News in English     | 04.04.2021. 16:56 |

Štefanek:The burden of migrant crisis must be equally distributed throughout BiH

FENA Lejla Nuhanovic

STRASBOURG/SARAJEVO, April 4 (FENA) - The burden of the migrant crisis must be equally distributed throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina and not only in the Una-Sana and Sarajevo Canton, said Special Representative for Migration and Refugees at the Council of Europe Drahoslav Štefanek in an interview with FENA.

Štefanek said that a comprehensive report is being prepared, which will most likely be presented to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in May.
 
He stressed that they are cooperating with other international organizations on resolving the migrant crisis.
 
"I am glad that my visit in January contributed to the improvement of conditions in migrant camps. I got that information from the ground. We always try to do the best we can," said Štefanek.
 
He stated that they are now in the process of making recommendations for resolving the issue of migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
He emphasized that he is committed to working on the establishment of a permanent migrant center in Lipa.
 
"I hope that the conditions as they were in January will never repeat. I'm sure they won't. We survived a harsh winter. I thank the authorities, but I think we lost a lot of time during 2020. I think that three or four more reception centers in BiH should be established with the capacity to accommodate about a thousand people. And the responsibility should be shared not only by Una-Sana and Sarajevo Canton but by the whole territory of BiH," he said.
 
He stressed that the asylum application procedure needs to be improved because interviews are taken in Sarajevo, which is a very demanding process if migrants come from Bihać and, transport has to be organized from there.
 
"We should be realistic. About 20 percent of migrants can qualify for asylum. The rest are all economic migrants who do not meet the conditions. They must be identified and divided into these groups," said Štefanek.

He underlined that he had very productive talks with BiH Security Minister Selmo Cikotić, saying he is the "right person" to address the problems of migrants in BiH.
 
He also talked about his expectations for the next period, given that a new influx of migrants is expected in April, and said that he recently visited Turkey, which also hosts a large number of migrants, and saw that the number of migrants there is much lower than in the same period last year.
 
Asked if he still thinks BiH is the "weakest link" in the migrant crisis, as he said in January, he said they are helping as much as they can to prove his statement is incorrect.
 
"However, the biggest burden is on the local authorities. During my visit in January, Minister Cikotić had several good suggestions. These proposals need to have more political support. I don’t want to be rude or repeat what I said in January, but the fact is that there is still a lot to do. The European Union, the Council of Europe, the IOM, the UNHCR - we are all ready to help. For example, when I was in Turkey recently, I saw that the state is much more involved in solving the problem of migrants," Štefanek concluded in an interview with FENA. 

(FENA) A. B.

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