The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing 05 January 2021
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51:08
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MP4
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383.9 MB
Geneva announcements
Rhéal LeBlanc, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), speaking on behalf of the World Health Organization, said the Director-General of WHO would give a regular press conference today at 5.30 p.m. An invitation would be sent to journalists this morning.
First Ethiopian refugees relocated to a new refugee site in Sudan
Andrej Mahecic, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said UNHCR continued to register new refugee arrivals at the Sudanese-Ethiopian border. Some 800 people had crossed from Ethiopia’s Tigray region into eastern Sudan in just the first few days of the new year. Since early November, more than 56,000 Ethiopian refugees had fled to neighbouring Sudan. In support of the government-led response in Sudan, UNHCR and Sudan’s Commission for Refugees (COR) continued to relocate the refugees from the arrival locations at the border to the designated refugee camps, further inland in Sudan’s Gedaref State.
A full briefing note is available here.
Responding to a question about Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, Mr. Mahecic said there had been some progress with access. UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies had only been given access to some parts of Tigray, but assessments were underway. Mr. Mahecic added that the arrivals had now come down to several hundred per day. They were no longer at the levels seen in the early stages of the crisis.
Efforts to assist hundreds of migrants living without shelter this winter
Paul Dillon, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said that over the past two weeks IOM watched with growing concern the dire humanitarian situation facing migrants in Bosnia. On 23 December, local authorities had decided to close the Lipa Emergency Tent Camp, which was run with IOM’s support. The 1,400 men living in the camp joined an estimated 1,500 others including women and children sleeping rough in Una Sana Canton, on Bosnia’s border with European Union member Croatia as nighttime temperatures dropped well below zero. IOM and its partners were providing support as best they could but it was clear that a sustainable long-term solution must be found.
Peter Van der Auweraert, Bosnia Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said Bosnia-Herzegovina had hosted 70,000 migrants since early 2018. The political response has been somewhat haphazard, and each winter there had been thousands of people sleeping rough. There were currently about 6,000 migrants housed in accommodation centers. While there were two other centers that could host the remaining migrants, it had not been possible to do so given the lack of consensus between the central government and the concerned local governments. It should be stressed that there was sufficient international funding to house the 8,000 to 8,500 migrants and refugees currently in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Responding to questions, M. Van der Auweraert said the migrants sleeping rough received food, non-food items and some medical care services from the Red Cross, the Danish Refugee Council and IOM. Their physical health was deteriorating, however, and there were signs of the situation taking a toll on their mental health. Overall, there seemed to be a consensus among the population that migrants should be treated humanely. The current asylum request process was excruciatingly slow; and yet, it was critical that access to asylum be guaranteed.
Teleprompter
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Good morning, everyone.
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Happy New Year to absolutely everyone who.
Is listening to us this morning on the 5th of.
January 2021 For this very first briefing of the year.
I hope you all had very nice holidays and are coming back energised for the new year.
Just a very quick announcement.
On behalf of the.
World Health Organisation, as they will you you the Director General, Doctor Tetris will be giving a regular press conference.
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And who will be sending out an invitation to you?
This morning I'm.
Told so, expect that, but there you go.
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This afternoon, regular press conference by the Director General.
We have a short agenda today.
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And IOM with us, we'll start.
With Andrei Mahechik from the refugee agency, who is going to tell us about the relocation of the first Ethiopian refugees to a new refugee site in Sudan.
And Andre joins us online.
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And welcome and please.
Thank you very much, Ral.
Good morning to you.
Happy New Year to you colleagues at Eunuk and to the entire press call of the Palais.
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We have one item for you this morning.
We are continuing to register new refugee arrivals at the Sudanese Ethiopian border.
Some 800 people crossed from Ethiopia's Tigre region into eastern Sudan in just the first few days of the new year.
Since early November, more than 56,000 Ethiopian refugees have fled to neighbouring Sudan.
Latest, sorry, latest arrivals still have been caught in the conflict and being victims of various armed groups facing perilous situations including looting of their houses, forced forced recruitment of men and boys, sexual violence against women and girls.
Refugees are arriving with little more than clothes on their on their backs, fatigued and in weak conditions after sometimes days of travel.
More than 30% of them are estimated to be under 18 years of age and 5% are 60 years old.
In support of the government LED response in Sudan, UNHCR and the Sudanese Commission for Refugees continue to relocate the refugees from the arrival locations at the border to the designated refugee camps further inland in Sudan's Gadaref state.
With Umbra Cuba refugee camp approaching its full capacity, UNHCR and our partners are striving to swiftly relocate refugees from reception sites at the border to a second newly opened refugee camp to Naidba in order to keep refugees safe and offer them better living conditions.
The new site is located some 136 kilometres east of Gedaref town.
Since this Sunday, 581st group of 580 refugees were located to the Chundbai from Village 8 reception site, with relocations from Hyundai reception site set to start also this week.
Both reception sites are overcrowded and they're close location to the border is putting the safety and security of refugees increasingly at risk.
Upon arrival to Tunbaya, hot meals are being provided.
1000 tents have been pitched aimed at sheltering up to 5000 people and those have been set up so far.
More tents are being pitched as the relocation is said to progress in the coming days and weeks.
Together with our partners, we are scaling up the response to meet the needs of the increasing refugee population at all locations.
Currently, there are 20 humanitarian partners on the ground in Umrakuba, and other six are already activated in Tunbaya to assist and engage the refugee and host communities with shelter, health, food and nutrition services.
The the Government of Sudan has generously kept its borders open to refugees, but the additional support is needed to complement the authority's response.
In particular, it is critical to further improve water and sanitation conditions in the refugee camps and reception areas, as well as ramp up COVID-19 preventive ventures, including isolation facilities.
Additional funding is also required to sustain shelter projects and improve the living conditions of refugees in the camps, especially in anticipation of the next rainy season, which is expected to start in May.
At the end of last year, $40 million have been pledged to UNHCR for the regional response to the emergency in Ethiopia, Tigray Region, which covers currently 37% of the financial requirements for Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
You may recall this was our last briefing in 2020.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Andre, for this briefing.
Are there any questions I.
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Happy New Year to you, Lisa.
Everyone looks like it's.
Going to be a better.
Year, right?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
OK, Unfortunately not so bright for The Ethiopians.
And Andre, that was very.
Comprehensive about the.
Situation in Sudan, Thank you for that.
But I'm wondering if you have some information regarding the Eritrean refugees in in?
Ethiopia itself there there.
Have been so many.
Terrible reports about many of them being kidnapped.
And by Eritrean forces in return to Eritrea.
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That have the camps been emptied out?
Are there any protections for?
Them and of.
Course the situation of aid and the agreement which was made between the Ethiopian government and the.
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Implemented, I mean only very very partially, is that aid actually getting?
Through or is it still at a stalemate?
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OK, in in a few words, there has been some progress with Access.
We together with the other humanitarian agencies and other UN agencies, we have been able to reach some parts of the of the Tigre region.
We still are asking for a full and unfettered access to the entire region.
So far, we have been able to have some assessments now under way in the areas.
In the southern parts, we still have not been able to reach the sites in the north, the north of the Ethiopia's Tigray region.
As to the the reports that you mentioned, we obviously have seen similar reports, similar worrying reports.
The **** Commissioner spoke about them already during his visit to to Sudan.
We do not have right now the access to the border areas and we are unable to confirm this information.
We, we cannot obviously speculate about this, this is very serious.
But you know, any abductions or any false returns would be absolutely unacceptable.
But I must stress that at this point we are aware of these reports but unable to confirm them.
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Andre, we have a question from Emma Farich from Reuters.
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I'm wondering based on the stories you have from refugees.
And from what you've been?
Seeing on the ground, what is your?
Assessment of the current intensity of the conflict.
Well, the, IT is it, it would be impossible for me to get to gauge that from, from what the, the refugees are telling us.
We do have access to the border from, from the Sudanese side and we continue to, to monitor that.
But right now we we are unable to access the border from the Ethiopian side.
As I said, refugees tell our staff when they when they arrive to Sudan that many of them have travelled for days.
Many of them have faced armed troops along the way.
Many speak of violence.
Many speak among the among them, obviously the women and girls have been mentioned in sexual violence.
So this is what this is what we know as to the intensity of the conflict inside Ethiopia SD grey region.
There is nothing I can help you at this stage.
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Question from Robin Millard, Afd.
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Just on on the numbers that are coming across the board there.
Is that is that flow?
Remaining consistent and does it.
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Any signs of?
Slowing down or?
Changing in in reaction to the things that are happening inside Tigray.
Well, the the numbers are certainly lower than what we have originally registered at the beginning of the crisis where at times we, you know, we were looking at thousands arriving daily.
The the arrivals have now come down to several hundred a day at the arrivals continue and we continue to register refugees leaving Ethiopia's Tigray region, but not at the intensity we've had some weeks ago, certainly not the intensity of the opening stages of the crisis in early November.
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Thank you very much, Andre.
I think that's it for questions.
For you.
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One last one, Gabriela Sotomayor.
Gabriela, is this for?
For Andre, yes.
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Is this a question for Andre?
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Happy New Year to you, Gabriela.
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Andre, do you have any comment on the offer of the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to offer asylum to Mr Assange?
No, nothing to share with you at this stage.
I I will have to get back to you on this.
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Yes, thank you, Andre.
And then it's it's for you real.
Thank you for for telling us that WHO it's it's going to have their press conference today at 5, I think.
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But if my memory doesn't fail, I mean in the last.
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Conference of the Year, WHO didn't give the floor to anyone from Geneva so.
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Just I just wanted to let you know that I don't know why they are not here at the briefing with the situation that we have.
And we have a lot of questions about the COVID and the new strains and the vaccines and everything.
So I just wanted to to point that out, of course.
[Other language spoken]
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But I, I expect that, you know, you'll have all the answers to those questions at the press conference this afternoon with the Director General himself.
That's probably.
Why they this year this morning Catherine Fiencon Yes, good morning real and happy New Year to you and and and your team.
I would like the name of Akanu to just back up what Gabriela said that Akanu has been very surprised that a very important information regarding the vaccines by who has been released on the New Year's Eve at 9:00 PM without any heads up in advance.
And we don't understand, Akani doesn't understand why who is organising those webinars because these are not press conferences.
We've asked already through different ways to have press briefings with experts organised for a professional journalists.
We did write letters, we did call, we did contact and WHO people are not even answering.
[Other language spoken]
We need information and as mentioned different times, it is a resolution of the General Assembly of United Nations that is allowing us to have access to information, so they should implement that resolution.
Please, if you could convey or remark to WHO communication heads.
Yes, Catherine, we, we've, we've.
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Your your point on this many, many times and I think you know, you need to bring that up with WHO of course we we.
Discuss these on a regular.
Basis, but really you need to.
To discuss this directly with WHO they don't.
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They don't answer.
We we call them.
We send them letters, formal letters.
We copied all the people in charge from Mrs Gabrielle Ashterne to all the people and they don't even answer our letters.
OK, well look, we will appeal for you.
But really, I think WHO media staff are trying to.
Assist the.
Media as best as they.
Can under the circumstances and.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Will discuss this with.
Them again buddy, you have a question?
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Happy New year indeed.
Firstly, about this afternoon 530 who will monitoring just press conference because I wondered if.
Our journalist has no able to put question if WHO still hosting.
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Who will moderate this?
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Don't have that answer, but as I said.
You are going to be getting all this this information from WHO?
This morning I'm told so you should be receiving a message.
With all the details about this, I just want to.
To guarantee Geneva journalist has able to put questions.
Second, thank you for all the efforts from Eunice to give the batch access in Ballet Nasim.
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Also, thank you, Francois.
Francois Hecher.
The question is our report.
Has not motive active or.
Enter any.
Doors in the palatination, so OK.
Thank you very much.
Buddy, I know there have been some small.
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We're trying to manage the situation as best as possible.
As I've explained to you in a note, in November we will be.
Launching the accreditation process.
Shortly, I'm.
Hopeful crossing fingers this week.
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We've delayed the.
Process because we're moving.
Into a new version of indico.
And we wanted to use this new platform.
To to do everything properly.
So we have discussed with Security to that they will recognise your badges until the end of January, but before the end of January you will have your new badges.
In any case, I've.
Discussed all these matters and I hope any hiccups.
Are being resolved I think.
Everyone for your patience and of course we're trying to.
Work on this as best we can.
We haven't a guest waiting on the last question.
Could you send us to Sky?
Do of opening time in Ballina National.
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One, because we, we, we would like to know.
Which day off?
And any any changement.
Than 2020 the opening hours, opening hours and the opening the the the the days off the opening hours I think.
Are are the regular normal hours?
I think 8:00 to.
Five if I'm not mistaken, or 8:00 to.
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From IOM because he's waiting and I understand that his time is somewhat limited.
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You have your hand raised.
Is it a question that can wait until?
After we have our guests from IOM, yes, we I can wait until after they are hearing guests.
Thank you very much, Peter.
We're going to go now to Paul Dillon from the.
International Organisation for Migration he has with.
Him, the IOM Bosnia chief of mission.
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Who is here to?
Talk to you about efforts to assist hundreds of migrants that are living without shelter this winter.
Paul, maybe you wish to introduce?
The topic briefly before Mr.
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[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much, Real.
And good morning, everybody.
Over the past two weeks, we've watched with growing concern the dire humanitarian situation facing many migrants in Bosnia on December 20.
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Local authorities decided to close the Lipa emergency tent camp.
Which was run with IOM.
Support the 1400.
Men living in the camp.
Joined an estimated 1500 others, including women and children sleeping rough in Unasana Canton on Bosnia's border with Croatia.
As we've seen nighttime temperatures dropping well below 0.
Now IOM and its partners are providing support as best we can, but it's clear that a sustainable long term solution must be found.
IO, M's Chief of Mission in Bosnia Herzegovina, Peter Vander Vander.
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Morning with the latest from Sarajevo, Peter.
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Thank you very much Paul and happy New Year to all of the participants online into the press that is present.
Let me backtrack a few seconds as to give you the context on which this is happening.
Bosnia Togovina has received about 70,000 migrants since early 2018.
Most of those migrants were using Bosnia Togovina as a transit route to go from mostly Greece towards Croatia, Slovenia and to Italy.
And each winter the problem has been that Bosnia's Djokovina, the political response has been somewhat haphazard and we've had each winter a crisis whereby a number of people find themselves sleeping rough.
This year we have a particularly challenging situation where we have the 1400 people that used to stay in Lipa.
They were all single males that had to leave the side because the side had become unsafe because there was no electricity and no water.
We had a tent collapsing late November when the first snow came, so it had become unsafe for people to stay there, which is why IOM, the Danish Refugee Council in the Red Cross, decided that we had to pull back, which is quite an unprecedented decision, I think, for any humanitarian organisation to do.
But we could no longer guarantee the safety of the migrants that were there.
And I think it's worthwhile to highlight that migrants were informed throughout the whole time of the political efforts that IOM, the UN, the European Union and others were undertaking to find a solution for the relocation, that there was never that they fully understood that they could not stay in LIPA.
They were the ones who saw that the showers were not there, the toilets were not there, there was not sufficient heating.
So there was a clear understanding of the beneficiaries of LIPA that they needed to go somewhere else.
Umm, it's also worth to highlight that we have another approximately 1 thousand 1500 people that were already squatting and abandoned buildings and makeshift forests, makeshift forest camps, mostly in Unasana Canton, which is the Canton close to the Croatian border.
And maybe more importantly goes to Slovenia, which is the first sching in the country that migrants can reach from here, for whom also no solution was there.
The last couple of weeks we've been very intensely negotiating or supporting the authorities with trying to negotiate amongst each other with the IOM, the other UN agencies, with the support of the EU, other countries that are engaged in is to find a solution for the relocation of both of those groups of migrants.
The ones that are in LEAP and the ones that are sleeping outside is actually quite cynical in a certain way to highlight that we have about 6000 migrants that are currently in official accommodation centres.
There is actually space in two other centres for approximately the whole population that is currently sleeping outside.
But what has been impossible is to get a consensus between the central government, which are at least normally in charge of dealing with this issue, and the local authorities where these two centres are located to allow migrant migrants access to the.
There is international funding available, there is international assistance available.
What has been the difficulty is to get a political consensus as to where these migrants could be accommodated.
In the last couple of days the weather has sort of been not so cold, but we've had constant rain.
So we, I was in Liba yesterday and my team is up there together with the teams of the Red Cross and the Danish Refugee Council.
On a daily basis, we're providing people with food, with winterized jackets, with winterized sleeping bags, of course.
But when you've had, when you have rain for such a long, for a couple of days in the cold, it goes below 0 at night.
This type of humanitarian assistance, while it sort of alleviates human suffering, it doesn't really address the main issue, which is access to safe, inhumane accommodation.
Negotiations continue ongoing at the highest level to find a quick solution.
And maybe we will find, the authorities have pledged that they will find or that they will put in place a temporary solution for the 900 Migas that are currently still stuck in this former camp or the location where the Camp Lipa used to be established.
The army has placed tents here.
Tents cannot yet be used because they've just been put over the grass.
So there's still a lot of things that need to happen, but the authorities have said that in two or two, three days, migrants will be able to start using those things.
But there are two points.
We still need a solution for the people that are squatting in, in and around BH and Velika Klarusha, which are the main towns in Unasana Canton.
Plus, there is a clear risk that the conditions in the Lipa side will remain substandard.
And as a final point, there is sufficient funding available to accommodate all the 8000 to 8500 migrants and refugees that are currently on the territory of Bosnia Herzegovina.
It is important, as a really final point, to highlight that in principle, 8 thousand 8500 migrants and refugees in a country of €3.5 million people rather should not be such a big challenge, especially when there is international funding and international assistance available to help those people.
And I'm happy to take any questions you may have.
Thank you very much.
For this very interesting briefing.
Are there any questions?
In the room, I don't see any hands up, but we do.
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Coming from online.
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Schlein from Voice of America.
Yes, hello and thank you.
Very much for your briefing.
I have a few questions, and one is why it's so difficult to get a political.
Consensus to help these migrants and the migrants I.
Assume include refugees and asylum seekers as well.
[Other language spoken]
Where, where where do they actually come from?
And I have heard, I have read that there is a lot of.
Hostility on the part of local authorities and local communities on what?
Is that based and how can you actually mediate and and resolve that?
Issue and then.
2nd Secondly, given the weather, you say it's not as cold as.
It was before, but nonetheless.
The weather is terrible.
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Is there any medical?
Care for them and.
Just basic aid food and so forth.
[Other language spoken]
Sure, thank you very much.
Let me start with the last question that you asked.
So there's 2 answers to these in the sense that the 6000 migrants and refugees and asylum seekers that are in the centres, they have full Care now.
The people that are sleeping outside, whether it's on the Leap allocation or elsewhere, they are getting food on a daily basis, which is provided by the Red Cross with the support of IOM, my own organisation.
They are receiving non food items such as winterized sleeping bags, jackets, boots by the Danish Refugee Council and by IOM.
And the Danish Refugee Council does provide first aid and for the worst cases, medical cases, provides referrals to the local health system.
But it's obvious given the fact that people are spread out, it's very difficult to ensure access to medical care and of course, in terms of health conditions, because people have been sleeping outside for quite some time already.
We are starting to see people with respiratory problems.
We are starting to see people with skin issues and just generally A deteriorating physical health because of the conditions that they are living in.
And also, of course, we're seeing increasing stress in terms of mental health issues that are emerging as well.
Why is it so difficult in Bosnia to Govia?
It's what has happened in the migration crisis or the migration situation, if we put it in those terms.
Rather is it's a sort of a symptom of the, the, the difficulty that you have at the political level in Bosnia.
So, Governor, two things.
First, to get a consensus at the state level and secondly, even if there is a consensus at the state level between the different nationalistic parties, if I can put it in those terms that are part of the government, it's very difficult to implement decisions by the Council of Ministers on the ground without having the actual agreement of the local authorities.
That means that concretely, if you want to open a migrant centre or migrant and refugee accommodation centre, it's not just enough that the Council of Minister says, OK, this is where it should be.
It has to be negotiated all the way down with the federal government, cantonal government and the local mayor at the end of it.
And if you don't get that whole line negotiated, well then you have blockages.
As we have seen, we, the state minister tried to relocate it's 900 migrants a few days ago, a few days before, 2 days before New Year to a new side.
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Well, we organised the transportation at the request of the ministry.
It ended up that there were 50 people demonstrating.
Local mayor came out against it and the 900 migrants spent the night in the 20 buses that we had organised with of course humanitarian assistance, anti migrant sentiments.
Finally, I think there is some issues in terms of the media here in Bosnia Herzegovina highlighting mostly negative stories about migrants.
But I also think we need to be very careful not to overplay the anti migrant and refugee sentiment in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Clearly there's a minority of people that is very vocal on social media and that are given a lot of attention also in the media and by some politicians.
But my sense is that overall the the people here in Bosnia Herzegovina, maybe they don't didn't want their country to become a country where you have this mixed migration, asylum seekers, refugee flows coming through, but people do.
There is a consensus, I believe amongst the majority of people that while they're here, they should be treated humanely.
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We're going to go to Christian Urich from the German Press Agency, and then we'll come back to you, Lisa.
[Other language spoken]
Yes, Peter, thank you very much for this briefing.
There are a lot of open questions.
Are there any women?
And children amongst these people.
And can you just clarify the total numbers?
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Shelters and how many of concern are you putting?
The.
Blame on the authorities.
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Their problem to solve and we can't do we as UN can't do.
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Countries that have signalled.
They might be willing to take some of these people.
And finally, sorry, what would happen to those people who get to shelters?
What is the process for them to get a future?
[Other language spoken]
Sorry about that.
Sure, okay, I'll try to, I'll try to answer succinctly.
So the total number of people, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees currently on the territory of Bosier to Govina is an estimated 8000 to 8500 people estimated.
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Because of course the people that are sleeping outside, it's difficult to count exactly how many there are because they're scattered.
So out of those 6000 are in existing reception centres which are run by IOM with the support of other partners.
And that are, I have to emphasise that also entirely funded by the European Union.
In terms of the women and children, we have still some capacity for families with children, not just women and children, but families with children and unaccompanied minors.
So in terms of the people of concern are I would say 98% are single males above 18.
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Because amongst them there may be some unaccompanied minors between 16 and 18 who sometimes don't want to be separated from the group that, that they are with.
But so the, the problem that poses itself is, is really the problem of, of single male accommodation capacity in Bosnia to govern that in, in terms of blame, I, it's more a question of responsibility rather than blame.
Yes, the UN can do things outside what the government is doing.
We are providing, as I mentioned, life saving humanitarian assistance.
IOM is doing that, the Danish Refugee Council is doing that for people that are sleeping outside those centres.
The the the population of concern that I mentioned.
But of course the IOM or, or any other UN agency cannot declare or cannot establish A migrant accommodation centre or multiple migrant accommodation centres without the political decision of the responsible authorities that this place is going to be a migrant centre.
Bosnia Herzegovina is a sovereign country and we cannot, I cannot just go to a building.
And you know, I, we, I know of places where migrants could be housed.
But unless we get permission to do so, unless there is a decision of the Council of Ministers to say, OK, this is a location where migrants, refugees should be, it's, it's not really possible for us to, to set up this type of, of this type of centres.
You need the approval of the authorities to use the land, to use the building, these type of things.
And it's the approval process that that has been extremely problematic.
Specifically on LIPA, I would like to highlight that I think I do believe that there the authorities have a responsibility.
LIPA was established as a rapid COVID-19 response in April with the summer structure, with, I mean structure and tents that were intended for the spring, for the summer in the early autumn.
And we have been lobbying with and with.
There was always very clear to the authorities that if you want to turn this into a permanent location, it's possible there is international support available, but the only thing that you need to do is to connect it to the electricity grid and to the water system.
And that never happened despite police over months to actually take action on this.
And, and if that action would have been taken, we wouldn't be having this discussion or discussion or even this press briefing because LIPA would have been a location with containers with hard structures that we could have used for the winter.
So specifically on LIPA, I do believe that there is a, there is a, there is an issue there.
In terms of the final part on the, on the process, it's very important to emphasise that most of the, when it comes from the migrants and refugee perspective, I would say 99.9% of the people that arrive in Bosnia, Orszgovina are looking at this country as a transit country.
If we look at the figures, we have had about 70,000 migrants and refugees arriving since January 2018, today, 8500 in countries.
So you can clearly see what the nature of, of, of this movement is.
So most people to be honest, are in this country, they stay for a certain period of time either until they have funds to, from their families to, to continue and they get the energy to, to recover to, to.
So that's, that's their intention.
There's a very small minority of people, minority in the overall, I would say currently about four or 500 people that have applied for asylum in Bosnia Herzegovina.
The asylum process here is and the colleagues of UNHCR are, are very doing a lot of work on, on advocacy as well on supporting the authorities to improve the process.
The process is exclusively excruciatingly slow and a very few decisions get taken because of the bureaucratic nature, if I can put it in those terms of the process.
So that is clearly something it is critical that especially also because Bosier Oskova is an EU candidacy country that access to asylum is guaranteed.
And so the colleagues of your nature on on are trying to or, or working with the government to, to improve the situation.
I hope that answers the the questions that that you were asking.
Thank you very much.
We have three more journalists.
Waiting to ask questions so.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
This is This is a.
[Other language spoken]
OK, first could could you who are?
What are the main nationalities of the migrants and refugees that have come there?
And then you say Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Are is a country of transit?
Well, if they they want to go to Croatia, but.
[Other language spoken]
Croatia accept them, I mean.
I think they probably.
Receive a lot of rejection and.
Hostility once they cross the border as well.
Is that or does?
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Concern end at the border.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Happens to them if they.
Finally, do get across.
Main nationalities, About 30% of people are Pakistani nationals.
The second group is Bangladesh, third group of Ghani and then North Africa, specifically Algeria and Morocco and Iraq.
These are the, the, the key nationalities that that we are having here at the moment.
When it comes to I'm responsible for our women, Bosnia to Govina.
But when it comes to onward, people also do not stay in, in Croatia.
I mean, it is that what the migrants tell my staff is that where they intend to go depends on their nationality.
And that is unusually linked with connections that they already have.
Certain nationalities will say, well, we, we want to go to Italy because we want to, these people are looking for a better life and, and they are trying to see where they can go so that they can support their families back home.
And, and often when people are arriving in Bosnia to cover and then I'll stop the, the, the journey has become a journey of no return.
I mean, IOM offers people the possibility to voluntary return home and we had 4-5 hundred people this year.
Of course, with COVID, it was a bit complicated that decided to return home.
But when people are here, they've already been travelling for a long time and it has sort of become a journey of of a point of no return where the families have already invested maybe 789000 or €10,000 in that journey of that person who is here.
And the expectation of the family back home is that they will pay back that money but also make more money.
Because otherwise if the person goes back today, they, they are poorer of them when they live.
So, so people do not want to go to Croatia.
They tend to want to go further on.
And where they want to go depends on the nationality.
Very interesting, thank you.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Bruce from The New York Times.
[Other language spoken]
You've actually partially addressed my.
Question already, but just to follow up a little bit.
How long have other people in this camp?
[Other language spoken]
Bosnia, have they been there?
And I don't quite get a sense of, you know, are people being resettled on a regular basis?
Are people arriving?
Is there a steady?
[Other language spoken]
Or are we seeing a kind of a residual population that is stuck there over?
A long period of time, Yeah, sure.
No, it's a it's a population still in in transit.
And and sometimes when people say that most years ago when I has become a bottleneck, it's not really true in the sense that of course what we always see here seasonally is that in the spring, in the summer, you have a **** number of arrivals.
This year we had about 500, **** number in relative terms, but 500 people arriving in Bosnia Herzegovina.
But you also see a **** number of departures.
So very often actually these two keep each other in balance.
And we've over the past three years we've always had somewhere between on any given day.
If you look at how many migrants and refugees are present on the territory on any given day, that has always been around 678000 people.
When you take a snapshot on the Tuesday, there are 678000 people.
So there's always been this sort of connection between arrivals and departures.
Now what I have to qualify these in two ways.
First, during the winter period, which is now you actually see if I can use that maybe not so good and elegy, but it's from 1 to a better 1A, sort of a frozen situation.
What I mean by that is that people are no longer really arriving.
We have maybe 50-60 people a week arriving, but also people are no longer really departing because of the weather conditions in Bosnia to governor but also in the region around.
You have to understand that when you want to go from Bosnia to Croatia, especially if you use if as people do, irregular ways of trying to get there, you have to go through a very mountainous area with forests, which is sort of inaccessible during the winter time.
So people get sort of, they wait out the winter.
You see the same phenomenon in Serbia and they will start moving again in when the weather gets better.
But that goes both for the arrivals and the departures.
Then the the second exception is that we have a small group of people and often specifically families with children that have been in Bosnia for sometimes two years, two years in half, very often linked to the fact that they no longer the four or 500 people.
It has to do with the fact that they've applied for asylum as if I, as I, as I mentioned the others, sometimes it is because they no longer have the resources or there are some medical issues that they are facing and they're sort of waiting for those to be resolved to continue their journey.
But it remains a popular population on the move.
It's just that the, the movement sort of slows down during the, the winter period.
And I said, I mean, if you look at the figures, 70,000 people arrived since January 2018, today, 8500 let's say in country, you see very well how much of A transit country Bosnia to Bosnia to governor really is.
[Other language spoken]
I think we'll have.
One last question from Christiano Levis, again from the German Press Agency.
Very short and.
Quick one, has any of the Schengen?
Countries you said they financing your work in Bosnia has.
Any of the Schengen.
Countries offered to take some of these people.
[Other language spoken]
No, that has not yet happened.
[Other language spoken]
And we have one last question, Emma.
[Other language spoken]
Her hand up and down, but it's back up.
[Other language spoken]
With your question, yeah, sorry, final question, Peter, are you actually?
Meeting with some of these people.
I'm wondering what they're.
[Other language spoken]
What is their morale and what is their reaction to these multiple?
Failings in the system.
Yeah, of course we we are meeting, I was just up there in the in Lipa and my staff is written but and I also go regularly to these makeshift camps and abandoned buildings because the the the focus is on Lipa.
But actually the people that have been in the worst conditions for the longer period of time or actually those people squatting, they're not so feasible currently because of the media attention on Lipa.
But you know the there are two things there in the and people are the people in LIPA are getting angry and they're angry because they know that it is an issue of political decision making, why they're in the situation that they're in.
They're frustrated.
They saw that they were being put in these buses, promised that they were going to go to a new location.
Then suddenly that doesn't happen.
They are asked to go back of these buses to go back to Lipa.
So in addition to the fact that people are, are, are sort of desperate and saying, OK, we, we understand that, you know, maybe we, we don't have the right documents to be here, but aren't we human beings?
And shouldn't we be treated in a humane manner And, and we understand that there are solutions available.
I think that that is, is sometimes the, the hardest thing to explain to people.
If it would be that we wouldn't have resources to assist people, I would be able to explain that.
But to be very honest, to go to a person in a that has been staying in the forest camp for three months and you see how what condition they are to having to explain that it comes down to politics.
Why I cannot do more than we are doing is a is a hard thing, is a hard thing to do.
And you and you see people that that are physically degrading.
I, I go back to these centres from time to time that not the centres, I mean the, the, these makeshift camps.
And I see people that were smiling and joyful the first time that I saw them, young guys that when I have AI shouldn't say that maybe when I have a smoke with them two or three weeks later, they, they look different.
You know, you can see in their eyes that, that this whole in addition to the physical toll, it's also starting to take a mental toll.
And, and you know, they have to lie to their families about what conditions they're in.
I had a kid from Bangladesh telling me I cannot tell my parents when I, when I called them that I'm sleeping in the forest scan because they will be worried sick.
So he has to pretend to his families back in Bangladesh that he's actually, because he was one of the people that used to stay with us in in this beta centre that the local authorities close and that we cannot no longer use, despite the fact that it has 1500 beds ready to go.
The guy said I have to lie to my parents.
I mean, what sort of situation are these people in that you have to lie to your family that you're actually still staying in beta, which is the centre of his cold, while you're actually freezing or sitting in the cold, in the damp in these camps.
And I hope that that gives you an answer to your question.
Thank you very much, Mr van der Oberate.
For this.
Very comprehensive briefing and your.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
To have you with us.
This morning, a very.
[Other language spoken]
And so, Mr Peter?
Van der Oberate, IOM, Bosnia, Chief of Mission on.
How the organisation is helping hundreds of migrants in Bosnia.
Thank you very much.
For being with us this.
Morning and all the best.
With your work.
[Other language spoken]
Very much.
[Other language spoken]
OK, Peter, please go ahead with your question.
[Other language spoken]
Thanks, Ariel.
I, I shall be succinct.
I just wanted to say it that on behalf of Appes, I wanted to support Catherine.
[Other language spoken]
Appes and Akane to try to get more access to WHO?
And I know you say this is a constantly recurring problem and the fact that it is a constantly recurring problem.
[Other language spoken]
Dealt with, we need to have WHO people at UN press conferences and of course we also need to to have proper press.
Conferences with WHO?
Which you can't do, but you can help.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
People at UNIS press conferences Thank you.
[Other language spoken]
Peter noted.
We'll, we'll have many opportunities to discuss this this issue with our.
WHO colleagues and yourselves as well, so we'll see whether we can bring.
Some improvement to the situation in 2021.
[Other language spoken]
Bonjour, Freddy.
[Other language spoken]
You know, well, I just this.
On on on on on that dependence the the the the different.
[Other language spoken]
Judiciary so that procedure on cool may.
Well, I want this situation.
Nick coming, Bruce.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Sorry this task I miss you of access.
[Other language spoken]
To come back on briefly.
On that, the message doesn't seem to have gotten through terribly well to security because we're still stopped coming in and out.
Every day.
To be told that this, you know, we're not allowed in.
And secondly, can we be clear are are we going to be getting a system where our cards will?
Operate these doors because.
At the moment I can't get in or.
Out of the building unless somebody else is is there.
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
Have been in touch with our colleagues and security.
[Other language spoken]
As this briefing is over.
Luckily, we're in a situation where there's not much happening at the parade, but I understand that some of you.
Do need to come here?
[Other language spoken]
[Other language spoken]
And and security had agreed to recognise your badges in in early 2020.
One so I will look into this situation in great detail this morning since I am I.
Am at the Palais and I apologise for any hiccups but don't hesitate to call.
Me on my cell.
Which you all should all.
Have when you have any.
Problems and I'll try to resolve the.
Situation as best as I can at the time, but I will reinforce with our colleagues on what more we can do to make sure that.
You don't have such problems.
[Other language spoken]
Thank you very much for.
[Other language spoken]
So this is it for the briefing, the first briefing of the year.
Thank you very much for.
[Other language spoken]
And I wish you a good afternoon.
We'll see you on Friday.
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