SARAJEVO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The UN Country Team (UNCT) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has expressed its concern over the forcible transfer of migrants by local police into an inadequate reception camp in the northwest part of the country.
A statement from UNCT in BiH released Wednesday warned about the safety and healthy risks at the Vucjak reception camp located in the city of Bihac, highlighting its proximity to landmine infested areas and high risk of fire and explosions due to possible underground pockets of methane gas.
The statement came in response to the forcible transfer on Oct. 14 of some 1,000 migrants residing in public areas to the camp in line with the decision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Una-Sana Canton.
"Vucjak lacks electricity, running water and medical care, it has very few sanitation facilities," the statement read.
With the growing number of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and upcoming winter, the UNCT called upon the BiH authorities to close the camp immediately and to provide humane and safe alternatives.
UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants Felipe Gonzalez Morales has, during his visit to the Vucjak reception camp in October this year, noted that the location of the site "is absolutely inappropriate and inadequate for accommodating human beings."
The UNCT, which is comprised of 13 UN Funds, Programs and Special Agencies, highlighted that the new accommodation should be in line with national and international laws and obligations, humanitarian principles and with the full guarantee of rights of migrants.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants had passed through the so-called Balkan route on their way to western Europe before the route was closed down in 2016.
Information from BiH's Ministry of Security showed that 10,525 migrants entered the territory of BiH between January and June this year.
