A three-year-old child was reportedly among 12 refugees filmed locked in cages at a Bosnian detention centre.

The two Iraqi families of seven adults and five children were held at a facility near the eastern European country's Klobuk border crossing.

They can be seen lying in small cells, which have walls built of wire mesh.

One of the detainees filmed the video and sent it to Are You Syrious (AYS), a pro-migrant charity, which released the clip publicly.

“There were reportedly 7 adults and 5 children among the detained people,” a spokesperson said.

Bosnia: the nation left behind Show all 18 1 /18 Bosnia: the nation left behind Bosnia: the nation left behind A women in the tram in Bascarjija, the old town in Sarajevo. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A volunteer is searching in lake Perucac in eastern Bosnia for remains of the victims of the genocide in Visegrad, where during the war in 1992 some 3000 Muslim men were killed by Bosnian-Serb forces and were thrown into the river ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The remains of a serb mortar shell can be seen on the pavement in the city center of Sarajevo ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Potraits of the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica can be seen in the office of the foundation "Srebrenica mothers" in Tuzla. Currently there are still estimated 3500 vistims of the genocide in Srebrenica missing. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The morgue in the forensic center of the ICMP , the international commission on missing persons, in Tuzla ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Scene during a live-concert of the balkan-ska Band "Kulturshock". ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Juso Mehanovic, a survivor of Srebrenica, in his house in the refugee camp in Spionica. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind The skeletal remains of a victim of the genocide in Bosnia are to be seen in the forensic center of the ICMP ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Construction work is going on in a suburb of Sarajevo while many building still remain signed by the war. ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Two days before the mass funeral in Potocari for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica, the coffins with the dead bodies are brought to the Memorial Center in Potocari in Trucks from Sarajevo ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Refugees in the refugee camp in Spionica ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind One day before the mass burial for the victims of the genocide of Srebrenica, a men mourns in the memorial room in Potocari ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A volunteer is searching in lake Perucac in eastern Bosnia for remains of the victims of the genocide in Visegrad ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A former mass grave in the area of Salasnica near Srebrenica ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind A potrait of Milos MIlanovic, a former soldier for the bosnian serb army, who lives in Srebrenica and denies that the genocide has taken place in Srebrenica. He instead claims the Muslims have killed themselves ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Scene on a public lake in the north-bosnian town of Tuzla. In Tuzla, serb, croats and muslims used to live together peacefully all the time throughout the war. It was one of the few big cities in Bosnia that remained under government control during the whole war ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Each year at the end of July, young people from both sides of Mostar, jump from the Stari Grad, the Old Bridge ANDY SPYRA Bosnia: the nation left behind Suhra Malic, a survivor of Srebrenica, has lost 2 sons due to the genocide ANDY SPYRA

People who cross into Bosnia from Montenegro at Klobuk are held at the detention block, if they are found to be entering illegally.

The refugees are held there pending deportation. The Iraqi group were detained on Monday.

Border officials denied mistreating the refugees and claimed that the wire mesh cells had air-conditioning and heating.

“Bosnia-Herzegovina border police deny inhuman treatment of migrants in its facility at the Klobuk border crossing,” the force said in a statement.

A spokesperson added that the cages had not been locked.

Border police said they stayed at the facility for two hours before Montenegrin police took them into custody.

But AYS claimed that the refugees were held overnight at the facility.

”Is this the standard and a collective decision to treat and detain currently the most vulnerable group in the planet, refugees?” the group wrote in a post on the Medium website. “Will anyone finally bring into question and condemn the methods and current human rights breaking detention and push back practice?”

After European Union (EU) countries such as Hungary and Croatia closed their borders to refugees, people have found new routes to travel to Western Europe.

Bosnia has become a key country on the route since January 2018.

The Klobuk border crossing is in Bosnia’s southern region but activists have frequently criticised the behaviour of Croation police towards refugees at the country’s northwestern borders.

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“Two small towns in the country’s far northwestern corner, Bihać and Velika Kladuša, have become a refuge for thousands of people fleeing conflict, persecution and poverty,” an Amnesty International report, published last month, concluded.

It added that 24,000 people entered Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018. They were reportedly held in improvised accommodation centres which were set up with EU funding.

“The conditions in the centers are inadequate,” Amnesty International said. “In addition to safety concerns, the people who spoke to Amnesty International complained about the poor hygiene, lack of hot water, long queues for meals and inaccessible medical care.”

Activists now say that more mistreatment cases at Bosnia’s southern borders are being reported.