Migrants in Bosnia camp health checked after days in cold

Many migrants
and refugees staying at a camp in northwestern Bosnia have complained of
respiratory and skin infections after spending days in makeshift tents and
containers amid freezing weather and snowstorms, aid workers warned.
Most of the
hundreds of migrants stuck at the Lipa facility near Bosnia’s border with
Croatia have been accommodated in heated military tents following days of
uncertainty after a fire gutted most of the camp on Dec. 23.
Bosnia has
faced sharp criticism for leaving around 1,000 people without shelter after the
blaze. The authorities first said they would move the migrants to another
location, but they ended up setting up military tents at the site instead.
The Amnesty
International rights group in a statement on Tuesday said a sustainable and
durable solution for the migrants in Bosnia is needed. It said political
bickering has marred efforts to deal with the crisis facing people fleeing war
and poverty in their nations.
“Accommodation is available to house most of the people
currently sleeping rough in bitterly cold temperatures in Bosnia and
Herzegovina,” said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European
Institutions Office. “What is lacking is the political will to make that happen.”
Geddie added
that the current crisis is also “a consequence of EU’s policy of fortifying its
borders that has left thousands of people stranded on its periphery or in the
neighboring countries.
Weather
forecasters in Bosnia on Tuesday issued a warning for an upcoming spell of even
colder weather in the coming days.
The Lipa site
also has lacked basic facilities such as electricity or running water and
migrants lit fires for days to protect themselves from the biting cold. Many
migrants at the camp said they haven’t showered in a long time, while some have
washed outside despite the cold.
On Monday,
doctors were screening migrants’ health at the Lipa camp and handing out
medicines. It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the migrants might have
COVID-19, said Verica Racevic from the Danish Refugee Council humanitarian
group.
“Some are
under the system of febrile status, which means they have a temperature,” she
said. “It’s not really easy to differentiate in those circumstances whether
this is COVID-19 or this is any other kind of respiratory infection.”
Impoverished
and ethnically divided Bosnia has struggled with the influx of thousands of
people who are trying to reach Western Europe through the Balkans. Aid groups
estimate that hundreds of people have been sleeping rough in abandoned houses
or improvised forest camps.
Migrants at
Lipa appeared to be pleased to finally have some shelter, warm food and medical
help. Holding an umbrella in the snow, Suleiman Shahid from Pakistan said the
new tents are warm and “suitable for living.”
From Bosnia, migrants first aim to reach neighboring European Union member state Croatia over illegal mountainous routes before moving on toward wealthier nations in the 27-nation bloc. They have complained of pushbacks and violence at the hands of Croatia’s police.