The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) detected the arrival of 30,268 refugees and migrants to the country between 1 January 2018 and 30 April 2019.
Monthly arrivals in 2019 continue to exceed those in 2018, with 2,631 detected arrivals in April 2019 compared to 1,801 in April 2018. There remains a significant risk of increased arrivals in the summer with improved travel conditions. The majority arrive overland in an irregular manner (i.e. at non-official border crossings) at a number of entry points. It is estimated that between 6,000 and 6,500 refugees and migrants remain in BiH in need of a range of types of humanitarian assistance at various locations, in particular in Sarajevo and USC.
The latter location is linked to attempts to enter Croatia and the European Union. Refugees and migrants in transit are also increasingly frequently sighted in other parts of BiH and in need of humanitarian support, such as Kalesija, Bijeljina, and Tuzla. More detailed population estimates with age, gender, and location information are available in the 3W towards the foot of this document.
In April 2019, the largest declared Country of Origin (CoO) among new arrivals was Pakistan (47 per cent), followed by Bangladesh (12 per cent), Iran (eight per cent), Syria (seven per cent), Afghanistan (seven per cent), and Iraq (six per cent).
As of 30 April, the maximum available capacity across eight formal and informal centres in BiH (USC, Sarajevo Canton, and HNC) was 4,294, not including safe accommodation and hostels made available to a limited number of particularly vulnerable cases or spaces in the Immigration Centre in Lukavica.
