The European Union (EU) allocated additional €500,000 in assistance for the most vulnerable categories of refugees and migrants stuck in Bosnia and Herzegovina on their way to wealthier western Europe countries, the European Commission said on Thursday.

“Refugees and migrants continue arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU is committed to providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, supporting the efforts of national and local authorities,” said EU’s Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides.

“Our humanitarian aid will provide food, water, emergency shelter, sanitation, health care and warm clothing,” he added.

The amount the Commission allocated on Thursday brings EU’s humanitarian assistance in the Western Balkans to €31 million since the start of the refugee crisis in 2015, including €2 million given to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018.

The funds will be distributed to migrant centres in the northwestern Bosnian towns of Bihac and Velika Kladusa, and in other locations near capital Sarajevo.

More than 22,000 migrants have arrived in Bosnia in 2018 travelling the so-called Balkans route which takes them from Albania and Montenegro through Bosnia westwards into Croatia and the EU. These include some 4,000 who are in need of humanitarian aid.

In May 2018, Bosnia’s government officially requested EU assistance in tackling the migrant issue. The Commission replied they would be closely monitoring the situation and do everything they can to help ease the increasingly bad conditions faced by migrants stuck in Bosnia.

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