Ahead of the country visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls, the Global Detention Project (GDP) joined Children of Incarcerated Caregivers (CIC) in providing input highlighting concerns about the treatment of pregnant and breastfeeding women, and mothers with young children, detained in Lukavica Immigration Detention Centre.
Numerous international experts have expressed concerns about the harmful impact of immigration detention on pregnant and breastfeeding women and human rights bodies have issued extensive authoritative guidance explicitly stating that pregnant and breastfeeding women should not be detained for reasons related to their immigration status.
However, while Bosnia’s Law on Asylum recognises pregnant women and single mothers with minor children as vulnerable groups whose asylum applications should receive priority consideration, neither the Law on Asylum nor the Law on Foreigners prohibit the detention of vulnerable groups and the application for asylum does not suspend the enforcement of a detention or expulsion order, leaving pregnant and postpartum women vulnerable to harmful enforcement measures.
Official statistics provided by the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs (SFA) confirm that women and children, including minors detained within biological family units, are detained at the Lukavica Immigration Detention Centre. However, the lack of publicly available government data makes it difficult to determine how many pregnant women and mothers with children are detained there. Reports of inadequate sanitation, poor living conditions, and deficiencies in healthcare raise serious concerns about the facility’s capacity to meet the needs of pregnant and postpartum women. These concerns warrant further investigation into the treatment and conditions of women detained at Lukavica, including access to appropriate healthcare and safeguards.
In light of this, the GDP and CIC encourage the Special Rapporteur to visit Lukavica Detention Centre, and to raise the following questions with the Service for Foreigner’s Affairs and other relevant authorities:
- What efforts are underway to amend the Law on Foreigners to ensure the protection of pregnant and breastfeeding women from immigration detention, in line with international authoritative guidance?
- What safeguards are in place for the health and safety of migrant women, including pregnant women and mothers with children, in immigration detention? Are alternatives to detention available, and under what circumstances are they applied?
- What data do authorities collect about pregnant women and mothers with children being held in immigration detention facilities?
- What procedures are in place to identify pregnancy and other vulnerabilities upon admission to Lukavica?
- What specific provisions are in place to meet the health and nutritional needs of pregnant and breastfeeding women in Lukavica, including access to appropriate food, as well as reproductive, maternal, and perinatal healthcare services?
- What mechanisms exist for independent monitoring of detention conditions and healthcare provision at Lukavica?
