IDP Bulletin, issue No.1, 11 Jul 2002

i. Introductory note
The IDP Bulletin is the result of several weeks of consultations and preparation with UNHCR Belgrade and Prishtina/Pristina, PRM partners, and many others who provide services to IDPs. Nearly all have expressed a need for timely information. It is important to remember that the IDP Bulletin will be as useful as we all make it. We will depend on you for information; let us know what's happening when we call.

Also, send us a note at the above e-mail address if you want to be added to or taken off the mailing list.

Though the main target of this newsletter will be organizations who do something for IDPs in Serbia and Montenegro, and IDPs or minority communities in Kosovo, the newsletter will also go out to those whose main goal is informing IDPs. Feel free to give us a call with suggestions or comments. In the coming weeks, OCHA will release a "who does what" guide, listing organizations who provide services to IDPs, as well as a list of surveys and databases on IDPs. If you have not already done so, please send us a note describing your IDP database.

Special thanks to Mathijs Le Rutte, of UNHCR Belgrade, and Jane Lewis, from UNHCR Prishtina/Pristina, for their extensive consultation on this project.

Important dates; for further information contact UNOCHA Belgrade

July 15, Mitrovica, Local Working Group on Ashkaelia; Task force for Slivovo, Pristina rural north, Vranjevac; Novoberde/Novo Brdo, MWG

July 16, Obilic/q, MWG; Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje, MWG; Kamenice/a, MWG

July 17, Prizren, MWG; Djilan/Gnjilane, MWG

July 18, Task force for Plemetina; Prizreni/Prizren, MWG; town hall meeting for IDPs in Medvedje

July 22, Task force for Magura, Medvec, Mala Dobraja

July 23, Lipjan/ Lipjljan, MWG; Viti/Vitina, MWG

July 24, Suhareka/Suva Reka, MWG; Prishtina, MWG

July 25, Djilan/Gnjilane, RWG

July 26, Strpce, MWG; Ferizaj/Urosevac, MWG

July 29, Task force for Slivovo, Pristina rural north, Vranjevac

July 30, Kamenice/a, MWG

July 31, "go-and-see" to Djilan/Gnjilane organized by IRD

I. News and policy update

News

Belgrade media report that Budva police on July, 9 unsuccessfully attempted to move 115 Kosovo IDPs from the summer resort in Kamenovo, Montenegro. The police did not explain why they suspended their operation.

Personnel changes

Andrew Whitley has left as head of the SRSG's Office of Returns and Communities. His replacement is expected to arrive in August.

Sarah Baschetti, a community liason officer with the Office of Returns and Communities, has left ORC. Her replacement has yet to be announced.

Nenad Radosavljevic was in June appointed Senior Advisor in the Office of Returns and Communities. He will play an important role in helping to shape policies aimed at facilitating returns and integrating ethnic communities. Mr. Radosavljevic was the former chief executive of an ironworks company is Lesak and general manager of a tool factory in Zvecan.

SRSG Mr. Steiner announced the opening of "Office of Missing Person". Mr. Jose Pablo Baraybar, a former ICTY expert was appointed head of the office.

Returns

The Italian government agreed on June 28 to finance a $3.5 million return project to the Peja/Pec region, which was put together by the Peja/Pec Municipal Working Group on Returns (RWG). The project aims to bring back 500 Kosovo Serbs to the Brestovic and Livoce locations. The project has also been endorsed by the RWG.

The Kline/Klina MWG has completed, with full endorsement of the RWG, a project for return of 200 Kosovo Serbs to Bica, Drenovica and Grabc locations. This integrated project will cost 953,000 Euro and the German government has demonstrated strong interest in funding the project.

The Prizreni/Prizren MWG has finalized a project for return of nearly 250 Kosovo Serbs to the Zhupa Valley. The project costs 1.94 million Euros and has been submitted to donors for consideration.

Some 86 Ashkalis have returned to Vushtri/Vuciturn town in the last two months, including 27 on July 9. The return process was initiated by the IDPs through the advocacy of a Kosovo human rights NGO, the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms headed by Mr. Adem Demaci. The Municipal Assembly has adopted a motion supporting the return of the Ashkalies. The Albanian neighbors have publicly supported the return of the Ashkalies. The Prime Minister and SRSG have separately greeted the returnees in their homes.

Policy Update

Registration: OSCE has allocated 13.2 million Euros for municipal elections in Kosovo, scheduled for October 26, 2002. In addition to the 5.1 million Euro that have been allocated by the Kosovo Consolidated Budget for election purposes, the total election budget is 18.3 million Euro. As with previous elections, IDPs in Serbia and Montenegro can vote in Kosovo elections and run for office. Persons who are able to prove they were residents in Kosovo on 1 January 1998 are able to register to vote and run for office. Through a joint commissariat/OSCE operation, there will be approximately 80 fixed and scheduled registration sites set up throughout Serbia and approximately 20 fixed and scheduled registration sites in Montenegro. Registration will run from July 15-August 17. Political Entities had until July 1 to submit certification applications for participation in the elections. Political entities have until July 29 to provide a list of candidates. OSCE is in the midst of conducting a public information campaign that is being implemented through the Commissariat for Refugees. Queries can be directed to the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees at the following phone number (011) 623 877. Questions may also be directed to the local Commissariat Trust.

The Kosovo Assembly on July 4, 2002 adopted a resolution on "Rights of Communities and Their Members and on the Conditions for Return of IDPs and Refugees." The document emphasizes the right of all citizens to enjoy private property, freedom of movement, and the right to return. The Kosovo government has called upon the Kosovo Assembly to work on the preconditions for the return of refugees and displaced persons.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Dr. Bajram Rexhepi and Lufti Haziri, president of Kosovo's Association of Municipal Assemblies, last week signed a "Strategy of Joint Principles" pertaining to minority issues such as integration and return. The principles include: "all displaced persons within or outside Kosovo should be given the choice to return to their homes in Kosovo, if they so wish...That all returnees must have a real chance to rebuild their lives and contribute to our collective society...The right of all Kosovars, regardless of their ethnicity, to possess their properties legally.

The Serbian parliament has endorsed "Principles of Programme of Returns of IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija", which was prepared by the CCK and completed in April, 2002.

Authorities representing minority issues in Kosovo were disappointed to learn that UNMIK's Housing Property Directorate received the paltry sum of $100,000 at a June 21 international donor's conference in Brussels. The chronically under-funded office that deals with property settlement issues in Kosovo has taken in some 16,000 applications and was asking for $8 million to finish its caseload. Sources at HPD say that long awaited institutional changes are taking place at HPD, as yet not formally announced, that should improve the funding situation at the agency. These changes should be completed by September. The agency will be taking property claims through December 1, 2002.

SRSG Michael Steiner on July 5 visited the Smederevo Collective Center in Serbia, located 50 km outside of Belgrade.

IDP Services

UNMIK recently opened five information centers across Kosovo which gather and disseminate information to IDPs. These centers are meant to provide individual information to IDPs. Also, if you have not seen it, the information centers produce a very useful bi-weekly newsletter in Serbian, Danas i Sutra or Today and Tommorrow, which informs IDPs of the latest news relevant to them across Kosovo. Not all of the information centers have telephones, but we will give you the complete list as soon as they are available. In the meanwhile, IDPs in Belgrade can pick up a copy of Danas i Sutra at UNHCR Belgrade, Krunska 58.

The NGO IRD recently opened an IDP information center in Bujanovac, in Southern Serbia, where many IDPs live. The center includes brochures from HPD, UNMIK and earlier bulletins. The center includes two computers with internet access. The goal of the info. center is to provide information to IDPs about different areas of assistance. The info. center is located in Bujanovac at 48 Sava Kovacevic, and the phone number is 017-654-322.

IRD is conducting a series of "go-and-see" visits to eastern Kosovo municipalities. Contact Jovan Jovanovic, at IRD, at 018-335-619 for more information.

The German NGO HELP began on July 1 home income generating/ and self-reliance projects for IDPs in Kraljevo, Uzice, Pozega, Cacak, Novi Pazar, Sremski Karlovci, Indjija and Ruma. The first five locations listed will be run out of HELP's offices in Kraljevo, the last three out of Belgrade. The programme will include 280 beneficiaries who will receive grants for trades. The programme covers both small businesses and home businesses. HELP's Belgrade office number is: 011-418-771.

The ORC reminds all IDPs to participate and engage in the MWGs and RWGs as this is the key venue where IDP problems are addressed. By not participating, your voice is not heard.

II. Service gaps/notes from the field

Based on an earlier joint food assessment by UNHCR and WFP Prishtina/Pristina, WFP has ended, as of 30 June, its dry food programme for vulnerable groups in Kosovo. This has left a possible gap in the provision of canned foods to IDP returnees. WFP provided a three-month supply of non-perishable food to returnees. There are approximately 100 metric tons of food available, which is being handled by the Consortium for Inter-ethnic Development (CID) warehouses in Viti/Vitina and Lipjan/Lipljan. OCM Prishtine/Prishtina has come to an agreement with WFP Rome for the remaining food in Kosovo. Of the 100 metric tons remaining, projections were made that 13 tons be put aside for spontaneous returns while the remaining 87 tons be distributed to the refugee caseload from fYROM. The stipulation for the transfer of food from WFP to UNHCR was such that all of the remaining rations must be distributed by the end of this month. As of July 30, there will be no more rations available from this stockpile. WFP Serbia will provide organized returns from Serbia and Montenegro with a 3-month ration upon their departure. The overall caseloads in FRY is 1,500 beneficiaries for all return projects in 2002.

UNHCR is in the process of gathering 167 minority village profiles in Kosovo. The village profiles provide valuable and timely information on security issues, infrastructure, housing, health services, economic activities, education services as well as a summary on key problems in the area. The problem is that they are presently only available in English. If translated these profiles could be a valuable asset for IDPs wanting to know more about specific villages. OCHA Belgrade is currently discussing with UNHCR Prishtina/Pristina and Belgrade the possibility of translating the village profiles.

EAR implementing partners will be finalizing most of their minority reconstruction beneficiaries by this month. The Municipal Housing Committees and Municipal Reconstruction partners need to finalize their allocations by the end of July in order that reconstruction be completed by the end of the building season. This leaves little chance that people considering return right now will be eligible before next year for reconstruction assistance on a larger scale. The reconstruction programme is part of a 10 percent budget allocation of EAR funds for the reconstruction of minority homes. The programme has been operational since March and EAR hopes to rebuild 1000 minority homes. The lists of beneficiaries have been obtained from UNHCR and ORC, and include minorities who have remained in Kosovo as well as spontaneous returnees.

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