Migrant Crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Our Experience from 2018

Abstract

The migration processes that Bosnia and Herzegovina encountered in the beginning, that is, in 2018 (similar announcements about the massive influx of migrants in 2019), have placed important demands on a number of institutions at all levels of government, including the Ombudsmen Institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On the other hand, at its 140th session, held on 26 April 2018, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina considered the Information on Migration Issues and in this regard invited the Ombudsman Institution to urgently prepare and submit to the Council of Ministers a Special Report on the State of Migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Special Report), proposing measures to be taken by the competent authorities and recommendations to the competent authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Ombudsmen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, aware of the importance of the issue of migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at their 13th session held on 23 August 2018, adopted the Decision on the Special Report on the State of Migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for the purpose of drawing up the Report, they formed the special working group. It is precisely the experiences of Bosnia and Herzegovina with regard to the migrant crisis, and in particular our observations presented in the aforementioned Special Report, that will be discussed in this paper.