Migrant centres in the Una-Saka Canton (USK) in northwestern Bosnia currently house around 2,500 aslyum seekers travelling towards Western Europe, but due to the constant influx of new migrants into the area there might not be room for everyone when the wintertime sets in, possibly leaving many to seek shelter in the streets or in the woodlands.

Although the abandoned student dormitory in the city of Bihac is undergoing renovation to convert it into a migrant housing centre, the works are proceeding very slowly because the authorities are unable to move the migrants already there to a different location during the refurbishment.

The dorm and the area around it currently house some 700 migrants from the Middle East. The building has no doors, no windows, and the tents located around the building are now swimming in mud.

“It’s too cold inside these tents. There are heaters, but they don’t allow us to turn them on inside the tents – we have children there. When the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) people come, they turn on the heaters for 10 minutes, but as soon as they leave, the heaters are turned off,” one of the migrants told N1 television.

Taking a shower is out of the question, because the water is icy cold. Many are sick, and the physician in charge only comes for several hours a day. In the meantime, new migrants keep arriving, and there is no room for them in the tents.

“The new people are sleeping everywhere, on the grass, in the streets, and that’s a big problem,” another migrant said. “I don’t have a jacket, I have no pants, and no money.”

Others, who had more luck, received some blankets, jackets, and shoes from IOM donations.

Migrants at another migrant centre in this northwestern corner of Bosnia, at the Bira centre, told N1 that what they need the most is warm clothes, but also hygiene products, access to a doctor, and medicines.

Meanwhile, there’s a steady stream of humanitarian aid delivered to the centre. One of the suppliers is Turkey’s Red Cross, which recently donated 10 new tents.

“With the weather conditions getting worse, it’s normal for such problems to accumulate. We agreed with the Turkish Red Cross to bring us a large shipment of warm clothes and shoes which will be delivered to migrants currently in the city of Bihac and the entire canton,” aid worker from the Bihac Red Cross, Selam Midzic, told N1.

The bad conditions in migrant centres are also making them more desperate and agitated, and physical fights are becoming more common, as the increasingly cold weather is forcing migrants to stay at the centres more often. At the same time, their increasing numbers are urging local authorities to speed up renovation works.

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