“The new wave” of migrants should start on the Balkan route in the spring, was highlighted at the session of the Operational Group for Coordination of Action and Monitoring of the Migrant Crisis in the Una-Sana Canton.
At the meeting of the Operational Group for Coordination, a decision was made to start the activities towards the development of the Security Situation Management Strategy.
“Security assessments say that a new migrant wave will emerge in the spring of the so-called Balkan route. We need to be prepared for this situation and we must not allow a chaotic situation to be created, as it was the case last year,” the Prime Minister of USC Mustafa Ruznic and Minister of Interior of USK Nermin Kljajic agreed.
As highlighted by the USC Government, members of the Operational Group have accepted the proposal of the Police Commissioner Muja Koricic to start on time with the preparation of the Strategy for the Canton Area.
“We need to be determined in the request to make a comprehensive plan of action that will function, from the BiH Council of Ministers, who has jurisdiction is the area of migration,” said Suhret Fazlic, mayor of the city of Bihac.
According to information from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), some 3,000 migrants and refugees are currently in the Una-Sana Canton and are all removed from the streets, parks and are accommodated in the reception centers of Bira and Djakovo in Bihac, Sedra in Cazin and Miral in Velika Kladusa.
A total of 23,541 migrants entered the territory of BiH from Jan. 1, 2018 to Dec. 19, 2018, BiH Council of Ministers (CoM) stated at a regular session in December 2018.
Out of the total number, 22,177 migrants expressed their intention for asylum, but 1,358 actually applied for asylum, the information from BiH Foreigners Office showed.
Currently, there are between 4,000 and 5,000 migrants on the territory of BiH, mainly near the cities near the border with Croatia, from where migrants are attempting to enter the European Union (EU) countries.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called “Balkan route” in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe. BiH was then not part of that route. The increasing number of migrants was recorded from the end of 2017, and since January this year, over 23,500 migrants and refugees arrived through Serbia and Montenegro, compared to a mere 755 in 2017,
