Yugoslavia: The Situation in the Municipalities

CONSULTATIVE FORUM WITH YUGOSLAV MUNICIPALITIES
Belgrade, 13-14 November 2000

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Chairman,

Hon. Federal Minister of Interior,

Hon. Mayors,

Distinguished Delegates

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour to address you here today on behalf of the United Nations system in Yugoslavia, and in particular the operational agencies responsible for humanitarian and development activities. For the UN, the last ten days have been particularly important due to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's new membership of the UN General Assembly on 1 November 2000.

I am speaking to you on behalf of Mr. Steven Allen, UN Humanitarian/Resident Co-ordinator ad interim in FRY, who very much regrets not being here today since he was closely involved with the Stability Pact Special Co-ordinator's Office in the planning of this important meeting. Mr. Allen has been called at short notice to a meeting with the UN Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette and Special Envoy Carl Bildt in Stockholm and will subsequently join the UN delegation at High Level Steering Group of donors to south east Europe in Paris, where Yugoslavia is the main item on the agenda. I am pleased to inform you that my colleague Mr. Jacob Simonsen, acting Director of the United Nations Development Programme's regional bureau for Europe, will also be at the Stockholm and Paris meetings, and will be visiting this country next week.

The purpose of the present agenda item is to provide an opportunity for Mayors to directly advise the meeting on current conditions and practical issues at local level and their priority concerns. This is intended to inform policy-making and agreement on priorities both within Yugoslavia and with international donors.

From the UN side, we see this as an important step in an ongoing process to mobilise external resources, first to get Yugoslavia through the coming winter, but at the same time to start to address the medium- and longer-term transition and recovery concerns. Other steps in this process include: of course in addition to the HLSG process that I just mentioned, the launch of the UN Consolidated Humanitarian Appeal for south east Europe on 29 November; Yugoslavia features as the largest component of that with $180 million sought for Montenegro and Serbia (excluding Kosovo); then in early December, there will be a donor consultation organised by European Commission and the World Bank to continue the resource mobilisation process.

Today's meeting is an important opportunity to send real well-informed feed-back from Yugoslavia, from the people who really know what is happening on the ground at the municipality level, you the Mayors, to the international community.

In order to try to structure and eventually better analyse that feed-back, the UN distributed a questionnaire to each municipality, from which we have been able to draw some initial findings. A complete analysis of results is in process and will be issued in a comprehensive report in December. Those municipalities that have not yet returned the completed questionnaire are requested to do so as soon as possible so that they may be included in the full report.

At this point, we have received responses from some 130 Municipalities, representing two-thirds of all municipalities and 90% of the population and refugee and internally displaced persons caseloads. This high response rate, both from Serbia and Montenegro, is an impressive indication of the importance which Mayors attach to the issues raised in the survey, and of their enthusiasm to engage in the dialogue that today's meeting provides.

The questionnaire assesses general conditions at municipal level including utilities and transport, plus health, education and social welfare services. The focus is on immediate urgent needs through the coming winter, on which I will report first. We did also include a couple of questions on medium-term or development/recovery needs, on which I will also comment shortly in my own capacity representing UNDP here.

The initial findings are based on a rough review of all responses received, statistical analysis of a sample of responses, and backed up by the work of a UNICEF multi-sectoral survey team which visited 31 municipalities between May and September this year. I have also referred to a number of related sector specific or technical surveys undertaken by various agencies.

ENERGY

Energy supply emerges consistently as the most urgent priority for humanitarian assistance, with particular focus on heating. It was raised as the primary concern (over 75% of respondents) for public central heating systems and in hospitals, schools, collective centres and other institutions through the winter. The issue affects both local and displaced people directly in their homes as well as the public utilities and social services on which they rely.

The energy sector in FRY consists of three large systems. These are:

• Electricity generation.
• Oil and gas industry.
• District heating system.

These systems are vertically integrated country-wide, republic or municipal monopolies. In one way or another, most of the population relies on this system for the provision of domestic heating, water and electricity.

Current consumption of electricity can be broken down as follows: the majority, about 70%, is consumed by private households, who rely on electricity for heating, cooking, hot water and food storage. The remaining 30% is used by service institutions including hospitals, schools, public transport and administration, and in industries such as food processing and pharmaceutical.

Insufficient supplies of fuel and electricity is the most significant problem. The survey also identifies poorly functioning or broken equipment as a serious concern. Responses indicate that almost all municipalities experience disruptions in power supply and that current electricity supply meets less than 30% of needs in municipalities.

Over 50% of households use electricity as their main source of heating, thus consuming almost 70% of the total amount of available electricity. Half of those households cannot switch to alternative heating sources in the short term. 27% of households are connected to district heating systems, the vast majority of which rely on gas. District heating systems also require electricity to operate the pumps in the network.

A large majority of schools and hospitals operate on independent heating systems (heating oil, coal). The municipal survey again confirms (over 80% of responses) inadequate supplies of heating fuel and poorly functioning heating equipment as primary concerns.

Agriculture is listed as a primary economic activity in 71% of municipalities, with lack of fuel the principal concern affecting the farming sector. Lack of fuel is also the leading constraint for public transport systems.

About 70% of households are equipped with hot water boilers and deep freezers. Hot water boilers are the primary source of sanitary hot water. Since electricity is relatively cheap, home deep freezers are used to store food in order to cope with rising food prices during the winter.

WATER & SANITATION

About 85% of households are connected to central water supply systems. Except for the City of Novi Sad (for which the water supply line was bomb-damaged), the large water supply systems (Belgrade, Nis and Rzav) covering a total population of some 2.1 million are adequate both in quantity and quality. These systems are classified as priorities and therefore have been relatively unaffected by power cuts.

However, water and sanitation systems suffer from a problem consistently identified by the survey across the range of public services: equipment is frequently aged, obsolete, poorly maintained and overused.

Most water supply systems in the less developed municipalities are operating at various degrees below capacity and in many cases under critical conditions with no stand-by capacity and some on the verge of collapse. A recent survey (Health Baseline Study) covering over 5,000 households found that 33% of the households experience occasional interruptions during the whole year and an additional 13.7% suffer interruptions during the summer months.

Based on the test results from 101 water supply systems carried out in 1998 and 1999 by the Institute of Public Health, 66% do not meet the microbiological WHO/FRY standard for drinking water and 48% do not meet the chemical and physical WHO/FRY standard of drinking water. Investments in treatment facilities, equipment plus funds to purchase supplies are required.

REFUGEES AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS

The total population of refugees and internally displaced persons is approximately 714,000. There are around 472,000 refugees in Serbia and just under 20,000 in Montenegro. UNHCR and the FRY Government have also recently completed a registration of internally displaced persons indicating 190,000 in Serbia and 32,000 in Montenegro. The proportion of refugees and internally displaced to the local population varies considerably among municipalities. Within Serbia, refugees are concentrated in the north and internally displaced in the south. The proportion of refugees in urban centres compared to rural is higher than for internally displaced persons.

Over 90% of the refugee/internally displaced population are temporarily accommodated with relatives, friends, or in rented accommodation. Less than 10% live in collective centres. The survey confirms that the conditions and priority needs of refugees and internally displaced people are very similar to those of the local population.

The most common problem is lack of income. Though it is difficult to obtain statistically valid data on this subject, particularly regarding activity in the grey economy, it appears that only a very small proportion can rely on regular income sufficient to meet basic needs; for example, two thirds of those living in collective centres have no income of any kind.

The vast majority have great difficulty paying for items such as medicine, electricity and heating fuel. The refugee/internally-displaced population also use (and place an extra burden on) health, education, social welfare and other public services and are therefore affected by conditions in these sectors.

Though the scenario for internally displaced persons is still unclear, many refugees are now assessing their option of return to place of origin or local integration. Relative prospects for making a living are a significant factor in making this choice.

HEALTH

Buildings tend to be old and poorly maintained, requiring rehabilitation. Insulation, including repairs to roofs and windows are identified as priorities. Survey results indicate that water supply is a problem in health facilities in 50% of municipalities. As indicated above, heating supplies and rehabilitation of heating systems are the most urgent requirements in the winter.

As with the buildings, much (over 60%) medical equipment is classified as old and poorly functioning or obsolete. Some respondents criticized humanitarian assistance programmes for not responding adequately to this problem.

Though staff numbers are generally adequate, the survey indicates that 90% of respondents identified the financial status of staff in health institutions as unsatisfactory.

Though there has been significant humanitarian assistance in drug supply, it is viewed as as insufficient and sometimes inappropriate (such as some drugs which do not meet FRY/WHO standards pertaining to expiry dates and user instructions). Only 15% of Medications and sanitary materials available to the population from state pharmacies are reported to meet just 15% of needs. Shortages of sanitary materials within health centres are also almost universal (94% of responses).

Note however that in spite of these problems, 80% of responses indicate that health workers retain a strong commitment to their profession. This is partly reflected in responses which show hygiene levels in 75% of health facilities as satisfactory or good.

With support from the Italian Government WHO and UNICEF, together with the Institute for Public Health in Serbia, have recently undertaken a survey of over 5,000 households across Serbia to determine baseline data in the health sector. Field work is complete and a report will be produced shortly.

EDUCATION

The problems which affect health facilities also apply to schools. Poor maintenance and overuse are reported: for example responses indicate that 100% of primary schools operate a shift system. Rehabilitation of roofs, windows, heating systems are identified as priorities for assistance. Water supply and sanitary facilities are also highlighted - approximately half of schools are connected to the public water supply system and most have unsatisfactory sanitary facilities.

Teaching aids and other furniture and equipment including school kitchens are also in poor condition due to age, lack of maintenance and overuse.

The problems identified above, plus low salary levels, are a major concern affecting teachers motivation levels. Strikes continue to disrupt education.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Social institutions share the needs of health and educational facilities in terms of heating fuel and rehabilitation of buildings and equipment.

The service appears to be overwhelmed; it is estimated that the actual number of people in need of social welfare assistance is ten times higher than the number of registered beneficiaries. Low or lack of income is a significant factor expanding the numbers in need; however many eligible people are thought not to register because they have no expectation of receiving assistance. A further indication that the system is struggling to cope with the scale of needs is that 90% of municipalities have identified additional caseloads over and above those identified through criteria established by the Ministry.

Social welfare allowances are considered insufficient to meet basic subsistence needs and conditions in social institutions are poor; many social cases rely on international humanitarian assistance even for basic food. This gives an indication that, for the most vulnerable, conditions are similar for the local population and refugee/IDP caseloads.

MEDIUM AND LONGER-TERM RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

I will now endeavour to address the medium to longer-term issues raised by the responses received from several municipalities.

By far the greatest need expressed was to support economic recovery and inward investment. This is not surprising. The country is reeling from widespread unemployment and under-employment, as well as years of economic decay. Towns and cities face unprecedented widespread impoverishment People must be given new opportunities to build their livelihoods and their communities. There is a great need for schemes to increase employment and improve the revenues of the majority of households in the country.

Over 50 per cent of mayors responding voiced concerns for investment in private sector development and the promotion of entrepreneurship. Added to this were concerns for reforms that will promote economic restructuring and privatisation. City-to-city cooperation would be one aspect of this, but so too would firm-to-firm cooperation between enterprises here and abroad.

In order for municipalities to pursue this and create local enabling and supportive environments, public administration needs to be overhauled and adapted to the needs of a 21st century information technology economy. Cities and towns need ICT centers, for schools, administrators, and entreprenuers. They also need better transport and communication services. Many municipalities pointed to serious environmental problems, which affect public health, tourism, and investment. This will require partnerships at the local level to work in tandem on health, environmental, and industrial rehabilitation.

In sum, much needs to be done to restore this country to its rightful place in Europe and in the world. But perhaps we can begin by hearing from you, the mayors and leaders of communities across the country, what it is that matters most, and how the international community can best help move things forward.

I would encourage you not to lose the signal opportunity which this meeting affords you to be the voice of cities, towns, and communes across the land, and to pose to all of us some very fundamental questions.

Questions which we in the United Nations system are asking ourselves may also be questions that also resonate for you. Let me pose just a few, based on a "reading between the lines" of the responses you provided in the questionnaires:

• What can be done to improve the resource flows to municipalities to enable them to cater better to the needs of their populations?
• How adequate are existing systems to deliver on their basic responsibilities to their clients?
• How can capacities be strengthened and rendered more effective and efficient?
• How much of the resource and sector performance picture can be improved by better management systems and capabilities?
• How much wastage is there in existing systems?
• How can managers be better selected and supported?
• What improvements are needed to strengthen accountability and transparency in the management of public resources?
• How can the distribution of resources between municipalities be rendered more equitable?
• Are any legislative or policy changes needed at government level to enable municipalities to provide better services to their populations?
• Do existing legislation, policies and systems foster synergies at the local level between municipalities, civil society, NGOs, and the private sector?
• What are we forgetting ? How can we develop a more-inclusive society for marginalised groups? Refugees, IDPs, Roma, HIV/AIDS victims?

In closing, let me just mention that we are ready, today, to partner with you in reaching out for visionary and sustainable solutions, to the short humanitarian and longer term recovery needs. This week UNDP has a mission here to address governance and human development issues. The team will look into questions of institutional reform, decentralisation and municipal management, social inclusion and poverty eradication. They will work closely with civil society groups such as G 17 Plus, and other prominent leading reformists, as well as public officials and NGOs. Another mission, joining the Italy, UNDP and the UNOPS - UN Office for Project Services, joins us today to develop a new programme for city-to-city cooperation between Italy and this country.

Returning to the immediate humanitarian needs, we will be launching the Consolidated Appeal for South East Europe including Yugoslavia, in Belgrade on 1 December. We hope that your needs will muster the badly needed support that the international community can afford, and let me assure in closing, of the full readiness and support of the United Nations system of agencies in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

I thank you and wish you every success in this landmark meeting, and in your future endeavours.

Footnotes:

¹ Excluding Kosovo.