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UNMIK-OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing: 2 August 2001 UNMIK Spokesman Simon Haselock UNMIK Spokesman Simon Haselock Serbian government support for registration Clearly we welcome the news that the Serbian government has renewed their support for registration of IDP's and Serbs in Kosovo. I will defer to Claire for the details. Mr. Covic's visits to Kosovo Concerning Mr. Covic and visits to Kosovo: Just to be clear we have agreed to a visit on 1 August as requested at Gate 3 but in the end Mr. Covic changed his mind. We have also indicated that we will meet with him tomorrow but we are still waiting to hear from him on this. Serbian tax We are aware that the Serbian government is considering putting an additional 5% surcharge on goods coming from Serbia into Kosovo. We highly disagree with it and do not want to be associated with it. First of all, it is not a new idea, it was proposed a long time ago by the Trajkovic committee and just picked up again. It is to the detriment of the people living in Kosovo and Serbian products sold in Kosovo because the people in Kosovo will be the ones burdened with paying this tax and it will make Serbian products much less competitive in Kosovo as compared to Macedonian products. Although we cannot stop it if they really want to impose it, it is against all international, commercial norms. Goods sold in another tax territory are always taxed where they are consumed, not where they originated. Serb authorities have nothing to gain from this tax. Aviation Pristina Airport had 115,000 passengers during the month of July. The airport is built for a maximum capacity of 250,000 per year. So obviously, this is an overwhelming success for Kosovo and brings much revenue to the province. Obviously, airport expansion activities are on going. Also, British Airways is applying to begin regular service between Pristina and London-Gatwick. This could begin in October. There is nothing final yet. Trains Pristina-Peja passenger train, which was started only on an experimental basis, is breaking even. So service will become permanent. This is positive because most thought it could not possibly sustain itself. After agreements signed with Macedonian Railways, freight traffic is going great guns between Macedonia and Kosovo. This brings revenues and decreases congestion and pollution on the roads. The Lipjan extension to the freedom-of-movement train has been postponed for the moment until MNB Center makes sure about security provisions. Should begin soon. OSCE Spokesperson Claire Trevena Voter Services/Registration The voter services process has been open for 3 days now. In the first two days we had 153 new registrants at the voter service centres and 207 at the combined registration and voter service centres. These combined centres are for those who communities where people did not register last year. Please be patient on the figures we provide as it takes time to collate accurate statistics. As you know the registration process was halted in Serbia proper for a couple of days while problems were sorted out over access to information. The OSCE was concerned about issues of confidentiality and of international data protection standards. On the Serb side there was apprehension about the data collection methods not being transparent. Now an agreement has been signed - between the OSCE and the Commissariat for Refugees - which allows Commissariat staff to monitor the data processing and data base development; this is a fully transparent process and we welcome the Commissariat's wish to monitor it as many others can observe. The Commissariat also can have access to statistical extracts from the database. Any other project the Commissariat might wish to have which uses data from the database will only be done by mutual agreement with the OSCE and in accordance with data protection standards. This most definitely does not mean - as some are reporting - that the Serb authorities control the database. The data and the forms are in the custody of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and under international supervision. Confidentiality is being respected. All the agrement allosw is full monitoring of the process - as has always been available - and conditional access to datat - that is only with OSCE consent and in accordance with international standards of data protection. The registration sites in Serbia proper were due to reopen this morning. Before they closed on Monday evening 346 people had successfully registered and we hope many more people will be coming forward in the next 5 and a half weeks. Police School Graduation At 14.30 today there is a graduation at the OSCE run Kosovo Police Service School. This is for KPS members who have spent the last five months training to be trainers. They will be working with the new cadets at the police school, covering a variety of issues. Media are welcome to attend the graduation ceremony. If you need transport to the Police School please see Chris Cycmanick, who's here, immediately after this press conference. Discovery tour And tonight sees the third stop of the Discovery Tour roadshow. This is a joint project between OSCE, UNICEF and Media Action International, taking the message about voter services, human rights and children's rights out to different areas of Kosovo. There's street theatre and a very big disco. Tonight it's in Klina. It starts at 5pm. Next week we're in Skenderaj/Srbica. UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort I. Figures Total Number of Arrivals Since the Beginning of the
Conflict: 77,594 Estimated number of returnees approximately 20,242 Estimated Total remaining 57,352 Overall situation While political negotiations are ongoing, the number of people returning to fYRoM has once again exceeded the number of new arrivals into Kosovo. The opening of Aracinovo/Haraqina was a clear pull factor for many people who had remained displaced over the past weeks. Others also returned to Skopje town and surrounding areas as well as Kumanovo. People however continued to arrive in Kosovo as well. Those from around the Jazince/Globocica border crossing feared the large build up of armed Macedonian civilians, military and police in the villages. Reports and/or rumours of fighting had prompted some people to leave The new arrivals that came through Blace were mainly from Skopje town and area, especially from Hasanbeg, Saraj and Vizbeg. They stated, it was mainly quiet in Skopje town but shooting had been heard in the morning, so they came as a precautionary measure waiting for the result of the negotiations. Displacement in/around fYRoM Since 23rd July, when the fighting in the Tetovo region intensified and many ethnic Macedonians were forced to leave their homes, the number of IDPs registered by the Macedonian Red Cross has increased to 45,538. Of these 2,704 persons are lodged in 14 Collective Centres, while the large majority of IDPs are staying with host families. As of date there are still over 120,000 people displaced in and around fYRoM. In Kosovo alone there are more than 57,000 refugees remaining. The number of returnees, 20,000, is slightly deceptive as it also contains the number of those that go back and forth. Inside fYRoM On 31st July, the UNHCR Special Envoy visited villages between Tetovo and Jazince to meet the people and assess the situation. In Aracinovo/Haraqina , a UNHCR field team is present on a daily basis. Inhabitants continue to visit during the day to clean their properties. A private bus company has established a bus line to Skopje. While 5,000 to 6,000 are said to be in the village during daytime, 1,000 to 2,000 are estimated to stay permanently, predominantly ethnic Albanians. Many ethnic Macedonian families come to move remaining belongings from their houses, while at this stage only three families have expressed their wish to stay and have requested shelter assistance. UNHCR continues to urge all parties to welcome their fellow citizens back to the villages in fYRoM, in particular the minority communities into a majority society. At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of the people to prevent an escalation of this de facto polarisation and return to peaceful coexistence and a normal life. SE to Albania The Special Envoy Mr Eric Morris visited Trirana, Albania yesterday and met with the President and several other government and party officials. Mr. Morris who recently had Albania included in his portfolio, discussed the present situation in the region and contingency planning in case of a worst case scenario in fYRoM. Mr. Morris expressed his gratitude at the very good cooperation that has been extended by the Albanian government over the past years. EU Spokesman Mike Todd The extra statutory concession period given for people to register for their VAT identification has now ended, it ran until the end of July. The first filing of VAT returns has now begun, with yesterday being the
first day. VAT is filed on a monthly basis. July forms will be accepted at
BPK and MEB branches until the end of August. Revenue collection figures are up as a whole with current collection rates over twice what they were at the same time last year. Property Tax Obilic municipality has this week voted unanimously in favour of implementing a municipal property tax. The municipality is the first to start the process of implementation of this UNMIK supported pilot programme. The municipality will be going door to door this summer to reaffirm property records, and to get residents' input on community projects they want fixed. Municipalities will receive the tax revenue and determine how it is spent. Banking update Last week, the BPK issued approval to the New Bank of Kosovo to open a new branch office in Gjilane. The branch officially opened on the July 26. New Bank of Kosovo was licensed by the BPK in February 2001 and is one of four commercial banks licensed to operate in Kosovo. The new branch will offer deposit services, loans, and transfers for customers. New Bank of Kosovo is the second commercial bank to establish a branch in Gjilane after Micro Enterprise Bank. With a number of applications pending, the BPK hopes to see more progress in the banking sector in the coming months, with more banks being licensed and more regional branches being opened. With the Euro changeover, at the end of this year, fast approaching, people without bank accounts are being strongly encouraged to open them - to make the changeover as simple as possible. With more banks in more locations this will be easier for everyone. Economic Development Day Next Wednesday there will be an event titled 'The Future of Business',
looking at future prospects for business in Kosovo. Aimed primarily at
Political party candidates, Chamber of Commerce members and business
people, the event is being jointly hosted by the Department of Trade and
Industry and Kosovo Business Support. Questions: Q: If you are Iranian, working in an NGO in Kosovo, you get arrested, get released, no explanation given. How do comment on that. Is that a violation of the rights of these people, working in an NGO, working within an UNMIK regulation. Does this represent some sort of violation of his human rights? SH: It was a provocative way of asking the question. First of all, KFOR are the experts on the circumstances of the arrest but I wouldn't want to slope shoulder on to them. As far as I understand it, the NGO which these people claim to be is not registered here. They claim that they were under UNHCR umbrella. The UNHCR has never heard of them and I understand the circumstances of their detention were such that there was cause for concern. So I don't think the way you put it to me was necessarily the case. As far as the specifics of what occurred, I think you should speak to KFOR Because it is in their …… We were asked by the UN in New York to look into this and it would seem the initial story was not quite as straightforward as it might have appeared in the beginning. Q: What is UNMIK's position on privatisation in Kosovo and what rules will be applied? SH: Well I think this is still being clarified. I don't think there is a formal final agreement on the way the privatisation process is going to take place. I think the discussions were about how the privatisation should be started and the fact that they should be started. MT: So far the situation with privatisation is that the idea and possibilities on privatisation is being presented for discussions. As Simon points out there is no formal time scale when this would be implemented. The discussions have just started and that's why the idea has just been presented to the KTC. Q: On these registration site, you said the Serbs in Serbia proper would have access to the data base, they wouldn't control it but they would monitor it. So does that mean they would have access to the entire voters databases, including those in Kosovo. CT: They cannot access. They are monitoring the compilation of data base. Obviously they are interested in, it is the Commissariat of Refugees. What they are interested in is the IDPs. They would be monitoring it. The agreement includes monitoring it here in Pristina and Vienna also, where we are doing the mail-in registration. Basically they would be monitoring the compilation of database and they have access to extracts of that data base with the mutual agreement of the OSCE and the Commissariat. So they would have to ask for what information they need and we would provide that information. Q: Are they going to be looking at the whole databases, the Albanians and the Serbs? CT: I assume they are going to be only interested in the IDPs. It is the commissariat of IDPs that has done the agreement with us. SH: The point is that any access to information has to be done with the agreement of people who have compiled that data base. So it's not as if they are going to be able to interrogate the database at will, they will have to get permission, they will have to say what it's for and they will have to be able to get agreement why they want that information. As far as monitoring is concerned, it is simply to make sure that they can see that we are not manipulating the figures in terms of the numbers in Serbia. Q: What is the purpose of Mr. Covic's visit tomorrow? SH: First of all we don't know whether he is going to come or not. As I said we were prepared to meet him on 1 August and we now might meet him tomorrow. But we don't know that is being confirmed. These are initial talks. Our reason to talk to him is essentially about Mitrovica. You would recall that we were looking for a serious interlocutor with the FRY government to discuss the situation in northern Mitrovica. Clearly we are also interested in the Serb participation in the election process. But the main reason is the talk about the initiative to deal with the problems of northern Kosovo and Mitrovica specifically. One of the difficulties is that at the moment he is the Serbian deputy prime minister and he has been nominated by them and clearly our relationship is with the government of the FRY. We would need him to be endorsed by them. Q: Does the Serb government have access to the database, whether it is for the Serbs or the Albanians? CT: What they have is the right to monitor the compilation of database. That will be done here in Pristina and Vienna. Then they have the right to ask for information from the database and the permission has to be given by the OSCE that the information will be released. Q: Just to be clear on this. If they wish to monitor the database of Pristina or Skenderaj/Srbica, can they do that. CT: I think people are getting confused. They are going to be monitoring, they will be monitoring the compilation of the data base, which is information going into a computer and the forms that we get are being scanned into a computer, several hundred at a time are scanned in. They is the whole database, they can see the database being scanned in, several hundred forms going in. Then they can ask for specific information out of that database, but they have to request that through the OSCE which information that they want and if we agree that it is within the international data protection standards, that we are not jeopardising anybody's confidentiality, we can give that information. If they are looking for information like how many 45 to 55 year olds registered in Cragiavac or something like this, this is the sort of information we will be sable to provide from the database for the Commissariat. Q: And how many 20 to 25 year olds are there in Srbica? CT: It is highly unlikely that they would want to know that. Each case would have to be looked at individually because the agreement says that is has got to be done in. Let me just read it to you. "….the Commissariat has access to the database for other projects in public interest subject to mutual agreement in accordance". Q: So it can be done? CT: If we agree that it is within public interest. So it is up to us to agree that they have the interest to get this information. SH: The monitoring of this is basically something which everybody can do. International observers have the right to monitor the establishment of databases. They will only be getting the same facility that anybody who wishes to monitor the compilation of database gets. In other words, to observe that transfer of information is carried out accurately and correctly and they would have that right anyway because anybody can ask for that right as an observer. Q: In what cases are you going to accept or reject the requests? CT: We haven't had any request yet. We are going to treat every request individually. We can refuse requests if it infringes people's confidentiality. Q: Where will the SRSG going to meet Covic, in Pristina or somewhere else? SH: I don't know yet but at the moment the arrangements were to meet him at Gate 3, but as I said the arrangement for tomorrow are still unconfirmed. Q: Are you going to discuss the Serbian plan of special autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo? SH: We have consistently said that there is no room for any parallel structures of any type within Kosovo. The plan has not been formally presented. We haven't heard of it being formally described in Belgrade yet. We have heard various individuals making reference to various possibilities but nothing has been formally presented. We would hope that there is nom plan or suggestion for cantonisation or split entities or anything like that because we don't consider that to be within 1244 and 1244 talks about the contiguous territory of Kosovo until such time as final status can be agreed upon and we are not prepared to consider any solution which talk about cantonisation or parallel institutions and so we would hope there is no such plan on the table along such lines. Q: Did you send the invitation to Mr. Covic to come to Kosovo? SH: No, he has asked to meet us. These are requests that he has submitted to us to come and talk to us. He has already come to Zvecan, as you would recall, he has already been to Gracanica, as you would recall and each time he asked us for the authority. He then requested to come on the 1st August, we agreed to met him at Gate 3, he declined, and we now understand that there is a possibility of meeting him tomorrow. But that has not yet been confirmed by there side. These are all in response to requests from them, not invitations by us. Q: Are there any Kosovo NGOs or organization monitoring the registration? CT: I will have to check that. But there are international monitors monitoring the process.
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