The multilayered dimensions of migration management in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a critical view of the EU’s integration via securitization

In 2018, the Bosnian-Croatian border became a focal point of the Balkan migration route, as arrivals in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) increased from 755 in 2017 to 24,067. Since then, the numbers have remained consistent, peaking at 34,409 in 2023 (IOM, 2024). This increase reflects the EU’s efforts to fortify its external borders by involving neighboring states as buffers, thereby transforming the Bosnian-Croatian border into a bottleneck. The externalization of European borders has resulted in a complex and multifaceted system of migration governance in BiH, part of a broader trend of increasing ‘complexification’ and ‘derailing’ of migration policies (Scholten, 2020). This entails the creation of an asymmetric relationship between EU institutions and Bosnian authorities (Sicurella, 2017; Cocco, 2017), as the EU has imposed on BiH the obligation to implement a functional asylum system as a condition for EU accession. Additionally, the Bosnian government’s inability and unwillingness to independently manage migration flows has led to the International Organization for Migration taking charge of the country’s reception system and overseeing EU funds allocated for the migrant crisis. Aiming to reduce the involvement of third parties as prescribed by the conditionalities for EU membership, the EU is supervising the transition to a state-led migration governance system. This process began in September 2024, when BiH assumed control of two out of four Temporary Reception Centers for migrants and is now required to focus on fully implementing the Law on Asylum and the Law on Aliens. Migration flow management in BiH must be understood within the context of the EU’s increasingly securitized approach to migration (Bello, 2020), reflected in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. This policy prioritizes security concerns over pressing humanitarian issues linked to migratory flows (Stępka, 2024). This paper argues that the Pact’s rationale is being extended to neighboring regions, using accession conditionalities as a tool to promote a model of European integration through securitization—a model that is proving ineffective. Furthermore, this paper examines the consequences of such inefficacy on the living conditions of migrants in BiH. The EU’s pressure on BiH’s multilayered migration governance fails to reflect the reality on the ground: the vast majority of the people in transit through BiH do not intend to apply for asylum there (IOM, 2024). Thus, insisting on creating asylum systems unfairly shifts the responsibility of migration management onto BiH (Sicurella, 2017; Cocco, 2017) and remains an unproductive effort (Salomon, 2016). This dysfunctionality is also evident in the fact that migrants regularly attempt to enter the EU, only to be repeatedly denied international protection. Croatian police regularly push them back to BiH, often violently, when they attempt to cross the border and reach the EU (Zocchi, 2023). Finally, despite the EU’s claims of respecting the fundamental rights of people in transit, migrants’ living conditions in BiH’s Temporary Reception Centers remain alarming and fail to meet basic standards (Otsuka, 2024), with no signs of improvement following the transition to a Bosnian-led system.