EC allocates six million euros to BiH for border protection and migrants

The European Commission on Friday approved the allocation of six million euros in aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the country will use to address the migrant crisis, it was confirmed during the day by the Delegation of the European Union in Sarajevo.

>>>BiH received one million euros for the accommodation of migrants

As explained, this donation will serve to strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capacity for the identification, registration, and referral of third-country nationals crossing the border, ensuring their accommodation, and enhancing capacities for border control and surveillance, thereby contributing to the fight against human trafficking.

The European Commission had already approved aid of one and a half million euros to Bosnia and Herzegovina in June to begin addressing the accommodation and food issues for illegal migrants.

The EU Delegation reminded that the Union has provided Bosnia and Herzegovina with assistance in the area of migration and border management amounting to 24.6 million euros since 2007, and since January 2016, BiH has become a participant in a regional support program for migration management worth 8 million euros.

Since the beginning of the year, according to police agency data, just over ten thousand illegal migrants have entered BiH, and estimates suggest that there are currently between four and five thousand there.

>>>Since the beginning of the year, the number of migrants in BiH has sharply increased

BiH has limited capacities for the accommodation of migrants and has not yet reached an agreement on the final location for a migrant center that would be established in the Una-Sana Canton, where the highest concentration of migrants wishing to continue their journey to Croatia and other EU countries is located.

Another migrant center is expected to be established in the abandoned barracks “Ušivak” in the town of Hadžići near Sarajevo, but its equipping has not yet started due to a lack of funds, so it is expected that the EU donation will represent a solution to this problem.