Bosnia and Herzegovina

This Annual Report highlights the impact of the Joint UNDP-DPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention. In 2017, the Joint Programme provided support to more than 60 countries, including through the deployment of Peace and Development Advisors. Peace and Development Advisors are at the forefront of the Programme’s efforts, they support the UN system to effectively adapt and respond to complex political situations and identify areas for preventive action.

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 27,482 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea through the first 20 weeks of 2018, with about 38 per cent arriving in both Italy and Greece, with the remainder (23%) arriving in Spain.

This compares with 58,921 arrivals across the region through the same period last year and about 190,977 at this time in 2016.

In other words: Mediterranean arrivals at this point in 2018 are running at under half last year’s level on this date, and less than 15 per cent of 2016’s volume at this point in the year.

By Dado Ruvic

KONJIC, Bosnia, May 18 (Reuters) - A convoy of buses transporting 270 migrants from Bosnia's capital to a refugee centre in the south of the country was stopped and turned back by police in a Bosnian Croat-dominated canton on Friday, officials said.

Read more on the Thomson Reuters Foundation

Several buses carrying 270 refugees and migrants from Sarajevo to an asylum center in southern Bosnia-Herzegovina were stopped and turned back by police in a Bosnian Croat-dominated canton on May 18, officials say.

More than 4,000 migrants have entered Bosnia this year after traffickers opened a route through Greece to Western Europe via Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Croatia.

More than 20 years after the war, gender-based violence is still rife in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Studies show that one in four women in Bosnia and Herzegovina experiences violence. In most cases (71.5%), the perpetrators are partners or ex-partners.

KEY FIGURES FOR 2018

2.762 (1 Jan – 30 April) detected arrivals

53(2 girls, 51 boys) unaccompanied minors identified

UN agencies assisted 1.392 people with transport, food, NFIs and psychosocial counselling

384(46 f, 338 m) Asylum applications

1.151 (109 f, 1.042 m) people assisted at the UNHCR Information Center

UN agencies provided 1.104 people with legal counselling

PRIORITIES

▪ Continue advocating with BiH authorities to urgently open accommodation facilities.

By Daria Sito-Sucic and Dado Ruvic

SARAJEVO/BIHAC, May 15 (Reuters) - Bosnia is struggling to cope with the arrival of thousands of migrants and refugees, many of whom are sleeping in parks in the capital and other towns as they seek passage into western Europe.

The country's asylum centre has 200 beds and 80 to 150 people have arrived each day this month, Security Minister Dragan Mektic said on Monday.

Read the full report on Reuters - Thomson Reuters Foundation.

UNHCR SERBIA UPDATE

• 3,199 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia on 13 May. 2,795 (i.e. 87%) were accommodated in 18 governmental centres. Around 400 were still observed outside of centres: around 200 in Belgrade City and some 200 camping close to borders with Croatia or Hungary.

On Thursday 17 May, EU Heads of State are meeting their counterparts from the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo) to discuss cooperation in several areas, including migration and security. Following increased arrivals of refugees and migrants to both the Western Balkans and the EU, the issue of border control has gained prominence, resulting in more investments and cooperation agreements between the EU and Western Balkan countries.

Postwar Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a prime example of how trans-generational trauma affects future generations. Youth absorb the wartime trauma of previous generations, not only through historical narratives – or the lack thereof – but also through the resulting fallout. BiH youth are particularly vulnerable to ethno-nationalistic divisions, as they grow up mostly in homogenous communities without personally encountering or getting to know individuals from ethnic or religious groups other than their own.

SC/13326　　

SECURITY COUNCIL 8428TH MEETING (AM)　　

Federation’s Delegate Pledges to Keep Working to Improve in All Areas, Including Reforms, Rule of Law, Good Governance

With Bosnia and Herzegovina’s general elections scheduled for 7 October, and in light of a worrying uptick in divisive nationalist rhetoric, the international community must remain united and coordinate its efforts to ensure a united, stable and prosperous country, the top international official in the federation told the Security Council this morning.

HIGHLIGHTS

DTM flow monitoring data compiled from national authorities and IOM offices show that the number of arrivals through Mediterranean routes between January and March 2018 is half the number of arrivals in the same period in 2017. In the first quarter of 2018 a total of 1,956 migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Europe using different land and sea routes, in comparison to 34,531 registered in the first quarter of 2017. As previously reported, the decrease is mainly due to the drop in arrivals in Italy.

DEVELOPMENTS

COUNTRIES OF FIRST ARRIVAL

Global Overview APRIL 2018

• 3,498 new refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants were counted in Serbia on 29 April. 3,194 (i.e. 91%) were accommodated in 18 governmental centres. After 23 April, when authorities transfered 110 men and boys that had been sleeping rough in the North-West to Presevo Reception Centre, around 300 were still observed outside of centres: around 200 in Belgrade City and some 100 camping close to borders with Croatia or Hungary.

Overview

Poland will hold the presidency of the Council in May. An open debate on the Council’s role in upholding international law is planned, to be chaired by the country’s President Andrzej Duda, with Secretary-General António Guterres expected to brief. A ministerial-level open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict is also expected, with Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz presiding and briefers including Guterres and Director-General of the ICRC Yves Daccord.

New case study on Bosnia and Herzegovina notes lessons learned for ammunition management in post-conflict settings

Hundreds of men, women and children are sleeping in parks in the capital Sarajevo and in two towns in the western Bosnia bordering Croatia

SARAJEVO, April 26 (Reuters) - Bosnia's central government said on Thursday it would step up border controls to prevent a further influx of migrants and try to accommodate those already in Bosnia in the face of criticism that it is failing to adequately protect their rights.

Read more on the Thomson Reuters Foundation

• In March, UNHCR and partners under its project had provided over 12,800 community-based protection services, including over 10,000 interpretation and legal counselling/info services, over 450 referrals to medical, social welfare, legal registration and other forms of assistance, provided psychosocial and psychological support in over 220 instances, non-formal educational activities and other protection interventions at over 23 sites throughout Serbia.

Executive summary

Flooding is a natural disaster that can damage large areas in the vicinity of rivers, and in the case of flash floods, also in the vicinity of smaller streams. The Global Risks Report 2017 (1) lists extreme weather events, of which flooding is the main risk in most countries, as the risk with the second highest potential impact and the highest likelihood of occurrence. It furthermore seems likely that climate change will aggravate flood impacts in many regions.