Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina – They come from everywhere: Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria and Sudan. But a common goal unites them – to reach EU soil.
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For now, refugees and migrants wait in Bihac, an unassuming city in Bosnia and Herzegovina near the Croatian border. As the EU works to reform its asylum system this year, their hopes of finding asylum in Europe are diminishing.
Bosnia is not a member of the European Union, but Croatia is.
Under cover of the rugged forests of the Balkans, people are violently returned to Bosnia by Croatian authorities, a practice described by rights groups as an illegal reprisal. According to international law, anyone arriving at the border has the right to request asylum and remain in the country until their claim is considered.
Migrants here say they are denied that opportunity, but instead are forcibly sent back across the border: often bruised, stripped of their phones and winter clothes, and forced to start the journey all over again.
In more than a dozen testimonies to Al Jazeera, migrants repeatedly spoke of being physically attacked and robbed by Croatian authorities.
“Everyone here has a story,” Hamid, 54, says regretfully, his dark brown eyes watering. “People tell me my life should be a movie.”
Hamid, originally from Morocco, aims to reach his son Elias in France, but he faces a problem: his knees. Two years earlier, he said Bosnian police beat him and broke his knee, leaving him permanently disabled.
He did not want to elaborate on the details of the alleged attack, saying only that he had intervened when he saw officers attacking another migrant.
Al Jazeera has contacted Bosnian authorities but has not received a response.
Hamid has since been stuck in the border city of Bihac, sleeping in parks and abandoned buildings. He said he does not socialize with other migrants and prefers to spend his days alone on a park bench, witnessing the alleged attack. He is planning to reach Europe. He has been trying for four years.
dangerous journeys
The journey on foot from Bosnia to Croatia is dangerous, crossing icy rivers and snow-covered peaks. Most migrants fail, attempting to cross five or six times before landing back in Bihac. Others never return after drowning in the Una and Sava rivers or encountering Croatian authorities.
In 2025, at least 22 migrants went missing on the Western Balkans route – traveling through Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia – but this is likely much lower, as the number depends on families back home filing missing persons reports and learning the final whereabouts of their loved one.
In February, Abdul, a 29-year-old from Pakistan, found the body of another Pakistani migrant in a forest while entering Croatia. He photographed the corpse and left it to hide from Croatian guards. Three days later, he was captured about 100 km (62 mi) short of the border and forcibly returned to Bosnia.
“Croatian police held me for 24 hours and beat me. They didn’t let me use the bathroom or give me food. Then they took all my money and left me alone in the forest,” Abdul told Al Jazeera.
At the time of publication, Croatian authorities had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
An outspoken supporter of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested on what many rights groups claim are false charges, fears retribution from the new government. He spent two months crossing Iran’s rugged mountains alone before reaching Turkiye, where he worked for a year before setting out again: walking through Bulgaria and Serbia and eventually to Bosnia – a common journey for Afghans and Pakistanis.
At the height of the refugee crisis during the Syrian Civil War, Bihac was filled with Syrian migrants and refugees unable to move on.
As global conflicts shape migration, this obscure city in the Balkans bears the weight of geopolitics: As the Taliban again took control of Afghanistan, Syrians were gradually replaced by Afghans.
the abuses intensified
The reported protests continue as the EU – under pressure from far-right parties – intends to replace its existing asylum system with a new migration deal in June, speeding up refusals and deportations and increasing biometric monitoring of migrants.
Croatian border guards are reportedly notoriously violent. Migrants and rights groups have documented a pattern of abuses against asylum seekers.
One chilly December day, three Sudanese men, whose names have not been released, were found near the border with Bosnia without jackets or adequate shoes. The people were brought to the hospital, where the legs of all three were amputated due to severe frostbite. According to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Bosnian police launched an investigation.
Nabil, 26, from Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, has tried unsuccessfully five times to cross the border on foot through dense spruce forest. Each time, Croatian border guards – armed with drones – catch him, beat him with police batons, confiscate his personal items, and release him back into the forests of Bosnia without telling him where to go. It’s a long way back to Bihac, a journey made even more complicated without a phone.
“They smashed my phone and broke it,” Nabil explained, imitating guards breaking phones on their knees. “They know we need our phones for maps and calls.”
Croatian police have long been accused of mistreatment of migrants, including sexual assault.
Nabil left Morocco to travel to Europe almost three years ago and is now struggling to find his way back home.
“When the police catch you, it feels like everything, the whole world, closes in on you,” he said, standing in a park, surrounded by other Moroccans.
Without anywhere to go, many people spend their days socializing in the park. At one point, they start a push-up competition on frozen ground.
Among a group of migrants telling their stories, dwarf Mohammed also wants to speak.
He is a 14-year-old boy from Cairo, traveling alone. His family depleted their savings to take a dangerous boat from Libya to Turkey, from where they crossed to Bosnia. When he tried to cross into Croatia, he was caught by border guards, who attacked him with police batons and stole his shoes. He walked back barefoot through the deep snow. A week later, he has only sandals.
Life at temporary reception centers
Throughout Bosnia, there are camps for people like Nabil, Hamid, Abdul and Mohammed, formally called temporary reception centers. The key word is temporary. Bosnia is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe, and offers very few opportunities for people traveling.
Due to the country’s complex political structure, its asylum system is considered non-functional.
These reception centers provide some relief, but migrants complain of poor and inadequate food and prison-like conditions. As a result, they often choose to sleep rough rather than live in camps; Many people choose to live in squats in self-organized communities. In 2021, Bosnian authorities forcibly transferred 250 migrants from an abandoned retirement home to the notorious Lipa camp, about 20 km (12 mi) from the city.
“Life in the camps is not so bad, but they are crowded and noisy, and you can’t breathe. I like it,” Nabil said, pointing to the park’s surroundings. Ducks swim in the rivers, and flocks of birds fly overhead.
Due to the distance of Lipa camp from Bihac, it is difficult for people here to access resources, and they complain of state-enforced isolation. There is no public transportation, and they have to walk for four hours to reach the city.
Hassan, a talkative Palestinian teenager from Jerusalem, is living in Lipa, traveling with his parents and two older brothers.
The 17-year-old described how Croatian police stole her family’s phones and attacked her brothers. His family will remain in Lipa before trying to cross again: he estimates they have tried seven or eight times so far, but are turned back each time.
Conditions in the camps are expected to worsen now that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is withdrawing this year. Responsibility for reception centers and migrant welfare will be transferred to Bosnian authorities, who rights groups warn are unprepared to deal with the situation.
helping hand
Many grassroots organizations have taken root in the city.
“People come to us wearing flip flops and no jackets in the freezing temperatures,” said a worker at No Name Kitchen, a humanitarian aid organization. He refused to identify himself out of fear of retribution from authorities.
Their work is not illegal, but migration is highly criminalized, and these groups do not want to attract unnecessary attention, volunteers explain. They often help by distributing warm clothes.
“Bosnia has become Europe’s dumping ground for migrants,” he said.
At first, Bihac’s residents were conciliatory, but some of that goodwill has faded, and there has been anger at EU officials for not doing more. The country is still recovering from the bloody war three decades ago. Now, it also bears the burden of Europe’s migration policies – and has far fewer resources.
Yet migrants largely speak positively about Bosnia and its people, who often provide rides and clothing to those forcibly returned across the border.
“Unlike Croatia, people in Bosnia are very kind. I’m sure there are nice Croatian people there, but I haven’t met any yet,” says Yassin, a 21-year-old from Tunisia. He said that Croatian guards had hit him on the head so hard that he was injured. “Sure they can hit me in my arms, but why do they have to hit me in the head?”
They all plan to attempt another crossing soon: some will attempt on foot, others will hide under trucks.
As for Hamid, the injured Moroccan man, he recently tried to cross again, and insisted on attempting the journey alone through the mountains. He slipped on his knees and fell on the ice. He went back to Bihac, immobilized with a sprained ankle, and slept in a crawlspace.
He says, “Everyone has their own life; This is my life.” “What can I do?”
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