On 15 May 2018, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, published a letter addressed to the Ministers for Human Rights and Refugees and for Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she urges the authorities to spare no effort in order to improve their handling of migrants’ arrivals.

Concerned by the lack of a systematic response to the situation of refugees and migrants who sleep on the streets and in the parks with irregular access to food and health assistance, the Commissioner urges the authorities to provide adequate accommodation by using all available refugee reception centres and to make sure that all asylum-seekers and migrants receive adequate food, health care and administrative assistance.

The Commissioner recognizes that the situation with migration might present social and economic challenges for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but at the same time she underscores the country’s obligation to ensure assistance and access to fair and effective asylum procedures and a need to address it in a human rights compliant way.