site.btaUnregulated Migrants Arrive in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Larger Numbers, Stay Shorter than Before

Unregulated migrant arrivals in Bosnia and Herzegovina have increased this year, but migrants seem to stay for ever shorter periods of time, according to information from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) quoted by local media and reported by the HINA news agency.

The IOM and the local authorities are taking care of unregulated migrants in four reception centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are 1,400 people in these centres, and they will probably move on to Western countries. They stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina for about a month, and their further passage to Western Europe is organized by traffickers in people.

The IOM finds this disturbing as traffickers take advantage of the vulnerability of unregulated migrants. The organization sounded the alarm on migrants' exploitation, mistreatment and other forms of abuse

Three migrants in four interviewed by the IOM have admitted to more than one unsuccessful attempt at crossing the border from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Croatia. Migrants use social media and platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Viber to organize their journey to Western Europe. Most of them come from Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Nepal and Pakistan, and plan to get to Germany, France or Italy.

The IOM suggested that Bosnia and Herzegovina could consider providing employment to some of the migrants as the country is experiencing a staff shortage.