ZAGREB, November 16, 2019 – The minister of the interior of Una-Sana canton, Nermin Kljajić, has rejected accusations that the local authorities in this region of north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina are encouraging illegal migrants to go to Croatia, saying that the two countries are facing the same problem, the Klix.ba news website said on Saturday.
The Zagreb-based newspaper Večernji List said on Saturday that Croatian security services were considering a possibility of denying entry to those Bosnian officials who encourage illegal migrants to continue their journey towards Croatia as soon as possible, and that Kljajić was under special scrutiny because of his previous statements.
Kljajić said that no one in Una-Sana canton was working on planned transfers of migrants to Croatia and that migrants who had managed to cross the border into Croatia in an effort to get to western Europe were individual cases.
“In the last two years about 60,000 migrants have passed through the camps in Una-Sana canton, which means that about 54,000 of them have ended up in EU countries. Those people came to Bosnia and Herzegovina with the intention of reaching EU countries. Croatia is justifiably dissatisfied, as are we … because our state institutions are not managing the migration process properly and we are dealing with the consequences together,” Kljajić said.
He said that Croatia needn’t worry about the steps being taken by the cantonal authorities.
Earlier this week, a dedicated cantonal task force on illegal migration decided to restrict the movement of illegal migrants staying in Bihać and Veliša Kladusa as of November 15. Under the decision, migrants accommodated in the Bira and Miral reception centres will not be allowed to leave and return as they please and only those wishing to continue their journey towards Croatia will be allowed to leave.
There has been no confirmation that such measures are indeed being implemented.
Meanwhile, global human rights watchdog Amnesty International has warned that any restriction of migrants’ movement and putting them in some sort of detention would be a drastic violation of their human rights.
More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.
