A preoccupation with the security aspect of bringing back men, women and children from former Islamic State territory means Bosnia has neglected to fully involve social workers, teachers and health professionals in areas where returnees will be settled, according to an analysis by BIRN.
Well before the final fall of so-called Islamic State in the spring of 2019, Bosnian security agencies and counter-terrorism authorities had been contemplating the return of some 200 Bosnian citizens, mostly women and children, currently living in Kurdish-controlled camps inside Syria.
Yet social workers and schools in areas where the majority of the child returnees will be admitted say they have only recently received scraps of information about the plan. The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in Bosnia’s mainly Bosniak-Croat Federation said it too was concerned about the flow of information.
“We have problems with security agencies because they are only rarely sharing information,” the assistant minister, Miroslav Juresic, told BIRN.
State authorities realised only four months ago that they should involve social workers, health professionals and teachers, he said.