IDP Bulletin, issue No. 3, 01 Oct 2002

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 local 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.

Kosovo

October 10, Regional Working Group (RWG), Prishtina, 10 am, UNMIK office

October 10, "Diversity Task Force" will meet 2-4 pm, 2002 in room C301 of the Government Building in Prishtina. The discussion will focus on the draft Omnibus Anti-Discrimination law, which is presently in its sixth draft and contains 16 Articles.

For more information, please call Cuyme Mahmutaj (ext. 6586) or Melissa Stone (6591), Advisors of the Office of Prime Minister, Advisory Office on Good Governance, Human Rights, Equal Opportunity and Gender.

October 11, Donor briefing, Prishtina, UNMIK auditorium; meeting will provide an update of the May 7 meeting. Time to be announced.

October 15, RWG, Mitrovica, 10 am, municipal building

October 23, RWG, Gjilan/Gnjilane, 12 pm, municipal building

October 26, Kosovo elections

Note: As of publication of this bulletin, no dates have been set for RWG meetings in Prizren or Peja/Pec.

Serbia

October 15, Roundatable conference "Displaced Persons Between Survival and Return", 11:00 am, in the UN Conference Hall, Tolstojeva No. 47.

This conference will inform competent national and international institutions, whose mandate is to serve IDPs, about the problems faced by displaced persons as well as IDP organizations. The main topic of conversation will cover analysis of cooperation to date, identification of possible mistakes and coordination among organizations who offer assistance to IDPs, and preparation of IDPs for return to their homes.

Unconfirmed attendees will include the local NGOs CIP-Humana, Centar for Legal Protection, Bistrica, ARO-The Association for Roma Education, Solidarity-Pirot, IDP representatives from collective centers in Avala and Mirijevo; Branko Radujko, advisor for refugees and displaced persons to PM Zoran Djindjic; international organizations will include UN, BPRM, UNMIK, Freedom House, INTERSOS, ICRC, HPD, UMCOR, ARC, OCHA. UNHCR, DRC, NRC, IOCC.

October 15, Donor briefing, Belgrade, Hyatt, 3 pm

October 26, Kosovo elections; there will be over 70 polling stations in Serbia and Montenegro for IDPs to vote.

November 5, EU/World Bank Kosovo donor conference, Brussels-SRSG Michael Steiner has said that returns will be a top priority at the conference.

Please note that "Povratak" a show serving the refugee and IDP community, is shown every Sunday on RTS 1 at 11:00 am.

II. News and policy update

News

UNMIK has announced that exhumed bodies in Kosovo will undergo a large-scale DNA identification process. The ground was prepared for the project in 2000 when family members with missing loved ones began donating blood samples to be matched against exhumed bodies. Nearly 6,000 samples have been collected and over half have been logged into a DNA database.

A new kindergarten has opened in Zvecan, which will accommodate 250 children between nine months and six years of age. The facility was completed thanks to the joint efforts of UNMIK, the International Organization for Migration, Save the Children Denmark, USAID and the Zvecan municipality.

In the 77 registration centers that were established by OSCE, around 107,000 Kosovo Serb IDP voters (displaced in FRY) registered themselves by the August 23 deadline to participate in municipal elections. The Kosovo electorate consists of 1,240,000 voters of which 1.1 million live in Kosovo while 140,000 are displaced in Serbia and Montenegro.

The first MWG meeting in Istog/k took place on August 14. The main issues discussed focused on the importance of integration and reconciliation efforts as part of the returns process.

III. Returns and Reconstruction

According to the latest UNHCR numbers, during the January,2000-July, 2002 period, cumulative minority returns to Kosovo were 4,793 persons. This includes 1,698 individual returned in 2002, including:

• 604 Kosovo Serbs
• 724 Roma-Egyptians
• 110 Bosniaks/Gorani
• 260 Kosovo Albanian and others

Since 2000, UNHCR and UNMIK have organized GSVs to more than 100 locations for more than 1000 displaced persons.

The principal deputy for SRSG Steiner conducted a field trip for donors on August 28 to Prizren and Gjilan/Gnjilane regions. In Prizren donors visited Novake village, whose former residents have expressed a desire to return, as well as to Podgorce in the Viti/Vitina municipality, a village where conditions for return are in place. The villages' mixed inhabitants are displaced in surrounding areas and reportedly want to return and are committed to building a life together. An official from the ORC noted that the trip generated interest among donors, and that donors are more interested to learn about the overall process as opposed to individual projects. Bilateral funding also seems to be more forthcoming for reconstruction and not as much for reconciliation. This gap needs to be addressed.

SRSG Steiner on September 24 visited return projects in the Gnjilane/Gjilan area where displaced people are rebuilding homes and benefiting from income-generating projects and other forms of support designed to make their return sustainable. In Stara Kolonija (Novo Brdo municipality), work is underway to return 23 displaced families; 18 Serb and five Albanians. In Donje and Gornji Makresh (Gnjilan), returns of 33 Kosovo Serb families are being completed. Donors are assisting income generation with a small shop and farms, while KFOR and the American Refugee Committee have reconstructed a small health clinic and school.

The Office of Returns and Communities' priority before winter sets in is to address the immediate needs of the people who have returned and who need adequate conditions to be able to stay. ORC is calling on local NGO participation in the municipal working groups and on their engagement in the returns process.

Gjilan/Gnjilane has seen a steady trickle of spontaneous K-Serb returns to different locations. In August, 59 K-Serbs moved back to their places of origin. Vitina: 13 Serbs, Kamenica: 9 Serbs, Gjilan: 7 Serbs (5 to Pasjane and 2 to Gornji Makresh) Novo Brdo: 30 Serbs.

A second organised return of a group of 18 Serb families to their homes in the villages of Bica and Grabac, in the municipality of Klina, took place on September 10. The second group, like the first in July, will be accommodated in tents pending finalisation of the work on their homes. Fresh bread is delivered every day and each person is provided with a three-month food ration, kitchenware, stoves, firewood, blankets and matresses.

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.

In Serbia, IRC has completed the catch up programme for RAE children and the organization will not be able to continue the programme due to lack of funds. There is an urgent request from the RAE community to keep the progamme running.

In Serbia, IRD has received funding from USAID to continue the AltNet Small Business Development Program for another year. The programme will focus on refugees and IDPs who wish to remain in Serbia. IRD's goal over the next year is to assist and support 350 new and expanding microenterprises, 30 small businesses and 60 youth apprentices, creating an estimated 1,145 new jobs. Grants valued at $500 to $1000 will be provided to microenterprises and grants valued at $2000 to $4000 will be provided to viable small businesses. IRD will also provide business management training and technical skills training to IDP and refugee entrepreneurs.

The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), has started a four-month training programme for IDP Associations in such practices as office management, human rights principles, etc.... Call 3245-232 for more info.

Update on Regional Seminars

Over the past month, there have been two major events regarding IDP and refugee issues, as well as a retreat to discuss IDP returns. All of these events have advanced some aspect of humanitarian work related to IDPs. This is our own summary, and we encourage you to refer to the host organizations for a complete summary and documentation.

CRS and partners: "Civil Society Supports Voluntary IDP Returns to Kosovo", held at Kopaonik, August 23-25

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) organized a retreat with nine IDP associations and three refugee associations to discuss a joint initiative and project proposal that grew out of a four-month joint effort. Representatives from BPRM, UMMIK, and UNOCHA Belgrade attended as observers and the meeting was supported by Branko Radujko, Serbian PM Zoran Djindjic's Advisor on Refugee and IDP questions.

CRS and partners' proposal addressed the problem of how to put IDPs and their associations at the center of the process determining their future, rather than remaining passive actors to be acted upon by political forces and macro-level trends.

The key objectives of the initiative are:

(1) To strengthen the relationship between IDP associations and their constituents by identifying gaps in skills and information (2) respond to those gaps through provision of well-defined services at the community level and (3) improve networking with relevant actors so that IDP associations and their constituents are less prone to manipulation by politicized responses.

Nine IDP associations, together with three IDP NGOs (Refugee Return Services, Serbian Democratic Forum and Pravi Odgovor) form a Civil Society Core Group (CSCG), which has adopted a set of guiding principles. CRS has the role of honest broker and manager of internal communications.

The CSCG will focus on four types of services to IDPs; 1) information dissemination 2) Go-and-See visits (GSV) 3) Legal assistance and 4) community debates with players in the return process.

CRS and partners discussed this project in depth, and made recommendations on how to improve the final proposal. The Core Group for the support of the voluntary return of IDPs to Kosovo accepted the previously adopted principles of joint activity and accepted the proposed specific responsibilities and structure of the Core Group.

There was a general agreement that CRS' partners need to establish links with ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo and with Kosovo institutions.

For more information about this project, please contact Thomas Garofalo atCRS, at 489-1591, or by e-mail at: crs-cr@crsbgd.org.yu

LIG conference "Refugees: a human rights challenge" held in Ohrid, Macedonia, September 3-4.

The Legal Issues Group (LIG), a network of 25 NGOs from Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia, all of whom advocate for refugees and IDPs, held its regional conference "Refugees: a human rights challenge" on September 3 and 4 in Ohrid, Macedonia. LIG is a working group between two networks of civil society organizations - the "South Eastern Europe Refugee Assistance Network" (SEE-RAN) and the "Balkan Human Rights Network" (BHRN). The FRESTA fund (fund for Peace and Stability) of the Danish Foreign Ministry has been funding cross-boundary civil society collaboration in South Eastern Europe since 2000.

The conference provided a forum to promote regional cooperation and dialogue among governments, international organisations and NGOs in the region, mainly with respect to actions needed to remove obstacles for the full implementation of human rights standards linked to specific refugee rights such as property, citizenship, freedom of movement and access to personal documents. The conference brought together representatives of governments and authorities in the region, as well as representatives of international organizations, including Stability Pact, UNHCR, OSCE, UNHCHR, FRESTA, international and local NGOs, region-wide.

For more information or to receive a complete copy of the recommendations, call either Group 484 at 324-8686 or the International Aid Network at 32-29-057.

Please see Annex A, at the end of this document for a summary of the recommendations made at this conference.

UNOCHA, Workshop and Policy Level Forum on the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, Belgrade, September 9-11, 13

OCHA Belgrade in partnership with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNHCR organized two workshops financed by the OCHA IDP unit in Geneva on the subject of internally displaced persons. Using the Guiding Principles as the framework for training, discussion, and debate, the week was divided into two groups with two different purposes. The first three days involved participants working at the technical or operational level and were devoted to training on the Guiding Principles, and to forming a series of recommendations for future action based on field experience. These participants included UN country team officers from FRY and Kosovo, UNMIK personnel, FRY government authorities (CCK and Commissariat for Refugees), national and international NGOs, and representatives from IDP associations in the region.

The outputs from the first half of the week were provided to participants of the "policy forum", which consisted of the same mix of agencies, but at a decision making level. This second group of policy makers were asked to consider the work of the first workshop, debate the issues, and come up with statements of intent. The objective was to use this forum as a springboard for future action on IDPs, using the recommendations as a framework for developing a national strategy and plan of action for IDPs.

Group 484 has continued with training of Guiding Principles for IDP associations, and more training sessions will be announced soon.

For more information, or to receive a copy of the recommendations, please contact OCHA Belgrade at 3614-371, or e-mail us at ocha-belgrade@unocha.org

Please see Annex B at the end of this document for a summary of the recommendations made at the conference.

V. 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

Ombudsman Institution in Kosovo, Second Annual Report, 2001-2002, addressed to Michael Steiner.

Released since the last IDP Bulletin came out, this report is fairly critical of the human rights situation in Kosovo. It can be found on the web at www.ombudspersonkosovo.org

Annex A

Summary of recommendations made at LIG Conference

Representatives met in workshops focusing on key issues and made the following recommendations on a regional level:

Right to Property: 1) Contribute to the full implementation of the rule of law and observe/establish bilateral agreements on legal aid in civil and criminal matters among countries and entities of the former Yugoslavia. 2) Guarantee the right to property and specific acquired rights (including tenancy rights) to all refugees and displaced persons throughout the region, regardless of their final decision on integration or repatriation...

Citizenship Rights: 3) Advocate for the conclusion of bilateral agreements on dual citizenship among all countries of the former Yugoslavia in order to regulate citizenship issues and discontinue discriminative practices. 4) Share professional and expert resources among NGOs and governments in drafting positive national legislation and agreements between countries needed to resolve the legal consequences caused by the dissolution of the SFRY...with special focus on vulnerable groups such as Roma refugees and IDPs.

Right to Return: 5) Outline the common understanding of the content of human rights with respect to return, as well as enhance practical cooperation within the networks for improved service delivery and advocacy. 6) Ensure active participation of refugees and IDPs in planning and implementing assistance programmes, utilizing the skills and advantages of NGOs working directly with refugees and displaced persons.

Freedom of Movement and Access to Documents: 7) Continue the advocacy and lobbying efforts to harmonize national regulations with international human rights standards and improve their practical implementation, ensuring full freedom of movement and access to personal documents throughout the region. 8) Establish full flow of relevant information related to freedom of movement issues between NGOs and governments at the regional level.

Further action will follow the Ohrid conference, both on the NGO-government level as well as on the international level of Peace and Stability Pact, to continue these efforts in more specific working groups and forums.

Annex B

Summary of recommendations made at UNOCHA conference

Both the workshop and policy level forum were divided into three groups and participants were divided according to their expertise into one of three areas:

1) Strengthening the institutional framework 2) Preventing further displacement and promoting protection and assistance and 3) Promoting Conditions for durable solutions.

Without going into exhaustive detail, some of the recommendations included:

Group 1 - Strengthening the institutional framework

Declaration of support for Guiding Principles: regional authorities should make a public declaration of support for the Guiding Principles. This declaration would recognize the Guiding Principles as the legitimate overall framework for addressing internal displacement issues.

Incorporation of the Guiding Principles into domestic law: the public declaration should also be a publicly stated commitment to translating the Guiding Principles into action, with

Group 2 - Prevention and protection

Prevention of displacement: a series of recommendations were made with regard to the conditions of IDPs and ethnic minorities in Kosovo, and how to prevent further displacement.

Rights of IDPs as citizens and protection during displacement: this included addressing the right of IDPs to full legal status, and the main obstacle to that right - lack of documentation. Also, there must be a concerted effort to raise awareness of IDP assistance needs within the donor community.

Group 3 - Promoting conditions for durable solutions

Informed choice: the group recommended that better information be made available to IDPs

Sustainable livelihoods: programme assistance to IDPs by national and international organizations need to factor in long-term solutions (income generating opportunities, etc...).

Institutional responsibility and policy coherence: a series of recommendations were made with respect to UNMIK, the PISG', and the Housing Property Directorate, and their responsibilities with respect to the right to return.

Some of these issues will be addressed in UN OCHA Belgrade's IDP Working Group, which has recently been expanded and focuses largely on policy, while others will be addressed through UNHCR's IDP Information Working Group. The suggested follow-up is not exhaustive and organizations are encouraged to follow-up independently as appropriate to their mandates.

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 ocha-belgrade@unocha.org

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