022 should be adopted.
