Denmark has once again allocated millions to help the six countries located in the Western Balkans to better manage the migrants currently on their territory, as well as to strengthen their border controls to prevent further illegal migration.
The Danish government has allocated almost 45 million DKK (over 6 million euros) in development aid to two regional projects in the Western Balkans, which aim to strengthen both border control and the repatriation of migrants in an irregular situation and rejected asylum seekers.
“The government has decided to strengthen border controls and the repatriation of migrants in the six Western Balkan countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo by almost 45 million Danish crowns.», Explains the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
The same report also notes that between January 2018 and June 2020, around 167,000 migrants reached the Western Balkans, of which 1,600 are currently living in destroyed buildings and tents. following a fire in the abandoned Lipa camp in Bosnia.
Denmark considered it necessary to take measures to prevent a possible flow of these migrants to EU countries, such as Denmark.
Commenting on the financial aid allocated to WB countries, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Integration, Mattias Tesfaye, noted that although blankets and warm clothes are given every winter to migrants stranded in this area, this solution is neither politically nor humanitarianly sustainable.
“Instead, we must replace uncontrolled migration with orderly conditions. That’s why I’m happy that with a big bag of money we can now help the Balkan governments deal with the situation at the borders and send people back on the plane to go home.,” he said.
At the same time, Minister for Development Cooperation Flemming Møller also said more needs to be done to slow irregular migration, including by creating opportunities and hope in migrants’ countries of origin.
“It is necessary to slow irregular migration so that more people can be helped in local areas – and then create opportunities and hope in their own home countries. But this requires that we in Europe control our borders,” he said.
Both projects are implemented by the United Nations Organization for Migration (IOM)m and each of them benefits from support of 22.4 million DKK (over 3 million euros each).
While the first project aims to strengthen the capacity of local authorities to repatriate rejected asylum seekers and irregular migrants, the second aims to support the strengthening of local authorities’ border controls, so that better action can be taken against human trafficking and identity card fraud. and travel documents.
In August, The Danish government has allocated DKK 15.4 million to a project to repatriate irregular migrants home located in the Western Balkans. The initiative was also supported by the governments of the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the European Union. He offered them the opportunity to voluntarily return to their country of origin by helping them organize their return journey.