ZAGREB, May 13, 2019 - Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Prefect Zlatko Komadina on Monday warned that the police were having more and more difficulty in controlling the "green section" of the state border in Gorski Kotar and that the migrant pressure and illegal entries into Croatia had increased with the coming of spring, which way why he called for deploying additional forces to assist local police.

"We are faced with a serious problem and it is not new. Naturally, the problem needs to be resolved at the source, where migrations originate, however, that is a global story and we cannot influence it. What we can impact is the security of our borders, primarily the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina," Komadina told a press conference.

He added that he had asked the ministers of defence and the interior as well as Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to send additional forces to assist local police "because it is difficult to control the green areas of the county when migrants disperse."

He underscored that local residents are concerned for their security and that they do not wish to create any panic, however, "the fact is that with the arrival of spring migrant pressure has increased and I expect an adequate response from the relevant ministries."

Komadina also commented on a court decision made earlier in the day to open bankruptcy proceedings for the Uljanik dock, saying that this was the result of the government's inaction and bad decisions by Uljanik's management.

"Had the government wanted to prevent the bankruptcy, it wouldn't have happened. I regret that the court didn't wait for the response from the potential Chinese investor, but the fact is that the bankruptcy is primarily the result of the government not taking action and the poor decisions by Uljanik's management. It is important that this decision does not directly impact the 3. Maj dock," Komadina said.

"The period leading up to the bankruptcy hearing for 3. Maj gives hope of some recovery if the government wants it because opportunities do exist. 3. Maj's management has put forward a number of recommendations to the relevant minister and government and I personally believe that it does not have to go into liquidation," Komadina said in reference to the Rijeka-based shipyard, which, along with the Pula-based Uljanik dock, is part of the Uljanik shipbuilding group.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 13, 2019 - The authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have to urgently deal with the extent of the migrant crisis and undertake measures to control it because the situation in Una-Sana Canton, where the most migrants are located, has become unbearable, the canton's prime minister, Mustafa Ružnić, warned on Monday. The canton is located on the border with Croatia.

Participating at a meeting of the House of Representatives of the Federation entity, Ružnić said that there are about 5,000 illegal migrants currently located in that canton, yet there is accommodation for only about 3,200 in reception centres in Bihać, Velika Kladuša and Cazin.

Last year 19,200 migrants from 46 countries passed through the canton and twelve check points have been established due to the extraordinary circumstances that are constantly manned by police in order to control the influx of migrants, and the police is barely managing to do so.

In an attempt to reduce the pressure on the border with Croatia, the police in that part of Bosnia have returned 3,330 migrants since the start of 2019.

According to Bosnia's security agencies, more than 6,000 illegal migrants have entered the country so far this year, which is twice as much compared to the same period last year.

There are only two inspectors working with migrants in Una-Sana Canton and state and entity authorities have not taken any responsibility, and it turns out that the state simply does not have any strategy to manage the migrant crisis, Ružnić said.

He added that at this pace, Bosnia and the entire region will need to deal with the problem of illegal migrants in these numbers for the next ten years, and that it is necessary as soon as possible to undertake measures to control that problem.

The Una-Sana Canton's minister of health, Nermina Ćemalović, warned that the health system in the canton is under huge pressure and that the hygienic-epidemiological situation "is out of control."

During 2018, more than 30,000 migrants were treated which cost the canton's health budget more than 2 million euro.

She confirmed that about 90 HIV positive cases had been identified among migrants located in Bihać and that there were "silent epidemics" such as TBC which no one wants to admit publicly. "Health inspections in migrant reception centres have determined a horrific situation," she said.

She warned that the security situation in Bihać has become unbearable, with frequent break-ins, attacks and theft. "Bihać is occupied by migrants, 80% of them are illegal migrants," she said.

Bihać Mayor Suhret Fazlić complained that the Croatian police were returning migrants across the border in contradiction to extradition procedures. "I saw Croatian special police enter Bosnian territory armed with rifles. I saw that and I warned them about that," said Fazlić.

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ZAGREB, May 10, 2019 - "We will protect people who live in areas intersected by migrant routes," the state secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Žarko Katić, said in parliament on Friday while responding to MP Saša Đujić's question as to how police intended to guarantee security to citizens in the mountainous Gorski Kotar region and the area of Rijeka, in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, where cases of migrants breaking into family homes have become frequent.

Do people have to hire security guards, Social Democrat Đujić asked during a parliamentary debate on a private protection bill.

Katić confirmed that the migrant pressure was the greatest in Karlovac, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika-Senj counties, noting that additional police forces were being sent to those counties with state-of-the-art equipment.

"The problem does exist, we are aware of it and are dealing with it in the most appropriate way, we will protect people who live in areas intersected by migrant routes," Katić said, adding that police work in the areas in question was hampered by the fact that those areas were sparsely populated.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 10, 2019 - Interior Minister Davor Božinović met with his Bavarian counterpart Joachim Hermann in Munich on Thursday and Hermann commended the work of Croatian border police in protecting Croatia's and the European Union's external border, a press release said.

Božinović is on a two-day official visit to Bavaria where he met with Hermann and discussed ways to strengthen police cooperation as well as border protection, migration, Croatia's membership of the Schengen area and preparations for and main priorities of Croatia's presidency of the Council of the European Union in the field of police work.

"Minister Hermann commended the work of Croatia's police in protecting the Croatian and the external EU border. He underlined that he is aware of the pressure Croatia is faced with due to its geographic and geostrategic position with regard to illegal migration and concluded that Croatia and Bavaria cooperate excellently, including cooperation between their police forces," the press release from Croatia's interior ministry said.

Božinović said that he entirely shared Hermann's stance of the high level of cooperation between Croatia and Bavaria regarding police cooperation and thanked him for recognising the work of Croatia's police.

"Croatia's border police force is one of the most trained European border police forces and efficiently protects our borders and deals successfully with illegal migrations on a daily basis. It prevents illegal entries into Croatia, that is, the European Union," Božinović said.

He recalled that Croatia's border was the EU's longest external land border and that cooperation with Bavaria in that regard was very important for Croatia. "I am pleased that the contribution the Croatian police are making is recognised in the European Union and here in Bavaria," Božinović underscored.

He also underlined that security challenges today are on the most part of a transnational nature, meaning that they can be responded to only through cooperation between countries and "Bavaria and Croatia serve and will continue to serve as an example in that regard."

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, May 7, 2019 - The Ethics Commission on Tuesday issued a warning to the Živi Zid party and ordered it to remove without delay numerous 'hate' comments below two articles about migrants that incite hate and violence, and called on the party's members to publicly apologise for violating the election ethics code.

The commission determined that Živi Zid had violated the election ethics code because of the negative comments on the party's official Facebook profile below links to articles published by two web portals about migrants and that the party did not delete 'hate' comments or those inciting to violence.

The commission was referring to comments made following an article by the Teleskop.hr web portal about houses being broken into and crosses and property being destroyed by migrants. The RTL private TV station also ran a story about a married couple whose house was broken into by migrants while they were sleeping.

The Gong NGO that monitors election procedures submitted a complaint to the ethics commission about the contentious comments on the Živi Zid’s FB profile regarding the two stories.

The commission determined that by posting links to the two stories about migrants the Živi Zid knew that this would lead to negative comments which contained hate speech and, as such, acted irresponsibly and in contradiction of election ethical standards.

The commission added that it regrets that public space in Croatia is burdened with a low level of culture in communication and with rampant hate speech, particularly in Facebook comments on media reports. However, in the context of the election process, special responsibility lies on those participating in the election to promote a culture of dialogue and to prevent any form of hate speech and incitement to hate and violence, the Ethics Commission said.

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ZAGREB, May 4, 2019 - Leaders of the opposition Živi Zid party visited Karlovac on Friday as part of their campaign trail for the European Parliament elections, accusing the government of being unable to deal with the migrant crisis and calling for the deployment of troops along Croatia's borders.

"The Croatian authorities are unable to cope with the migrant crisis. With warmer weather coming soon, migrations will increase, and Croatia could become a hotspot and temporary shelter for illegal migrants," said the top candidate on the party's election slate, Tihomir Lukanić.

Lukanić proposed that army troops assist the police along the border and that the issue of increasing migrations be dealt with at their source, in Asia and Africa. He added that Živi Zid would enter the EP in cooperation with kindred parties and platforms, citing Italy's Five Star Movement.

"In the EP we are going to fight institutionally for halting the migrant tide in the countries from which migrants are coming," Lukanić said.

The party leader Ivan Vilibor Sinčić said that "Croatia is not controlling its territory as its borders are highly porous."

The Croatian army is "at the Russian border and in Afghanistan instead of at the Croatian border while the Austrian army is at the Austrian border, the Hungarian army is at the Hungarian border, the Slovenian army is at the Slovenian border and the Bosnia and Herzegovina army is at the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Sinčić.

"There are not enough personnel and equipment at our border, we should take this problem seriously rather than ignore it. We should deploy the army," he added.

Sinčić went on to say that the population on the African continent currently stands at 1.2 billion and that United Nations estimates indicate that it would rise to 2.5 billion until 2050.

It is evident that the only solution is to create conditions for a normal life there and not allow migrations, he said.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 25, 2019 - Croatian authorities have been providing well for migrants but the existing accommodation capacity is insufficient for unaccompanied migrant children, reads a report by the Council of Europe released on Wednesday.

"Croatian authorities have succeeded in providing fairly good material reception conditions, both for adults and children... The authorities expressed the understanding that the existing institutions were not adequate for unaccompanied migrant and refugee children," reads the report by Tomas Boček, Special Representative of the Secretary General on migration and refugees.

Due to this, Croatian authorities plan to open two new reception centres in 2019 to accommodate unaccompanied children.

While substantial efforts have been made by all actors to provide shelter and basic services to the migrant population, the authorities should improve the coordination of assistance to migrants and refugees and implement standards for adequate and safe reception centres for women and children, notably unaccompanied children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, says Boček, whose report deals with the status of migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and is based on data collected by the Council of Europe missions in the two countries from June 24 to 27 and November 26 to 30, 2018.

In 2018 Croatia made attempts to prevent illegal border crossings, with some nongovernmental organisations accusing Croatian police of excessive use of force. "It is important that all border management operations are carried out with a view to identifying people in need of international protection," reads the report.

Boček suggests that Croatia should introduce credible complaint mechanisms and investigations to address the allegations of ill-treatment at the border.

The Council of Europe also encourages Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop alternatives to existing migrant reception centres.

In 2018 Croatia registered more than 7,500 migrants, of whom 352 asylum-seekers stayed in the country, while Bosnia and Herzegovina registered 24,000 migrants, 20 times more than in the previous year. Currently, between 4,000 and 5,000 migrants are in Bosnia and Herzegovina and they wish to cross the border into Croatia, according to Boček's report.

The report also notes that the Council of Europe Development Bank and the EU have co-funded the construction of new reception centres in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

More news about the migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 24, 2019 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Wednesday that 6,500 Croatian police officers have been deployed along the border to prevent illegal migration, adding that the police know very well where and how to respond to safeguard Croatia against illegal migration.

"Our migration policy, including towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, is based on cooperation between states and police. It is ongoing on a daily basis and is producing key results, preventing illegal migration," Plenković said during Question Time in Parliament, responding to a question from Bruna Esih (Independents for Croatia) about a migrant centre which Bosnia and Herzegovina plans to open near the border with Croatia and what Croatia should do to reduce the migrant pressure on its border.

The PM said that an increasing number of migrants were arriving in Bosnia and Herzegovina using the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes, and that Croatia was adhering to the Schengen membership criteria and absorbing large amounts of EU funding to increase its ability to control illegal migration.

He recalled that Croatia had used 120 million euro in EU funds to strengthen the EU's external border, and that a Frontex aircraft, which is based at Zadar, monitored the entire region of Southeast Europe for illegal migration.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 24, 2019 - In the last five days, 111 illegal migrants have been detained in Slovenia after illegally entering the country from Croatia, Slovenian police said on Tuesday.

Thirty migrants have been returned to Croatia as part of the readmission process, 12 have applied for asylum in Slovenia, while procedures for the rest have not been completed yet.

Most of the migrants were caught in areas covered by the police departments of Novo Mesto, Celje and Koper.

Among 67 foreign nationals who crossed the border illegally at Novo Mesto, 25 were from Morocco, 11 from Algeria and 11 from Bangladesh.

A 37-year-old man, resident in Great Britain, was arrested at Novo Mesto on Monday for driving four illegal migrants from Egypt in a car with Slovenian licence plates. The driver will be prosecuted, while the four migrants have been returned to Croatia.

In and around the coastal city of Koper, 37 illegal migrants have been detained, 24 of whom have been sent back to Croatia, while the rest have applied for international protection. They are nationals of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kosovo, Bangladesh, India, Albania and Libya.

Police in Celje on Saturday detained three Kosovo nationals after discovering they had entered the border illegally from Croatia. They have been handed over to Croatian police.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.

ZAGREB, April 5, 2019 - Una-Sana Canton police in Bosnia and Herzegovina are stepping up measures aimed at preventing the arrival of new illegal migrants to that part of the country, thus preventing them from crossing the border into Croatia and continuing their journey to other EU countries, a police source in Bihać confirmed on Friday.

Police spokesman Ale Siljdedić said that in the early hours of Friday, the police stopped a train at the entity border that was travelling from Sarajevo and found about one hundred migrants on board and prevented them from continuing their journey toward Bihać.

"We are following instructions from the cantonal task force responsible for controlling and managing the migrant crisis because reception centres in Bihać, Cazin and Velika Kladuša can no longer take in any more migrants so we are preventing migrants and refugees from entering the canton," Siljdedić was cited as saying by the Fena news agency.

According to Siljdedić, this has been going on a daily basis because for weeks at least 50 to 100 migrants a day who enter Bosnia and Herzegovina from Serbia and Montenegro, attempt to get to Una-Sana canton.

Migrants found by the police are returned to those places from where they headed out toward Bihać.

The police in the Republika Srpska entity are implementing similar measures. They are regularly inspecting trains coming from Sarajevo and travelling to Bihać and are preventing passengers who are identified as illegal migrants from disembarking in Banja Luka.

According to the latest information submitted by police agencies to the country's government, slightly more than 3,800 migrants have illegally entered Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of the year.

More news about migrant crisis can be found in the Politics section.