This week, Begüm Başdaş and her guests, journalist Franziska Grillmeier and documentary photographer Vincent Haiges, talked about the thousands of refugees stuck in limbo at Bosnia-Herzegovina’s borders with Croatia. This was yet another winter for refugees in Bosnia with temperatures dropping below -10 degrees without access to any basic services. Grillmeier and Haiges, who went to the borderlands in Bosnia explained the current condition of refugees and the brutal pushbacks by the Croatian border forces.
Bosnia’s northern border has become extremely dangerous for refugees and migrants trying to reach the EU. Lack of access to asylum procedures and the absence of coordinated humanitarian aid leaves most refugees in overcrowded camps, sleeping rough or in abandoned buildings in Bosnia. Croatian police is violently beating up refugees and migrants attempting to enter. Hundreds of people are currently sleeping rough in abandoned houses after being pushed back many times at the Croatian border.
Franziska Grillmeier is a freelance journalist based on Lesvos island. Her work explores themes of EUs migration policies, health care in conflict and the consequences of forced displacement. She has previously studied International Development and Politics of Conflict Rights and Justice. Her work is published mostly in German speaking media such as Der Spiegel, die Zeit but also in English in Guardian and elsewhere.
Vincent Haiges is a documentary photographer working on contemporary social and humanitarian issues. He holds a MA degree in Political Science from the University of London SOAS. His works include editorial outlets such as Al Jazeera, Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle, Die Zeit, New Frame, Japan Photojournalism Daily, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, The Guardian, Volkskrant, among others. In 2019 his work was presented at the Bagdad Contemporay Arts Festival in Bagdad, Iraq. To follow his work on Instagram: @vincent_haiges_
