|
UNMIK-OSCE-UNHCR-EU Briefing, 14 June 2001 UN Spokeswoman Susan Manuel UN Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Security Council visit We expect all 15 members of the UN Security Council here on Saturday afternoon. The purpose of their visit, which will include a trip to Belgrade, will be to see first hand the challenges faced by the UN in Kosovo. They'll come with the message for the people of Kosovo to reject violence and take part in elections. On Saturday they'll meet with SRSG, PDSRSG, three DSRSG and Police Commissioner. Later they meet with the Head of FRY Committee for cooperation with UNMIK Momcilo Trajkovic. On Sunday they go to Mitrovica for meetings with Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian leaders and then they will visit the Dubrava Prison. They will return to Pristina later in the day for a special session of the IAC to which will also participate certain KTC members. Following are briefing with COMKFOR and a press conference at Film City. War crimes trial In other news, the verdict in the Kollasinac war crimes case is to be announced at the Prizren Tribunal at noon today. On Monday a verdict will be read in the Pristina District Court in the case of Zoran Stanojevic charged with murder. Press conference As we have earlier discussed, the Department of Health and Social
Welfare would like to have a press conference regarding the release of its
Health Policy for Kosovo on Monday 18 June 2001. We would like to hold
this straight after the regular Press conference at 12:00. Dr Vuori and Dr
Sejdiu will speak. The four main points that will be discuss are:
UNMIK Police From the Police, there was a break-in on Monday at the demining NGO "ACTS" in Junik and several kilograms of explosives were stolen. Last month unknown snipers shot at members of this Danish demining team as they were working along the border with Albania in the Koshare area. Police would like to remind the public once again that although the weapons amnesty is over, people who find themselves in possession of weapons could notify police who will pick them up, and there will be no penalty involved. From the Department of Health's Institute of Public Health, we have 12 confirmed cases of Congo-Crimea Hemorrhagic Fever. 16 cases which proved negative and 16 cases under investigation. The disease is stabilizing. There is no dramatic increase in infection and no new deaths. However the geographic area has expanded, as among the new cases are two from Glogovac. The statistical office of Kosovo, IOM and UNMIK's Civil Administration have published a business directory which contains statistical information on each of 29,564 registered business in Kosovo (those registered by 31 December 2000) There will be a promotional ceremony on Monday at 11 a.m. in the Kosovo Statistical Office, St Zenel Salih 4, next to the Kosovo Museum. OSCE Spokeswoman Laura O'Mahony Election Observers The Central Election Commission has adopted two more of the rules, which will govern this year's electoral process. They deal with the important matters of domestic election observers and the municipal election commissions. The objective of putting all these rules in place is, of course, to ensure a transparent and credible election process. One means of ensuring that the process is carried out correctly is to permit the presence of observers. In recent years, election monitoring has become an important means of supporting the transition to democracy all over the world. Three groups of observers will monitor the election process in Kosovo again this year. There will be a contingent of international observers and two groups of domestic observers, drawn from the civil society and NGO sector and from the political groupings themselves. They will be able to observe the voters' list update phase, which gets underway in late July, right through to the count of the ballots cast on November 17th. Electoral Rule No. 5/2001 covers the two groups of domestic election observers and details how they should apply for accreditation from the CEC. The domestic observers must be registered voters but they cannot be members of either the Kosovo Police Service or of Kosovo Protection Corps. NGO observers must be politically neutral. Accredited observers can ask the CEC to investigate if they feel that some aspect of the process is not being carried out in conformity with the rules. During the 2000 municipal elections, more than 6,000 representatives of local NGOs and political entities participated as election observers. The international observer role is one regularly played by the OSCE throughout Eastern Europe, and including the Balkans. But the OSCE cannot observe an election it is organising. We're happy to announce that the Council of Europe has again agreed to oversee the international observer mission for the 2001 Kosovo voters' list update operation and the central assembly elections. They, of course, also oversaw the international observer mission for last year's municipal elections. Municipal Election Commissions Electoral Rule No. 4/2001on the Municipal Election Commissions - or MECs - was also adopted by the CEC this week. The MECs are the commissions, which were set up by the CEC last year in each municipality. The MECs are responsible for providing information to voters and political entities about their rights and obligations. As the elections draw closer, they will also appoint and train Polling Station Committees and assist with the technical arrangements at polling stations. A significant change for the MECs this year is the introduction of a Code of Conduct, which all MEC members must agree to comply with. The OSCE will also be evaluating how they perform their duties this year. Training for MECs has been going on since the municipal elections. Eventually, they will take over administration of future election processes. Gender Requirement The CEC has also made its recommendation to the SRSG on what they agree should be the gender quota for the candidate lists. As you know, the Constitutional Framework gives the SRSG the authority to specify gender and geographical requirements in respect of the candidate lists submitted by the political parties, coalitions and citizens' initiatives. These requirements will have a direct impact on the composition of the Assembly because, in this year's election, we will be using party lists where the order of the candidates is fixed - as opposed to the open list system, which was used last year. The CEC recommendation on the gender requirement is that at least one out of every three candidates on the candidates' list should be a woman. This requirement would apply to the first two-thirds of the list only. So, in other words, at least every third candidate out of the first two-thirds of the candidates on the list should be a woman. OSCE Chairperson in Office The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office is scheduled to visit Kosovo next week. Mr Mircea Geona, who is also the Foreign Minister of Romania, had hoped to come here last month but that visit had to be postponed. It is now being re-scheduled and we will give you details as soon as we have them. There will, of course, be a press conference, during his visit. The Chairperson-in-Office - which is rotated between the OSCE member states every year - is responsible for co-ordinating and supervising OSCE operations. Vjosa Dobruna Finally, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo would like to take this opportunity to pass on its best wishes and sincere thanks to Dr Vjosa Dobruna, who has stepped down as co-head of the Department of Democratic Governance and Civil Society. Dr Dobruna, along with her international counterpart, Rob Pulver, was instrumental in laying the foundations for the department and has been its Kosovo co-head since it was formally established last year She has long been a strong advocate for civil society and human rights. With her experience and her energy, she made an enormous and very valuable contribution to the work of the DDGCS. So, we thank her and wish her all the best. UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen
Stort The total of arrivals from FYROM since 3 May including those that arrived during Feb/March/April and have not yet returned: approx. 42,614 assuming that the Feb/March/April caseload is approx.9000) Arrivals from FYROM On Wednesday 13 June, 1630 people crossed Blace border and 90 Jazince/Globocica border crossing. Even though the number decreased since earlier this week, a significant amount of people still crossed. The majority of the people came from Skopje town and many came on foot, after having found one way or the other to get to the border. The majority of the new arrivals are still women, children and elderly, many without the proper documentation. Recently UNHCR has not come across any problems regarding entry into Kosovo for these people. Men without documents have continuously been rejected entry into Kosovo through the official border crossing. Upon arrival the people are driven with whatever kind of transport to their respective destinations. The entries through Jazince/Globocica increased slightly during the week following the incident on Monday at Odri. Yesterday the influx had decreased again. With an influx of over 22,000 people in less than 6 days UNHCR remains
very concerned and alert towards developments in FYROM. As many of the new
arrivals stated, one spark can cause many people to move. The example of
Aracinovo/Araqine shows that close proximity to a potential fighting zone
can cause major displacement in a matter of only a few
days. Southern Serbia UNHCR Gnilane/Gnjilane together with ICRC are closely following the return movement to the former sector B in Southern Serbia. The KRC pre-registration sites along the boundary line were closed almost two weeks ago as the influx ceased. The initial small-scale return to villages inside the Ground Safety Zone is continuing. Much of the displaced population is still anxious about return, aggravated by an increasing mine problem in the area of return. ICRC is conducting mine-awareness sessions in villages located in the former GSZ. Even though the ongoing return movement can be seen as a positive step forward, UNHCR remains concerned about the majority of those that fled the region during 1999. For these people significant confidence building measures need to be in place and compensation and reconstruction of houses undertaken, before they would feel confident and well equipped to return to their houses, which they had to leave a long time ago. EU Spokesman Mike Todd Working Group in Brussels Deputy Special Representative Andy Bearpark is today in Brussels, accompanied by PUD Co-head Walter Van Dam, to attend a special working group hosted by the European Commission on the energy sector in Kosovo. The aim of the working group is to look at the long-term sustainability of the energy sector here - particularly with a regard to the highlighting the priorities for future donor activity. News from the DTI The DTI are travelling to Bordeaux in France next week to attend the Bordeaux international wine fair. Representatives of the DTI will be participating in what is widely regarded as the most prestigious wine fair in Europe. On a mission to promote the wine industry here in Kosovo, the DTI will establish contacts with distributors and producers in the wine industry, from all over the world. The primary aim is to generate investment in the untapped potential of Kosovo's wineries. There will be a press notice issued on this important visit later this week. Draft Insurance Regulation The BPK's Draft Insurance Regulation has been finalised and forwarded for approval. The insurance business is currently in serious lack of an adequate legal environment; the EU Pillar views the insurance regulation as a priority matter. This draft regulation will supersede the current limited regime of licensing for insurance companies issuing motor vehicle third-party liability insurance and will permit the insurance industry to offer a full range of insurance products and services. The Guiding Principles that prevailed in the drafting process were aimed at ensuring consistency with European Union Insurance Directives, and to strive for harmony between Insurance and Bank Regulation. Economic Policy Seminars In the run up to November elections, the EU Pillar is organising a series of briefings on the economy for Kosovo's future members of parliament. Economic policy experts working in the Pillar will brief parliamentary candidates on key issues and outline the policy agenda for the near future. This important series of events will begin on Saturday 23 June. A special press briefing has been organised next week to inform press on the importance of this exercise and what the major issues are that are being dealt with. The briefing will be hosted by DSRSG Andy Bearpark and will take place on Monday June 11 at 10.30, here in the Government Building, Room C301. A media alert will be issued. Questions Q : Yesterday a Serb news agency reported that ten busses have entered Kosovo with KFOR escort, what are your comments? SM : I have no information about ten busses. There are regular bus services, public bus system that runs to varies Serb areas with KFOR escort, but there is no report of additional busses. Q : Do you have an approximate number of people who were trying to get to Kosovo but turned out to be kept in Macedonian custody? A lot of families have been parted and no men of fighting age were allowed to cross the border and most of them have been arrested. AvG : No, I have no information on the fact that most of these people have been arrested. Actually, I have no information on how many people are in custody. But we have seen on this side of the border that families have been separated and that men mainly on military age without documents were not allowed to cross the official border crossing. But we have also seen that some of these men managed to cross the unofficial border crossings. We don't know of course what happened to those men that were turned back at the official border crossing and did not cross through another border crossing. I have no information on that. Q. Are these briefings on issues for the future candidates open to press observation? Is it June or July 11th? MT : Yes, there will be press invited to every event. It's next Monday June 18th.
|