IDP Bulletin, issue No. 2, 23 Aug

i. Introductory note
Thanks to everyone for their valuable inputs on how to make this newsletter useful. The second bulletin was delayed by vacations. In general, we hope to produce a bulletin once every 2-4 weeks, depending on the amount of IDP-related activity.

I. IDP Calendar of Events

Note: As there are many Municipal Working Group meetings, they will not be included in this list. MWGs are a key forum for solving problems pertaining to return and for minority integration in Kosovo. To get an updated list, call the Office of Returns and Communities in Kosovo at: 038-504-604.

Yugoslavia excluding Kosovo

August 23 - The six-week registration period for IDPs, including a one-week extension, in view of the forthcoming Kosovo municipal elections comes to an end.

August 23-25 - Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and 11 partners are organizing a three-day weekend retreat at Kopaonik, a mountain resort in Southern Serbia, to discuss a joint project proposal entitled "Civil Society Supports Voluntary IDP Returns to Kosovo and Metohija." The proposal aims to strengthen the capacity and role of IDP associations, as civil society actors, to support a people-centered and depoliticized return process. The retreat is an opportunity for CRS and partners to present their ideas to a range of actors involved in the return process. The feedback from governmental and nongovernmental organizations will inform the project document and action plan.

September 9-11, 13 - UN OCHA Belgrade is organizing a three-day workshop at the operational level on the guiding principles on internal displacement and a one-day forum for policy makers. The recommendations from the workshop will be presented to the participants. The workshop will bring together key persons dealing with IDP issues both at the policy and operational level from Serbia, Montenegro and the UN-administered province of Kosovo.

September 11-19 - The voter's list for Kosovo elections will be made public, providing an opportunity for scrutiny and challenge of the list. Sites will be located in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo and queries can be directed to local trustees of the Commissariat for Refugees.

Kosovo

August 26, 16:00. Slivovo UNHCR building - Slivovo Task Force: focusing on interethnic dialogue, minority integration, freedom of movement, reconstruction assistance and local NGO development.

August 27, 10:30, UNHCR - Obiliq/Obilic RWG, focusing on return from Plemetina TCS to Obiliq/Obilic, inter-ethnic dialogue, community integration projects, income generation projects, contacts with K-Serb IDPs.

August 27 - The fourth Workshop on Reconciliation and Reintegration "Tea for Tolerance" hosted by UNMIK in collaboration with Concern Worldwide will be held at 10:00 am in the Meeting Room of UNHCR Field Office of Peje/Pec. The Tea for Tolerance workshops were initiated by the NGOs Concern Worldwide and Trentino con il Kosovo and UNMIK with the objective of improving coordination between agencies involved in Reintegration and Reconciliation activities. For more information contact Michelle Small at Concern in Peja/Pec: 039-31-872 or concern@ipko.org

August 29, 15:00, - FKP RWG, held at UNHCR field office in F/Kosovo Polje - focus on Ashkaelia return to Lismir, Serb returns to Dobrajevo, Gornje Dobreve and Vragolije, reconstruction assistance, Ugljare reconstruction project for IDPs in Sv. Sava school, meeting IDP reps from Serbia.

fYRoM

September 3-4 - Regional conference: "Refugees: a Human Rights Challenge" to be held in Ohrid, Macedonia. The conference will bring together representatives of NGOs from BiH, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia, as well as regional government representatives and intergovernmental agencies. The conference is is organized by the Legal Issues Group of the two FRESTA (Danish Secretariat for Peace and Stability) funded networks: the Southeastern European Refugee Assistance Network (SEE-RAN) and the Balkan Human Rights Network (BHRN). The Serbian NGOs participating are Group 484, the International Aid Network (IAN), the Serbian Democratic Forum (SDC), Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Humanitarian Law Centre, Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Humanitarian Centre for Integration and Tolerance.

II. News and policy update

News

Peggy Hicks has taken up her duties as the Director for UNMIK's Office of Returns and Communities. Ms. Hicks formerly served as the Director of Programs of the International Human Rights Law Group and also served as Deputy High Representative for Human Rights in BiH. Restructuring of the ORC office is expected.

The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo (OMIK), Ambassador Fieschi extended the Voter Services Period, which now ends on August 23. The extension has been granted in response to the relatively low number of people who have so far visited a Voter's Services Centre. Queries can be directed to the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees at 011-623-877.

OMiK, acknowledging the fact that Roma IDPs in general are unreceptive to classic forms of public information, developed a "Roma to Roma" outreach project whereby Roma representatives explain voter registration to Roma IDPs, as well as how to participate in municipal elections in Kosovo. The "outreach officers" were deployed in Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Smederevo beginning August 5.

SRSG Michael Steiner recently handed over the first UNMIK driving licenses to six Kosovars at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Public Services. The UNMIK driving licenses replace the old FRY driving licenses, held by many people in Kosovo. The driving licenses were produced by the Ministry of Public Services (MPS) in cooperation with the Central Processing Centre (CPC). Steiner also announced that the validity of the Yugoslav driving licenses would be extended to 31 December 2002.

Lightning struck one of the two main power plants in Kosovo in mid-July, which is causing additional power shortages in Kosovo, a province that already had frequent trouble with power supply. The power shortages are expected to last several months.

Security

Five Serb homes in Klokot were destroyed in a series of explosions last month, which also injured two American soldiers. SRSG Steiner announced the creation of a fund for Klokot with an initial deposit of 50,000 euros. The fund will support projects of integration in the area.

Political tensions in the province have risen due to the indictments and arrests of six members of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Arm in mid-June, who were indicted for inflicting grevious bodily harm to four people in June, 1999. Also recently arrested was Rustem Mustafa, a former KLA fighter. Serbian doctor and president of the Serbian National Council of northern Kosovo, Milan Ivanovic, has been indicted, but is evading authorities. UNMIK police have tried to arrest Ivanovic twice in connection with Serb protests in Mitrovica last April 8, when 22 UNMIK policemen were injured. Nebojsa Covic, head of the Coordination Center for Kosovo, CCK, has advised Ivanovic "not to surrender" because Ivanovic is innocent, and has said the CCK has suspended cooperation with UNMIK pending the return of mission chief Michael Steiner from vacation.

Ethnic Albanians have been protesting daily while leading political figures have said the indictments of former KLA members is an attempt to criminalize the liberation struggle. Also indicted for endangering public safety in a previous shooting incident was the well known Kosovar political figure Ramush Haradinaj.

Policy

SRSG Michael Steiner has signed a memo drafted by the ABC employment working group dealing with proportional community representation in Kosovo's Civil Service. The directive will enable minorities to apply for employment in Kosovo's Civil Service before they have returned to Kosovo, if they have already taken steps to return.

The Kosovar Parliament on 4 July, 2002 approved the law on pensions. Pensioners began receiving Basic Pensions at the rate of 28 euro beginning July 1. Anyone receiving a pension from Serbia will not be eligible for social assistance in Kosovo. In places where clients are not able to directly approach the Center for Social Welfare (CSW) due to security reasons, social workers are visiting them, though in some areas this remains a problem. Pristina Municipality minority applicants for CSW assistance have to submit a cadastral request form to the Gracanica UNMIK office.

SRSG Michael Steiner addressed the UN Security Council on July 30 concerning progress in Kosovo. Mr. Steiner addressed a number of issues, including building functioning democratic institutions, fighting crime, parallel structures in Mitrovica, the economy, returns, and Kosovo's future. Concerning returns, Mr. Steiner acknowledged that "there is no denying that the returns process has been too slow" but at the same time he noted "This year we have reversed the trend on returns."

III. Returns and Reconstruction

ICMC is presently contacting IDPs from the village of Siga and Brestovik near Pec, to gauge their interest in return. Money has been made available by the Italian government for reconstruction activities in these villages.

Fourteen IDP heads of household returned to the village of Bica, in Kline/Klina municipality on July 29, to take part in a reconstruction effort. The German organization THW (Technisches Hilfswerk) will partially reconstruct 15 homes in the village of Bica. It is expected that another 27 houses will be reconstructed soon in the same village and in two neighboring villages, Drenovcic and Grabac.

Fifty-two Serb families from inside Kosovo and in Serbia have expressed their wish to return to Donja and Gornja Dobrevo. They have requested Municipal assistance with housing reconstruction. A Go-and-See Visit in late June, however, by Serb IDPs to this village turned out to be disappointing. The initial contacts with the Albanian community had indicated a positive acceptance of the idea. During the visit, however, Albanians did not come out to greet the visitors and children threw stones and harassed the visitors.

Serbs from Pristina attended the first ever "Go-and-See" visit to Prishtine/Pristina. The 13 IDPs saw their flats, visited Sveti Nikola church and met UNMIK's deputy municipal administrator, Mr. Zariqi, and the Kosovo Albanian deputy president of municipality. While IDPs walked the streets of Prishtine/Pristina, some of them saw former neighbors and acquaintances, who were at turns incredulous and welcoming. Everyone spoke Serbian and some former neighbors joined for part of the walk. Mr. Zariqi acknowledged that the situation for minorities is difficult, but is improving, and he encouraged the IDPs to stop looking towards Belgrade for solutions and look towards Prishtine/Pristina.

IV. Services to IDPs and organization activity

This is not intended to be a complete list of services, but an on-going effort to highlight various programmes for IDPs in Serbia and the UN administered province of Kosovo/a

DRC has received funding of EUR 665,000 for an income-generating project from June, 2002-December, 2003. Included in this is EUR 65,000 for donation of in-kind grants to minorities residing in or returning to the municipalities of Peja/Pec, Kline/Klina and Istok/Istog.

DRC is opening six new information centers in Serbia targeting IDPs and Refugees. The information centers, which are expected to be opened in the beginning of September, will include reading materials and Internet access. The centers will be located in DRC's existing community centers in Cacak, Gornji Milanovac, Bajina Basta, Uzice, Blace, and Jagodina.

The Alliance for Rights and Tolerance, ART, a coalition of like-minded NGOs in Kosovo, is seeking out local NGOs in Kosovo to get involved in ART's activities. ART was formed in September, 2000 as a reaction against what was seen by the NGO community as unacceptable levels of violence and intimidation directed towards Kosovo's ethnic minorities.

UNHCR and UNMIK have formed a joint Document and Information Working Group which met on July 30 and 31 in Podgorica and Belgrade respectively. A document Information Framework was endorsed by the Working Group. A separate Working Group exists in Prishtina, which is also supposed to adopt the document. Findings include the now well-established fact that information for IDPs does not reach the target groups and that a general lack of coordination mechanisms has lead to an enormous duplication of effort as many agencies are searching translating identical pieces of information. As a result of the first meeting, UNHCR and UNMIK will intensify PI work in and Serbian/Montenegrin media, UNOCHA will produce a Who's Who of organizations which are active in the field of return information, agencies will make use of this bulletin for information sharing, UNHCR will look into creating a new website that will contain information relevant to IDPs, UNMIK will continue its policy to bring Serb journalists to Kosovo and ethnic-Albanian journalists to Serbia to increase the information flow.

The International Aid Network (IAN) offers support to IDPs from Kosovo through its Social Clubs, which meet on Saturdays in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. The educative and creative workshops teach children to draw, dance, sing and prepare theatre performances. Other IAN programmes offer free of charge computer courses for IDP adults and children, as well as vocational training in sewing and screen-printing. IAN Centres are located in Belgrade at Misarska 9, phone: 011-3231-975, 3229-057; in Novi Sad, Frenca Fehera 4, phone: 021-56-594, and in Nis, Ive Lole Ribara 3/9, phone: 018-42-209.

V. Service gaps/notes from the field

The Slivovo bus service in Pristina Municipality has been declared unviable due to the small number of Serbs using it. UNMIK is putting together proposals for relevant Municipal bodies to address the freedom of movement.

Resources for reconstruction do not match the rate of returns in the Gjilan/Gnjilane region, according to a UNHCR lead agency responsible for oversight of the region. Returnees receive only minor emergency reconstruction assistance from a UNHCR funds, but this assistance is limited. If the houses are Category III-V funds are often non-existent in Gjilan/Gnjilane except for a few limited projects, such as Stara Kolonija. Although returns are ongoing and effective in this region, reconstruction agencies have allocated reconstruction funds to other areas.

VI. Recent Reports

NOTE: For a fairly comprehensive list of reports on IDPs, take a look at IAN's web portal localed at www.ian.org

- Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. July 17, 2002

Available on the web: http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/reports/2002/779e.pdf

Summary: The report covers progress since April 22, 2002 and includes the sections: building functioning democratic institutions, laying the foundations for economic progress, tackling crime and violence, creating conditions for sustainable returns and reintegration, establishment of UNMIK authority throughout the whole of Kosovo, Kosovo Protection Corps, relations with the FRY, relations with fYROM and appendixes.

- The Ottoman Dilimma, Power and Property Relations Under the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, August 8, 2002

Available on the web at: http://www.esiweb.org/

Summary: This report was written by the Lessons Learned and Analysis United of the European Union Pillar of UNMIK. For policy buffs interested in peacekeeping missions, this is a must read. These quotes are pulled from the Executive Summary: "UNMIK has made itself responsible as trustee and administrator for a vast amount of state and socially owned property across Kosovo, including some 370 socially owned enterprises (SOEs). However, over the past three years, it has lacked the institutional resources to establish an effective property regime. As a result, control over some of Kosovo's most valuable economic assets is being determined outside the legal system, in countless individual power struggles across Kosovo. The results have been harmful to both economic development, social and political stability and the establishment of the rule of law...This report analyses different strategies employed by UNMIK to fulfil its responsibility as trustee of social property...It concludes that these efforts have done little to curb confusion over commercial property or to promote an environment more conducive for private sector growth.

- Not on the Agenda: Human Rights of People with Mental Diabilities in Kosovo, by Mental Disability Rights International, August 7, 2002.

Available in PDF on the web at www.MDRI.org

Summary: MDRI, an American-based organization that advocates internationally for the rights of people with mental disabilities, released this shocking report on the state of Kosovo's mental institutions. According to the findings, patients at Kosovo's mental institutions have been raped and physically abused under the eye of UN staff and were threatened with punishment if they reported the abuse.

MDRI conducted seven fact-finding misions to Kosovo between September, 2000 and July, 2002. MDRI teams investigated conditions at UN-run inpatient and community facilities, particularly the social care facility of Shtime, a 285-bed facility for individuals with mental disabilities, and Prishtina University Hospital's psychiatric ward, a 75 bed short-term facility, that houses 100 patients at a time.

One of the reports findings was: "Shtime is so dangerous and destructive to the mental and physical health of its residents that the UN should plan for its closure at the soonest possible date - as soon as alternatives can be created in the community." The report adds that although UNMIK authorities have been informed about cases of abuse at Shtime, they have done nothing to remove known abusers from day-to-day contact with former victims."

MDRI's report makes a number of recommendations, while UNMIK had proposed legislation changing the Yugoslav-era "law on commitments" before the report was released. The law would change the criteria for committing people, as "many shouldn't be there" according to an UNMIK spokesman. In addition the Dutch government has given $2 million for refurbishing Shtime. However, UN administration has not yet announced concrete steps to rectify the abuses noted in the report.

UNITED NATIONS
OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS

Belgrade office: 011-3614-371, 3614-368, fax: 682-963,
e-mail: todorovica@un.org or alextodorovic@hotmail.com

Prishtina office: 038-241-509, fax: 038-501-516
Mahmud Golan, e-mail: golam@un.org