Hundreds of migrants were trapped on Saturday in a squalid and burnt tent camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina as snow fell in the country and winter temperatures dropped suddenly.
Migrants in the Lipa camp in northwestern Bosnia have wrapped themselves in blankets and sleeping bags to protect themselves against the biting winds of the region, which borders Croatia, a member of the European Union.
A fire earlier this week destroyed much of the camp near the city of Bihac, which has already been heavily criticized by international officials and aid groups as being inadequate to house refugees and migrants.
Despite the fire, the Bosnian authorities were unable to find new accommodation for migrants in Lipa, leaving around 1,000 people trapped in the cold, without facilities or heating, eating only scarce parcels of food provided by aid groups.
“The snow has fallen, temperatures are below zero, without heating, nothing,” tweeted the head of the International Organization for Migration in Bosnia mission, Peter Van der Auweraert. “This is not how someone should live. We need political courage and action now. “
Bosnia has become a bottleneck for thousands of migrants hoping to reach Western Europe. Most are trapped in the Krajina region of northwestern Bosnia, while other areas of the ethnically divided nation refuse to accept them. The EU warned Bosnia that thousands of migrants are facing an icy homeless winter and asked the country’s politicians to put aside their differences and act.
On Saturday, migrants flocked to the camp to receive water and food provided by the Bosnian Red Cross while the police tried to maintain order. Some migrants used face shields to protect them from the coronavirus.
“We are living like animals. Even animals are living better than us! ”Said a man from Pakistan who identified himself only by his first name, Kasim. “If they don’t help us, we will die, so please help us.”
Plans to temporarily relocate migrants to a closed facility in downtown Bihac have sparked protests from residents.
Without a solution, the migrants put cardboard on the floor and set up improvised privacy barriers inside the only standing tent at Lipa camp. Some people held their wet feet above the small fires that migrants lit outside to keep warm, while others wrapped themselves in blankets to keep warm.
To reach Croatia, migrants often use illegal routes in a mountainous area along the border. Many complained of violence and resistance on the part of the Croatian police.