UNMIK/PR/766
Thursday, 27 June 2002

SRSG Michael Steiner: Statement to the Humanitarian Issues Working Group

Geneva, 27 June 2002

Mr. High Commissioner,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Bosnia has been a success. In Kosovo we still have to get there. I am grateful to Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for the opportunity to discuss returns in this regional format.

All of us coming from the region have a common interest in maintaining the momentum on returns. This also means continued international attention and support. There are real opportunities for progress now but to exploit them we must have the required resources.

In Kosovo, the UN Security Council has mandated in Resolution 1244 UNMIK, UNHCR and KFOR for returns. We need to use our limited resources effectively by continuing the excellent cooperation between UNMIK, UNHCR, KFOR and others.

The issue I want to focus on today is the sustainability of returns to Kosovo. We need to make sure that the individuals and families that decide to return will also remain.

Only by preserving Kosovo as a multiethnic society will we succeed in the defense of fundamental human rights, so seriously violated just three years ago, that brought us here in the first place.

1. Conditions for returns

We are making progress in Kosovo. We are gradually putting in place the political and economic elements necessary for the return of refugees and displaced persons.

We have a constitutional framework in place. The Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo have started working. These institutions have been established democratically and are multi-ethnic. Only fully functional Kosovo institutions will be able to address the economic and social well-being of Kosovo’s citizens.

So far, the economic recovery that Kosovo has experienced since the conflict has largely been the result of international donor aid and the economic impact of the large international presence. The international presence is decreasing. So is the support of donors. The much-needed privatization and economic restructuring process that is beginning now is essential to Kosovo’s long-term vitality. But it will not provide a short-term solution to its economic problems. For the time being, Kosovo will have to continue to rely on outside support to carry out core priorities, such as returns.

These economic realities should also be kept in mind by governments seeking to repatriate refugees. I have encouraged host countries to develop reintegration packages that will contribute to the sustainability of voluntary returns.

2. Concept

Our whole approach is grounded in the conviction that every return should be based on the voluntary and informed choice of a displaced individual or family.

Realistically, individuals will only choose to return to their homes in Kosovo if they consider it safe and if they see an economic future for themselves. They will return, and stay, if they can live in peace and dignity, which means participate fully in society.

On 21 May, I presented my concept for sustainable returns. It is available here. As that paper makes clear, the sustainability of returns requires the full and continuing support of the Kosovo institutions and the continued support of donors. For Kosovo to be truly multi-ethnic, minorities must have equal access to basic services: education, health care, social benefits and public utilities. They must be able to move freely. And they must be able to repossess their property. I am happy that Belgrade endorses our concept of returns.

I have also stressed that return is a fundamental human right. Returns must not be politicized. People must be able to choose the timing of their return. They must also be free to choose return to their own homes, not to be sent to strategic settlements. Clusters and enclaves are not solutions: on the contrary, they create obstacles to integration and interaction between the minority and majority communities.

The interaction between the communities is key. All communities must shoulder the responsibility for Kosovo. I have offered the Kosovo Serbs the opportunity to drive the process of returns themselves. The Kosovo Serb Inter-Ministerial Coordinator on Returns, Milorad Todorovic, recently took up his position in the Prime Minister’s cabinet. Another Kosovo Serb, Nenad Radosavljevic, has joined my office as my Special Advisor on returns.

The Prime Minister, Bajram Rexhepi, and other leaders in the Kosovo institutions have also provided important support. The Government has, on its own initiative, made returns of displaced persons an integral part of its programme. Respect for the right of Serbs and other minorities to return is also a key benchmark we need to achieve before we can address the final status question. And for entry into Europe.

3. Implementation

The approach I have just outlined – based on human rights, free choice and sustainability, and involving the communities themselves – is the formula that has worked in Bosnia. It is an integrated approach that requires a field-level partnership among the municipal authorities, UNHCR, KFOR, NGOs, and above all, with the displaced persons themselves.

Considerable work has gone on at the grassroots level. 24 Municipal Working Groups on Returns have been established. These are where the real concerns of the people are expressed and where concrete solutions can be found. We have set up five Regional Working Groups to coordinate overall returns and integration activities. Twelve local working groups are working to improve conditions in areas where returns may be particularly difficult.

Prime Minister Rexhepi, among others, has expressed strong backing for returns. Other elected representatives from Kosovo’s Albanian majority must join him in persuading Kosovo Albanians that returns and multi-ethnicity are the keys to Kosovo’s integration with European structures and the continuation of international assistance.

We are supporting regular ‘Go and See’ and ‘Go and Inform’ visits which give displaced persons a chance to gain crucial information about their old neighbourhoods. The ‘Go and See’ visits are an opportunity for the displaced persons to visit their homes, whereas the ‘Go and Inform’ visits are designed to reach the displaced persons in Serbia and Montenegro where they are now living.

As a result of such efforts, minority returns are happening in Kosovo. More than 4,200 have taken place in Kosovo since 2000. Roughly 900 persons returned to their homes in the first five months of this year. These are not large numbers, but they provide a clear indication of growing confidence.

For example, over the past month, there have been two separate, substantial returns of Ashkali families to the Albanian-majority municipality of Vucitrn in the Mitrovica region. These movements have encouraged more Ashkali families to plan to return from Novi Sad and Montenegro this summer. In the Pec region, Serb returns to Osojane are continuing. In the town of Gnjilane, 41 Roma have returned in recent weeks from Bujanovac. More are expected to return soon.

4. Donor support

Successful – meaning sustainable – returns are dependent upon the continued commitment of the international community to remain engaged. This summer and autumn, we must achieve breakthroughs in minority returns. At the same time, we must build momentum for more significant numbers of returns during 2003 and 2004.

In UNMIK, we are in the process of strengthening our own structures to support returns. An essential element of the institutional set-up will have to be a functioning Housing and Property Directorate that is able to process large numbers of property claims and to carry out legal evictions. This is critical to our comprehensive approach to returns. Therefore, I am happy that my Deputy, Tom Königs, and the Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Anna Tibaijuka, have agreed on a way forward for the institution.

Returns will not happen overnight. But they are slowly starting. There is an increasing readiness by displaced persons to have the courage to go back to their homes. There is more readiness by their former neighbours to receive them, still not sufficiently so, but increasing.

When these returns start in greater numbers, we need to be sure that there will be money to follow the returnees. As flexibly as possible. We must not cut back at the time when we finally have a real chance of success.

An interruption of funding would negatively impact on UNMIK and UNHCR’s joint efforts to strengthen the municipal and local authorities’ capacity to respond to returns.

At the moment that we are making significant progress, together with UNHCR, a shortfall in support would be counterproductive. We must be consistent with the purpose of our intervention in Kosovo, that is the creation of a multi-ethnic society in which returns of minority displaced persons will play a significant role.

We are preparing a donor briefing for the second half of this year, building on these elements. The more successful we are this year, the greater the need for resources will be in the coming years. Be prepared.

Thank you.