The Republic of Srpska

The Republic of Srpska Coordination body for monitoring movement of illegal migrants held its 5th session on February 27, 2019. The assignment of this Coordination body is to implement the conclusions of the Republic of Srpska Government regarding the migrants’ crisis. Since the beginning of the year until February 27, 2019, the Republic of Srpska Police has detected, i.e. controlled 946 migrants who illegally entered into BiH, which represents 81% more than in the comparative period last year, when 171 migrants have been detected. The majority of the migrants were controlled on the territory of PA Banja Luka (227) and PA Gradiška (220), the majority of migrants being from Pakistan (266 or 28.3394%), Iraq (153 or 16.2994%) and Syria (142 or 15.1294%). In this period, the migrants have committed three criminal offences, including one case of robbery on the territory of PA Gradiška, one case of theft on the territory of PA Banja Luka and one aggravated theft on the territory of PA Trebinje. Additionally, three criminal offences of People smuggling were detected, two on the territory of PA Gradiška and one on the territory of PA Prijedor. During the session, the members of the Coordination body brought the following conclusions: 1) The Police shall continue to intensively work on monitoring the movement of migrants on the territory of the Republic of Srpska with the aim of protecting the security of citizens and their property. 2) According to all the available data, the escalation of the migrants’ crisis is expected in the upcoming period, and the Police has detected 946 migrants since the beginning of the year. 3) So far, the illegal migrants did not significantly violated or endangered the security in the Republic of Srpska, apart from disturbing the local population. The migrants have committed three criminal offences. It is visible that they are very nervous during the control, especially those who are in BiH reception centers for a long time. 4) The Republic of Srpska Police shall continue to assist the Border Police in protecting the BiH border, i.e. preventing illegal entrance of migrants to BiH. 5) The main problem is that migrants reach BiH freely, since all other countries let them pass freely, from Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro and Serbia. The most western country in their route is BiH and its border with the European Union, i.e. Republic of Croatia, which continues to increase its border control and does not allow entrance into the EU countries.