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Migrants in the Balkan vicious circle

Ilustracija

With the number of migrants using Montenegro as their transit zone constantly increasing, the degree of crime is on the rise too. Smuggling of migrants – that kind of crime. So far Montenegrin police have prevented several attempts of smuggling of migrants, arrested organizers and their accomplices, but the problem hasn’t been solved. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still most severely affected. The situation is alarming.

Migrants are attacking citizens, stealing money from them… They are even attacking police. The situation is getting out of control, migrants can’t go to Croatia and the official Sarajevo isn’t reacting.

Political analyst and a journalist from Sarajevo, Mr Almir Terzić, talks about the problem.

He says that more than 9000 migrants have entered the country in the first five months of this year. The situation is getting worse. Migrants have discovered different channels and ways of entering Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Migrants have become a big problem in Bihać and Velika Kladuša. The country isn’t reacting. Official Sarajevo is acting as if Bihać wasn’t part of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, says Mr Terzić.

“Migrants are requesting money from the citizens because they want to go on towards Europe. They are even attacking citizens physically”, says Mr Terzić.

Almir Terzić

Serbia is aggravating the situation even more.

“Serbia is directing migrants towards Bosnia and Herzegovina in a way as there have been cases when migrants crossed Serbian border without problems and then looked for the asylum at the Bosnian border”, explains Mr Terzić.

He says that most migrants are from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Afghanistan.

Migrants from Pakistan don’t run away from war, they are economic migrants. However, state authorities haven’t talked with the Embassy of Pakistan in order to try to consider the possibilities of their readmission.

“Migrants have attacked the police and state authorities are doing nothing. This is getting out of control. Croatia is trying to protect from illegal entries to the country by erecting wire fence. There have been attempts of illegal entries, with people using forged documents. Somebody’s helping those people enter a country and continue their way towards Europe. I am afraid this summer in Bosnia is going to be a disaster when it comes to migrations”, warns Mr Terzić.

He is worried about what’s to come.

“Huge wave of migrants is expected next month. Citizens live in fear. And the authorities seem to be dismissive of the problem. This migrant thing has become a very lucrative business for some. Human trafficking. Various criminal groups are involved. State transportation companies sell tickets to migrants. Everybody’s trying to capitalize on this chaos”, says Mr Terzić.

Photo: N1

He says that migrants aren’t people who would be willing to obey the laws of a country, but they rather want to establish their own rules.

Mrs Dušica Merdović, legal adviser in Civic Alliance, also commented on the problem and said that, as far as Montenegro is concerned, they didn’t have any information indicating any kind of danger in Montenegro.

“Civic Alliance is providing legal assistance free of charge to all the seekers of international protection and persons who had been approved protection in Montenegro. So gar we have obtained  1740 representation authorizations”, said Mrs Merdović.

“It is very important to make a difference between a migrant and a criminal. Refugees are usually victims”, said Mrs Merdović.

 

Dušica Merdović

 

According to her, there hasn’t been a big inflow of migrants to Montenegro. She pointed out that Montenegrin institutions were well-organized in this area and there were no any serious problems in Montenegro. Even if something more serious occurred, Montenegro has a special action plan and it would definitely be able to respond to such problem.

“For the majority of migrants Montenegro is just a transit country. Less than 1.000 people applied for the asylum and less than 3.000 passed through the country. Montenegro is able to cope with those numbers”, says Mrs Merdović.

Political analyst from Zagreb, Mr Davor Đenero, says the migrant situation is alarming.

“The worst thing that could have happened is the fact that Serbia has used migrants for achieving its political objectives”, says Mr Đenero.

Davor Đenero

The pressure on Croatia is intolerable and the Government is exposed to two types of critics: it isn’t protecting Croatian borders strong enough, and the life on migration route has become dangerous. Secondly, Croatia is dealing with migrants too repressively instead of making their way towards the West easier.

“Croatian police are working under pressure but they are fulfilling Schengen criteria fully. It’s engaged in strengthening position of B&H and Montenegro”, adds Mr Đenero.

He says that it’s not good that Albania has given up on the enlargement policy since it was ready to organize hot-spots for migrants.

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