Bosnian authorities have begun to move hundreds of migrants from the border town of Bihac, transferring them into a nearby emergency tent camp, set up amid the coronavirus pandemic. The measures came in one day after local authorities on Monday cut off water supply to the Vucjak migrant camp in Bihac to put pressure on the government and NGOs to act quickly.
Bosnia-Herzegovina has begun to move migrants from an informal camp near the country's northern border with Croatia. The site in Vucjak fell into international disrepute for its squalid living conditions.
No running water, no electricity, putrid toilets, no heating – many have long called for the Vucjak migrant camp in Bosnia to be closed. Today, authorities reportedly started transferring migrants out of the camp, after announcing its closure last week.
Temperatures in northwestern Bosnia have dropped below zero, leaving hundreds of migrants in a makeshift forest camp struggling for survival. A senior human rights envoy who visited the camp on Tuesday demanded its immediate closure.
Croatian police on Friday fired on a group of migrants trying to irregularly reach neighboring Slovenia, local officials said. One man was critically injured. Thousands of migrants trying to reach western Europe are stuck in the Balkans.
As more and more refugees and migrants try to make it to Western Europe via the western Balkan route, and with winter approaching, the EU and NGOs have warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Vucjak migrant camp and similar facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina near the border with Croatia. On Friday, hundreds of locals protested against the migrants' presence.