Recent reports reveal the abusive treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including violent pushbacks, arbitrary arrests, and the detention of children. Conditions in the country’s detention facilities have also been the subject of harsh criticism for their abysmal conditions and for failing to meet minimal standards.
In a joint submission for the UN Universal Periodic Review, the Global Detention Project, Collective Aid, and Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) urged member states of the UN Human Rights Council to issue a series of recommendations during the 4th Cycle of the UPR aimed at improving the treatment of migrants and refugees in the country, including during border procedures and in detention centres.
Pushbacks and Detention of Children
Since 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina has increasingly become a key hub for transit migration from the Western Balkan Route towards Europe, mainly via Croatia. According to UNHCR, 2023 was a record year for the number of irregular arrivals in BiH, totalling more than 31,000. Most people enter from neighbouring countries Serbia and Montenegro.
Recent reports have pointed to frequent and violent pushbacks of large numbers of migrants from Croatia to BiH. According to Human Rights Watch, “Between January 2020 and December 2022, the Danish Refugee Council recorded nearly 30,000 pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina, almost certainly an underestimate. Approximately 13 percent of pushbacks recorded in 2022 were of children, alone or with families.”
GDP’s field-based partner organisation BVMN has recorded evidence of at least 250 indiscriminate pushbacks from BiH, including also families and children. Several observers have documented other grave violations of human rights, including abuses amounting to torture or inhuman treatment, cases of arbitrary detentions, lack of access to institutional safeguards, and violent pushbacks across international borders.
Despite calls in 2022 from UNHCR, which recommended that children should never be detained in the country for immigration-related reasons, in 2023 BiH authorities introduced amendments to the Law on Foreigners allowing the detention of children. There is a growing global consensus that immigration detention is inherently harmful to children and thus is in all cases a breach of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s best interests principle. However, reports show that children, including unaccompanied minors, are still detained in BiH’s main detention facility.
Inadequate Conditions in Detention Facilities and TRCs
Most irregular arrivals in BiH are housed in temporary reception centres (TRCs), where reportedly living conditions remain inadequate, including poorly maintained sanitary facilities, lack of heating, and limited privacy. Lipa Reception Centre–temporarily closed as of March 2024–was described by BVMN as being operated in “detention-like” and violent conditions, while also falling under international standards.
The country operates one dedicated detention facility, Lukavica Detention Centre, located in a suburban area of Sarajevo and with a capacity of 120 detainees. According to the statistics provided by the European Commission, there are concerns about overcrowding in the facility. Observers have criticised the conditions at Lukavica detention centre, where detainees lack access to information about detention and asylum proceedings, about how to obtain free legal advice, and where interpretation services are not provided. Detainees have also reported being denied using their phones and being locked up for several months.
Key Recommendations
The GDP, Collective Aid and Border Violence Monitoring Network urged UN Member States to support the following recommendations for Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review:
- End the immigration detention of children as well as all forms of arbitrary or de facto immigration detention in border zones or at temporary reception centres.
- Improve transparency and accountability in the treatment of all non-citizens in any form of custody.
- Improve conditions and operations in the Lukavica “Immigration Centre” and ensure that all detention sites meet international standards.
- Improve the locations of and conditions at TRCs.
- Prevent pushbacks along its borders of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers and ensure swift and independent investigation and follow up on accusations relating to pushbacks of migrants, in accordance with its international obligations.
- Ensure that the rights of refugees and migrants are respected when in custody and that the principle of non-refoulement is respected at all times.
