SARAJEVO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Thursday announced a 1.5-million-euro (1.77 million U.S. dollars) humanitarian aid fund to address the increasing needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants stranded in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
"The number of refugees and migrants arriving in BiH has increased and we must act swiftly. We are committed to help BiH deal with this situation and deliver assistance to the most vulnerable refugees and migrants," Christos Stylianides, commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management, was quoted as saying.
The funding aims to strengthen the provision of assistance, the protective environment and enhance the capacity of organizations already providing first-line emergency response.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants passed through the so-called "Balkan route" in 2015, trying to reach Western Europe. BiH was not part of that route at the time.
However, migrants have turned to BiH in recent months, trying to avoid more heavily-guarded routes and borders in the Balkans. Around 4,900 refugees and migrants have entered BiH since early January 2018, according to government estimates.