(Original text: January 21, 2021)
What happened to hundreds of transit migrants
struggling to survive in the open air in the difficult Balkan winter conditions
for about a month is not only a new story of corruption and incompetence in
Bosnia's record, but a document of shame that tells the West's hypocrisy and dishonour
in "humanitarian aid".
When the
route of the refugee influx to Europe shifted to the Balkans, Bosnia was
excluded from this route for a while, and this situation was interpreted in
Sarajevo, where sarcasm is a part of daily life, that Bosnia is not the country
which is not desired to live in even by the refugees.
Human
traffickers, who exploit the refugees, soon discovered the mountainous
topographic structure of Bosnia and the fact that the control of Bosnia's
borders under these geographical conditions is not done very tightly.
Especially the refugees who entered Bosnia from Serbia and Montenegro thought
that they could pass to EU member Croatia easier and Bosnia was included in the
refugee route.
But things
are not that much easy.
Croatia, new
member of the EU, famous of promoting racism, is doing its best to prevent
refugees from Bosnia from entering Croatia. They beat the refugees which they
catch and steal belongings of them: Their wallets, cell phones and even their
shoes and release them back to absolutely not doing this in a formal and decent
way.
There are
currently around 9000 refugees in Bosnia, and only three percent have applied
for asylum in Bosnia. The remaining thousands are "transit" refugees.
The vast majority of refugees are those who have been returned to Bosnia by the
Croatian police with human rights violations.
Currently,
only 6000 of the 9000 refugees in Bosnia stay in "reception centres".
About 3000 refugees are outside the camps cannot meet their basic needs. A
tragedy has been going on since the end of December.
Since the
fire at the Lipa Camp in Bihac, in the canton of Una-Sava in western Bosnia, on
the Croatian border, 1,700 transit migrants in the camp have been struggling to
survive in the harsh Balkan Winter conditions. After the fire, the Bosnian Army
has set up 20 tents that can accommodate about 500 people, but the remaining
migrants have been struggling for weeks in the forest without basic needs.
The fire in
the Lipa Camp contains an enigma. It is suspected that the fire was caused by
immigrants or by local residents. But why? The answer to this question tells us
a new story about the hypocrisy and dishonour of the West regarding
"humanitarian aid".
The local
canton administration was responsible for the basic needs of the Lipa Camp,
which was established last April with the COVID-19 outbreak. IOM (International
Organization Migration), which constantly warned the local government to meet
these needs of the camp, which lacked basic infrastructure, electricity and
heating, announced that it had finally left the camp on December 23, 2020.
You did not
read wrong: IOM was not ashamed to show its pride against the local government
over the lives of 1,700 immigrants!
The local
government claims that resources to improve camp conditions are not covered by
the central government. The central government states that they lack resources
for this. IOM asks that a total of 88 million Euros has been transferred to
Bosnia since 2018: "We gave that much money, you couldn't take care of
1700 refugees!"
Looking at
it this way, IOM seems quite right. Bosnia and Herzegovina is already a corrupt
country. Bosnia, dominated by ethnocracy, is one of Europe's leading countries
in corruption and poverty. So it deserves these preaches.
But reality
is not like that: IOM is not an angel, not clean as a whistle preaching Bosnia.
If there
are those among the readers who have taken part in projects of international
institutions, they might know the corruption and incompetence within these
institutions, which appear to be very reliable and very serious from outside.
IOM in Bosnia is also part of this scene.
IOM, who
has been preaching Bosnia by saying; "We gave you 88 million Euros, you
are incapable of meeting the basic needs of those poor immigrants," misses
one thing: 77 million of this 88 million Euros have been transferred to Bosnia
via IOM. Unsurprisingly, this money was mostly spent on technical and
administrative improvements in Bosnia during the transition to the EU. We are
sure that some of these technical and administrative expenses are paid as daily
fees to the experts who reside in London and New York, stay in Bosnia for a day
or two and work a daily wage of at least 1000 Euros. Or it was spent on "very
high quality" technical equipment “produced according to solid standards.”
Of course, by paying a “high quality” price...
IOM, which took
77 million of the 88 million Euro payment, does not account for this, but asks
Bosnia to give account for it and brutally withdraws from the camp without
hesitating to leave 1700 people, children, elder and women exposed to harsh
winter conditions.
They cannot
increase their voice against Croatia who tortures and robs immigrants, or they
cannot increase their voice against EU countries that close their gates to the
refugees.
Besides all
they cannot oppose Republika Srpska of Bosnia whose government simply says;
"We do not want a single immigrant in my region", or to the cantonal
administrations under the Bosnian Croat rulers who exempt them from the migrant
crisis.
The power of
IOM, benefitting from millions of Euros, is only brave against Bosnia. Can we
say that Bosnian politicians, who are busy with exploiting Bosnia's resources
more, are uncomfortable with this? No. As the corruption wheels spin, they don't
even speak out!
