prijava
SARAJEVO, December 6 (FENA) - The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović said in Sarajevo today that both BiH entities should engage to help improve the situation and share more equally the responsibility for hosting migrants and asylum seekers.
She expresses regret that Republika Srpska and several cantons in the Federation have refused so far to take responsibility and calls on them to do their part too, while the number of migrants in BiH is currently around 8,000.
“There is nothing that authorities can say to prove that this is a number they cannot control and that they cannot provide human accommodation to these people. It's quite a manageable number, and the funds are available,” said Mijatović.
She stated that she has visited the improvised camp Vučjak in the past four days, in which the conditions are difficult, shameful and shocking, as well as the reception centers Bira, Sedra and Ušivak.
Mijatović emphasized that the living conditions in Vučjak were already terrible before the cold weather and have become even more inhumane now that temperatures have dropped below freezing.
“The authorities now have to close it and relocate these people and provide them with decent accommodation. Yesterday I met with BiH Minister of Security Dragan Mektić who assured me that this relocation is imminent,” said Mijatović.
She specified that the number of people to be relocated is not too large because there are 500 to 600 people there and that authorities have no excuse not to intervene.
She also stated that the situation in the reception centers she visited in relation to Vučjak is clearly better, but that in several cases the conditions are substandard, particularly in Bira.
Mijatović underlined the solidarity of the BiH population and the commitment of international and non-governmental organizations in providing various types of assistance to migrants, thus filling the gap left by the authorities.
She called on BiH political leaders to refrain from stigmatizing anti-migrant propaganda and to adopt a more serious approach in line with the duties they have as public officials.
Commissioner Mijatović expresses grave concern about consistent reports of violent push-backs by Croatian law enforcement officials that she received from a variety of interlocutors.
“This is a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Croatian authorities must put an end to the practice of pushing migrants back to BiH and carry out independent and effective investigations into the reports of collective expulsion and abuse of migrants, and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials,” said Mijatović.
(FENA) A. B.
