IOM Threatens to Cut Supplies to Bosnia Migrant Camp

The International Organization for Migration, IOM, has warned that it will cease to provide services at the Lipa camp for migrants and refugees by Wednesday if authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to fail to meet their commitments.

This camp located about 15 km from the northwestern town of Bihac near the EU border with Croatia houses about 1,500 migrants and refugees but is unsuitable for migrants in winter since it is comprised only of tents.

The IOM told BIRN would refrain from commenting further until a Bosnian government session scheduled for Wednesday is over.

The head of the IOM for Bosnia, Peter van de Auerwert, warned earlier that if authorities do not meet their obligations, "all services in the Lipa camp - maintenance, food, electricity, water, cleaning, regular distribution of winter clothes stops. All this is paid for by IOM, with funding from the European Union".

Camp Lipa was established in March, in an emergency response to the COVID pandemic, in order to remove all migrants and refugees from the streets. The authorities in Bosnia at the time promised to provide electricity, water and access.

None of this has been done. The camp is still reachable only by a dirt road, electricity comes from a generator and water is brought in on trucks.

On December 9, the European Union delegation in Bosnia called on the authorities to temporarily relocate migrants from Lipa to the Bira reception centre in Bihac, which the local authorities closed in September. The authorities in Bihac have ruled out reopening the Bira camp, located in the city itself.

At the same time, IOM has said that from a humanitarian perspective, a solution must be found in a few days, or the 1,500 people currently left in Lipa could...