Bosnian Authorities Launches Tougher Crackdown on Migrants

Police officers on the main highway now turn back any migrants. In response, police forces of adjacent regions started blocking migrants from walking back to their areas.

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Since the standoff began this week, several hundred people, including women and children, have been taken off buses and trains and left trapped on a road near the town of Bosanska Otoka with no access to food or shelter.

Krajina authorities have also imposed a ban on transporting migrants on trains, buses or taxis, banned migrants from gathering in public places, and banned residents from renting or providing housing to migrants.

Amnesty International has described the moves as “discriminatory and reckless”.

Peter Van der Auweraert of the IOM refugee agency warned that the crackdown is just fueling an already “volatile” situation.

“I am concerned that the situation may get out of hand, in terms of protests and demonstrations, either by the local population or by the migrants,” Van der Auweraert said.

“I am also concerned that we are hurtling toward a humanitarian catastrophe if we do not have sufficient accommodation when the winter hits.”

Van der Auweraert said a persistent shortage of housing for migrants and the refusal by local authorities elsewhere in Bosnia to accept migrants is leaving thousands of people homeless in Krajina, sleeping in parks or abandoned buildings without access to medical care or sometimes even food.

This increases a sense of insecurity among the region's residents.

Bosnia in 2017 became a bottleneck for thousands of migrants from the Mideast, Asia and North Africa seeking better lives in Europe when other nations closed off their borders.

Initially, most migrants who entered Bosnia were there temporarily before crossing into Croatia.

However, Croatia, which shares a highly porous 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border with Bosnia, has taken additional steps to prevent cross-border movement, including erecting fences at some crossings.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused Croatian police of beating migrants, confiscating their meager belongings, and illegally pushing them back into Bosnia without notifying Bosnian border guards.

Croatian police deny the allegations. 

(Writer: Sabina Niksic) 

Source: https://apnews.com/4da41c44d8e10ca3a901dd2591fbfe6f