3 June
SRSG Michael Steiner
handed over the 6,000-year-old terracotta figure known as the "Goddess
on the Throne" to the Museum of Kosovo. The "Goddess",
which was discovered at a site near Pristina in 1956, had been on loan
to a museum in Belgrade since March 1999 as part of a travelling expedition.
"This is an especially good day as this lady is coming back to
her home in Kosovo," the SRSG said on 31 May, as he brought the
figurine from Belgrade. "What is truly remarkable is that she is
not the expression of any ethnic group, but represents something that
transcends ethnicity or politics-she represents the culture and richness
of the whole region."
Psychological awareness
training-involving 37 Kosovo Albanians, Romas and Serbs-began at the
Cultural Centre in Gracanica. The course, which ended on Friday, 7 June,
was part of the IOM project on psychological support to minorities.
It focussed on "interpersonal skills" and was conducted by
Tijana Mandic, a Ph.D. on Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy from
the Faculty of Drama Arts, University of Belgrade. The participants
included mental health, health and social workers, as well as UNMIK
staff, representatives of Penal Department, International Federation
of the Red Cross and various NGOs.
The Central Election
Commission (CEC) adopted Electoral Rule 8/2002 dealing with the registration
of candidates. Thus the way was paved for political parties, coalitions
and citizens' initiatives to put together their lists of candidates
for the October municipal elections, as well as ensuring significant
representation for women on candidate lists. Political entities, once
certified by the CEC, will have to submit candidate lists for each municipality
for which they intend to run. Each list can have up to 10 per cent more
names than the size of municipal assembly. Of these, at least one in
each group of three candidates on the the first two-thirds of the list
submitted are to be from another gender. In practical terms, this will
increase women's representation in municipal governance. In order to
bring this electoral rule in line with generally accepted international
standards, all potential candidates will have to present a statement
on individual financial assets and property owned, which will be made
available for public scrutiny at the beginning of the campaign.
4 June
The first multi-ethnic market since the end of the Kosovo conflict
opened in the Lipjan/Lipljan municipality, thus giving the local people,
regardless of their community affiliation, the opportunity to attend
the Wednesday bazaar. The various components of the international community
and the NGOs present in the municipality, as well as the different KFOR
contingents of the Multinational Brigade Centre, are actively promoting
inter-community dialogue. Members of the OSCE Human Rights and Rule
of Law Department presented the awareness campaign which was carried
out this year in six schools of the municipality, while its Election
and Democratization staff was available to provide information about
the upcoming electoral process and political party registration and
certification.
7 June
UNMIK Pillar III (Democratization and Institution Building) hosted
a meeting designed to improve co-operation between NGO and community
support centres from Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. The aim of the two-day conference was to highlight
the important and influential role civil society plays as critical and
supportive partners to governmental institutions. Particular attention
was paid to understanding of the constraints on the work of the NGOs,
while aiming to overcome their divisions and improve co-operation in
an open, democratic society.
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