- Title: Council of Europe urges Bosnia to relocate unsafe migrants camp
- Date: 17th October 2019
- Summary: VUCJAK, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FILE - JUNE 19, 2019) (REUTERS) TENTS IN CAMP MIGRANTS SITTING IN TENT BIHAC, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (FILE - JUNE 26, 2019) (REUTERS) MIGRANTS IN CAMP VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS WALKING AMONGST TENTS IN CAMP
- Embargoed: 31st October 2019 13:02
- Keywords: migrants in Bosnia migrants camps Council of Europe migration in Europe
- Location: INTERNET / BIHAC AND VUCJAK, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
- City: INTERNET / BIHAC AND VUCJAK, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
- Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001B1HKZZT
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The head of Europe's main human rights forum urged Bosnia on Thursday (October 17) to relocate an overcrowded migrant camp, saying it was unsanitary and unsafe as it lacked running water and electricity and was situated close to a land-mined area.
In a statement published on her official Facebook profile, Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said the living conditions in the camp were deplorable and the situation would worsen with winter coming.
Bosnia has been struggling with a rise in migrant arrivals since nearby European Union member states Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia sealed their borders against undocumented immigration.
Over 40,000 migrants have entered the Balkan country since 2018, of whom around 7,300 have settled in the northwest Bihac area hoping to cross into nearby Croatia and go on to the affluent north and west of the EU.
Nearly 20% of the migrants are children.
Over 1,000 of them have been steered to the Vucjak camp, built over a former landfill, 8 km (5 miles) from the Croatian border where land mines remain as a legacy of the 1990s wars triggered by the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Mijatovic urged Bosnian authorities to uphold their responsibilities to handle migration in a human rights-compliant way and provide the necessary help to local authorities who have been dealing with this issue by themselves for so long.
In July, the EU pledged 14 million euros ($15.56 million) in aid for new shelters but the scheme has been held up by bickering among rival ethnic parties and anti-migrant rhetoric.
(Production: Boris Kavic, Fedja Grulovic, Zeljko Debelnogic, Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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