A/HRC/44/42/Add.2 society organizations, are providing a wide range of educational, psychosocial and legal services to the children living there, however, the living conditions in the centre are not adequate or suitable for children. Although families with children and unaccompanied minors are lodged in designated areas, the lack of a possibility to fully separate various populations increases protection risks, including being exposed to human traffickers or smugglers. 36. In addition to the lack of adequate reception conditions for minors, especially unaccompanied and separated minors, the Special Rapporteur noticed several other issues of concern during his visit. The Ministry of Security does not conduct an age assessment of applicants; the age is systematically taken as claimed, without any evaluation. There are cases of unaccompanied minors who claimed to be older than their real age in order to be accommodated with adults for various reasons, including trying to get closer to sources of information about smugglers or on smuggling routes. The lack of an age assessment may result in minors being exposed to manipulation, exploitation or other abuses. 37. The Special Rapporteur also learned about the worrying trend of “pretend families”. Due to the lack of accommodation, many single men are left outside reception centres. There are over 40 known cases of single men pretending to be family members of an unaccompanied child in order to acquire access to services. In many of those cases, the single man abandons the child after he has received such access. 38. Migrant children, including asylum-seeking children, are not provided with familybased care, such as foster care or community-based care, independent living units or other alternatives. There are hardly any shelters or safe houses for children who are victims of violence or abuse, except for one shelter in Bihać run by a local non-governmental organization. Similarly, although victims of gender-based violence and other abuses have been identified in various centres, due to a lack of safe houses available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, victims cannot be effectively separated from the alleged perpetrators. 39. Pursuant to the Law on asylum, unaccompanied minors are to be provided with a guardian. The centres for social welfare, a subnational institution, provide social workers to act as legal guardians for unaccompanied or separated asylum-seeking children. The Special Rapporteur learned that some unaccompanied children faced difficulties in obtaining access to guardians in a timely manner, which further delayed their access to asylum procedures. In addition, the process of determining the best interests of the child seems flawed. Between January and August 2019, over 700 unaccompanied children were appointed with legal guardians. Due to the large number of unaccompanied minors entrusted to guardians, guardianship often extends only to legal representation and not to the promotion of the child’s overall well-being and the safeguarding of the child’s best interests. D. Vucjak site 40. There has been a large discrepancy between the maximum capacity for accommodation in reception centres and the estimated number of migrants, including asylum seekers, in the country throughout 2018 and 2019. Apart from those accommodated in private houses and civil society-run accommodations, a great number of individuals, mainly single men, have stayed without shelter, mostly in Una-Sana Canton. 41. In June 2019, the local authorities in Bihać decided to begin relocating migrants, including asylum seekers, staying outside reception centres to the Vucjak site, which is a camp located very close to landmine-affected areas. There is a high fire and explosion risk, given that the site was formerly a landfill site. The decision by the Bihać authorities was believed to have been endorsed by the relevant authorities at the State level. 42. On the day of his visit to Vucjak, the Special Rapporteur learned that approximately 800 adult men and around 20 minors were located there. Migrants at the site mainly came from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many of them were escorted to the site by the local police. There was no running water. Drinking water was provided by the city, and two meals per day were delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Bihać. The condition of the site was inhuman. There was no electricity, very few sanitation facilities, no warm water for showering and no medical care available. The tents used at the camp were thin and not warm enough for the cold weather in winter. 8