The European Union promised 10 million euros in aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The funds are earmarked to build new reception centers and support the more than 7,000 migrants currently based in the Balkan state.
Migrants and refugees wait in line to receive supplies from the Red Cross at the Vucijak camp outside Bihac, Bosnia. Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Alic
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The European Union promised 10 million euros of additional aid to support Bosnia and Herzegovina in managing the influx of migrants crossing its territory to reach Western Europe.
The new funding brings the total EU funding for migration in the country to 34 million euros since the beginning of 2018, according to an EU statement.
The funds will be used to build new reception centers and to bolster other services, including "food and accommodation, access to water sanitation and hygiene" to the roughly 7,400 migrants currently residing in the Balkan state, the EU delegation said in a statement.
The roughly 36,000 migrants who entered Bosnia in that time period mostly came from countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the construction of new reception centers is a hot political issue as the rapid influx of migrants has created tensions with some local communities.
The biggest reception centers are located in the northwestern towns of Bihac and Velika Kladusa.
The Serb-run half of Bosnia, on the other hand, has refused to construct any reception centers on its territory.
'Inhumane conditions' at Bosnian refugee camp in Vucjak
Within eyeshot of the Bosnian-Croatian border, thousands of refugees are camping in squalor on a former garbage site. Their supplies are scarce. Photographer Dirk Planert was among them.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Forced removals
It's estimated that 8,000 refugees live in Bihac. The camps are overcrowded and every day there is talk of burglaries. There was a stabbing in front of the kindergarten. Next to Camp Bira, there were about 500 people not registered with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In mid-June police picked them up and drove them to a site called Vucjak.
Image: DW/D. Planert
800 people living on garbage
Within a few days, police continued to bring more refugees to Vucjak — a site that was the city's garbage dump for decades. It was covered with soil and then flattened. Local residents say it is omitting methane gas. Apart from the putrid stench, there are only three tents and some drinking water tanks. No toilets, no showers, no electricity, no paramedics.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Red Cross hopes for relief workers
Local Red Cross workers from Bihac say that neither the government in Sarajevo nor the IOM are giving them any funds to look after the refugees or buy medical supplies. The IOM staff stopped by briefly but did nothing. They then made a plea to the people of Bihac to donate food.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Eating in filth
Those at the camp receive paltry soup and bread twice a day from the Red Cross.
There is no electricity, no toilets, no showers, and no way to wash clothing. Almost everyone has skin rashes, open or purulent wounds, and their legs and feet are bloodied. There are no doctors. Red Cross medics say they have inadequate supplies to provide relief.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Medical emergency
Abdul Rahim Bilal screamed in pain as he was unloaded from a police van. Shortly afterward he became unresponsive and lay in the dirt with his hands on his appendix. The bus drove off. After desperate calls for help, another policeman called an ambulance which took half an hour to arrive. According to the hospital, he was released three days later.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Stories of war
Most in the camp are young men from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria; some are also from India, Egypt and Gaza. The refugees in Vucjak have been making their way to Europe for at least 10 weeks, some even up to three years. They speak of the war in Syria, terrorist attacks and police violence in Pakistan and air raids in Gaza.
Image: DW/D. Planert
No strength left
Jouma Al Hamid was in an Assad prison in Syria. He comes from the Idlib area. He's been on the road for three years and spent one year in Camp Moria on Lesbos. "I can't take it anymore," says the 26-year-old. "I just want to live in a house, that's all. I'm frightened, by the police, by criminal gang lords here." People smugglers charge €3,000 ($3,400) but he does not have it.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Without rights
Hassan Ali was forcibly removed from Camp Bira to Vucjak by police despite being registered as a migrant at IOM and having a place in the camp. They gave him no explanation: "The police arrested me in town. When I showed my IOM card and said I was in Bira, they said if I say that again they will beat me. Then they brought me here. I don't know why."
Image: DW/D. Planert
Being a child at the garbage dump
The youngest refugee at former-garbage dump campsite is 12 years old. He actually should be at Camp Bira, or in one of the hotels where women and children are accommodated but the police picked him up and brought him to Vucjak. His only possessions are the clothes he is wearing.
Image: DW/D. Planert
'This is not camp'
The people here are crying out to be heard. With a paper and a marker, a woman from a French human rights organization helped them write a legible sign, in a desperate attempt to get help.
Image: DW/D. Planert
The EU knows everything
The European Union can't deny that they know what the situation is like here. Two EUFOR soldiers were in Vucjak and witnessed everything. They will have reported to their headquarters. This situation is strongly reminiscent of the war in Bosnia. Bihac was a "UN protection zone," but only on paper. UN observers were here and they didn't do anything. Just like EUFOR.