From ... in Political Immigration — May 26, 2025

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Rights of Detained Migrants at Risk

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s treatment of detained migrants should raise concerns for governments considering sending additional migrants to the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Processing delays, limited access to lawyers, and concerns

The UK government proposed Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with Serbia and Albania, as potential Balkans locations for a return hub. Asylum seekers from other countries whose claims had been rejected would be sent there while arrangements would be made to return them to their countries of origin or other third countries. “Prolonged detention of migrants without adequate safeguards puts people at risk of rights violations,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Adding rejected asylum seekers from the UK, or potentially the EU, to Bosnia’s already troubling detention system would only exacerbate existing issues and worsen abuses.” The European Commission has also proposed establishing return hubs in as yet unspecified locations outside the European Union to facilitate returns of people ordered to leave the EU.

The Commission also proposed making it easier for EU countries to send asylum seekers to countries outside the EU designated as “safe” for the processing of their asylum claims. Outsourcing responsibility for migrants and asylum seekers is inherently problematic, Human Rights Watch said. In April 2025, Human Rights Watch spent two weeks in Bosnia researching the situation for migrants and asylum seekers. During a visit to a detention center for migrants in Lukavica, near Sarajevo, Human Rights Watch found delays in processing returns of rejected asylum seekers, including those readmitted from the EU, as well as those held on national security and criminal grounds, leading in some cases to prolonged detention, up to a maximum of 18 months. Human Rights Watch was able to visit the center, but staff controlled the visit, and researchers were unable to speak privately to detainees. Detention center staff told Human Rights Watch that detainees’ conditions are good, with regular exercise, and access to fresh air. However, the legal aid organization Vasa Prava BiH – the only nongovernmental group with access – told Human Rights Watch they received reports from detainees that paint a different picture, especially about regular time outside. While people in the detention center should have access to legal advice, in practice access is restricted by detention centre staff, Vasa Prava BiH said. No counselling service is available for people in detention with mental health needs.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bosnia told Human Rights Watch it had raised concerns around transparency and accountability in detention with the country’s Ombudsman’s office and urged the office to produce an official report on detention conditions.

The office has yet to do so. Officials from the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs, which operates immigration detention facilities in Bosnia, told Human Rights Watch that migrants and asylum seekers are generally detained on national security grounds, some on criminal charges, or when there is a good chance for forced repatriation or readmission to the previous country of entry, primarily Serbia. Vasa Prava BiH has a mandate to provide free legal advice to people in detention, though a detained person has to request its services. After persistent efforts, a sign with Vasa Prava BiH’s contact details has been displayed in the common areas of the detention center, but many detainees still do not understand that they are entitled to free legal aid, Vasa Prava BiH staff said. Vasa Prava BiH staff said that the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs sometimes does not inform them even if the detained person asks to see a lawyer. Vasa Prava BiH also said that the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs does not disclose details of charges to detainees or their lawyers, especially when the case involves an alleged threat to national security. A lawyer from Vasa Prava BiH said: “The system is closed and doesn’t give that sort of information about charges and private details to us or to the client. Even if we find out details, we can’t use them. Basic information about why [a person is] ... a threat to national security needs to be disclosed [to them].” Vasa Prava BiH should be able to access immigration detainees immediately upon detention to make them aware of their rights, including for people detained at the airport where no access is currently allowed, Human Rights Watch said. In addition to problems in immigration detention, Bosnia’s asylum system does not provide adequate access to protection. In 2023, the most recent year for which complete information is available, Bosnia granted refugee status to only 4 people, and subsidiary protection to 63.

There were 147 asylum applications the same year. UNHCR said that even though the country’s asylum law provides for processing within six months, it often takes six months merely for a first interview and up to 344 days for a decision. While awaiting the decision, asylum seekers are essentially without rights, and can only legally seek employment nine months after registering. Bosnia is mainly a transit country for people seeking safety in the EU, and over 4,000 third country nationals were returned to Bosnia in 2023 from EU member states under readmission agreements, which facilitate the return of individuals to the country through which they have transited. During 2023, Bosnian authorities transferred 298 people under readmission agreements, most to Serbia.

The International Organisation for Migration assisted the voluntary return of 96 people to their country of origin, and the authorities assisted in the voluntary return of 381 people, all but 20 of them Turkish nationals. In 2023, Bosnian authorities issued 683 decisions for detention and 79 decisions for deportation. Because of the vague wording in the migration annual report for 2023 by the Ministry of Security, it is unclear how many of those detention and deportation decisions were actually carried out. Lack of access to protection and the risks of prolonged detention with inadequate safeguards lead many third country nationals who have been returned to Bosnia through readmission agreements with the EU to make a second attempt to enter the EU, mostly through Croatia. Instead of treating the Balkans as a warehouse for migrants, the EU and the UK could play an important role in supporting the development of functioning asylum systems and better frameworks for the protection of the rights of migrants, Human Rights Watch said. “Bosnia is already being used as a dumping ground for people who happen to transit through it on their way to the EU,” Williamson said. “Bosnia’s international partners should be helping it to elevate its existing systems to protect asylum seekers and migrants, not encouraging it to take steps that will only make things worse.”.

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