UNITED NATIONS: UN agencies and their humanitarian partners urged authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday to act urgently to help hundreds of migrants, stranded and without shelter, amid freezing winter temperatures.

Of an estimated 10,000 illegal migrants in the tiny Balkan state, around 3,000 are from Pakistan. Pakistanis are the second largest group of illegal immigrants in Bosnia after Afghans. In October, two Pakistanis were killed in a clash with Afghan refugees.

“With the recent heavy snowfalls and temperatures below freezing, up to 500 people currently stranded at the location of the former Lipa camp are at immediate safety, health and protection risk,” the UN International Organisation for Migration and UNHCR said in a joint statement released in New York on Monday.

“With no heating at the site, frostbite, hypothermia and other severe health problems are already being reported by those stranded at the location. Despite the efforts of humanitarian actors to provide emergency assistance, their lives are at immediate risk,” the statement added.

Humanitarian NGOs like Danish Refugee Council, Medecins Du Monde and Save the Children also endorsed the statement.

The UN statement reminded the Bosnian authorities that as long as the migrants lived on their soil, it was their responsibility to provide minimum protection to them.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2020