Bosnia Courts Struggle to Address Rise in People Smuggling

Bosnian courts have done little to address the problem of people-smuggling, which is believed to be growing, as thousands of people attempt to cross from the non-EU Bosnia into EU-member Croatia.

In the first 11 months of 2018, only one person was convicted of smuggling migrants and refugees and received a three-year prison sentence, data from the state court of Bosnia and Herzegovina show.

One trial is also ongoing, concerning another eight persons charged with smuggling, data from the same source show.

The situation with thousands of migrants and refugees in Bosnia on their way to the EU remains highly complex.

Most of them are unable to leave non-EU Bosnia and get into EU-member Croatia, turning them into potential targets for smugglers.

This year, up to early November, 21,163 migrants and refugees were registered as having entered Bosnia, according to the Service for Foreign Affairs.

Of these, 19,986 expressed an intention to seek asylum in Bosnia while 1,314 of them had filed requests. So far none was approved.

The precise number of those still currently in Bosnia is hard to confirm, but is estimated to range between 4,000 and 6,000 - which means that most of those who declared an intention to claim asylum in Bosnia have already left and moved on.

Most are travelling on a new so-called "Balkan route" to Western Europe, which passes through Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and in some instances Serbia.

The largest number, 6,910, came from Pakistan. The next largest number, 3,373, came from Iran. This was followed by Syria (2,529), Afghanistan (2,491), Iraq (1,874) and Libya (760) data from the Bosnian Service for Foreign Affairs show.

Meanwhile, within Bosnia, local authorities continue to argue over where...