UNMIK has decided to rebuild the joint administration's central database containing Kosovo residents' personal data-the civil registry that will be used for ID cards, travel documents, drivers licences and, not least, the comprehensive voters list needed for the forthcoming general election.

Urging patience, the head of civil administration Deputy SRSG Tom Koenigs underlines the crucial importance of getting the civil registry absolutely correct: "This is vital for the future development of Kosovo, for law and order, and for all other documentation".

Meanwhile some Kosovo ID cards are finally ready. Municipal officials will begin handing out the first batch of 34,000 this week. General distribution will begin when further corrections are complete-in early February. The good news is that the long awaited Kosovo Travel Documents will be available to ID card holders as early as four weeks after they apply, and that (as of now) 14 countries will accept them: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Review cases first

Under a three-phase plan, the first to receive their IDs will be those who were initially worst off-the people who had no documentation at the time of registration. Information collected from and about those people was processed in a different way in an effort to verify their identities for the voting lists used in the municipal elections.

They, and a very small number of others, will be able to collect their ID cards from their local municipal civil registration centres (MCRCs). The first five centres will be open for that business on Tuesday, 19 December. People living in Ferizaj/Urosevac, Vushtrri/Vucitrn, Lipjan/Lipljane, Suharekė/Suva Reke and Klinė/Klina should check with the registration offices where they first registered to see if the number on their blue registration slips is listed. If so, on the date indicated, they may proceed to their current MCRC to pick up their identification card.

The process will be extended to all municipalities after a few days. Residents are asked not to go directly to the MCRCs. The lists of registration numbers are displayed only outside the original registration centres

In phase 2, UNMIK civil registration officials are cleaning up the data for a further 250,000 cards. The aim is to produce them at a rate of 8,000 per day by the end of January. It is these cards that will start the general distribution in February.
Phase 3, which also begins immediately, depends on correcting the existing data base for the remaining 650,000 or so who registered. Unfortunately the exercise requires re-entering everyone's personal data into the central database. 

Huge task

Creating a digitised civil registry is a huge task, and in most countries takes years. In contrast, the political decision to hold elections in October 2000 necessitated that voter lists be compiled quickly, DSRSG Koenigs explained to Kosovo Transitional Council, which has several times called for progress reports on civil registration.

The distinguishing issue is the amount of information needed. Much less data was required to ensure that people were who they say they were-and therefore eligible to vote-than will be needed to ensure  that their ID cards and Travel Documents carry their full and totally correct personal details. Registration, the subsequent Confirmations, Additions and Challenges exercise and the Quick Check process allowed the municipal elections to take place as planned: much more time is needed to be certain that the civil registry is comprehensive and correct. 

Incorrect and corrupt data stem from several points in the process, civil registration officials explain. Problems ranged from registration forms not properly filled in (in some cases with wrong-coloured inks) to unclear information received by the company in India responsible for data input. A further complication was that the technology that was selected for its high security towards unauthorized data manipulation was also inflexible when it came to changing the incorrect data.

Conflicts like the one that Kosovo suffered have kept UNHCR in existence for far longer than its founders had imagined. When the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was set up, it was believed that after a few years of assisting people displaced by the Second World War and other conflicts it's mission would be completed and the organisation disbanded. Fifty years on and UNHCR is marking a half-century of help to refugees around the world.

"UNHCR's 50th anniversary is, in itself, no cause for celebration," said High Commissioner Sadako Ogata in Geneva. "In fact, our longevity is a reflection of the international community's failure to prevent prejudice, persecution, poverty and other causes of conflict and displacement."

In Kosovo, UNHCR representative Eric Morris spoke of the universal right of all refugees to return to their homes. "Security Council Resolution charges both the international community presence and the international civilian presence with creating the conditions so that people can come home. And that resolution is not just for one community, it is for all communities.

 "In Serbia, there are about four to five hundred thousand refugees from Bosnia and Croatia. There are approximately 190,000 displaced persons from Kosovo& And in Montenegro there are about 14,000 refugees from Bosnia and Croatia and 30,000 displaced persons from Kosovo."

Mr Morris's predecessor Dennis McNamara warned that as Kosovo becomes less of a world focal point, the continued violence here may casue many donors to feel that the province is not worthy of its attention. At the ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary, LDK leader Ibrahim Rugova referred to UNHCR as a "sacred organisation" and expressed his hope that UNHCR has as little work as possible to do in the future.

The 30 million DM Programme for the Rehabilitation of Urban Water Supplies and Sanitation II has started. The Public Utilities Department is overseeing the project funded by Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau and the European Agency for Reconstruction. The programme aims at assuring continuous and efficient supply of drinking water in sufficient quantity and quality to about 580,000 inhabitants of Kosovo. The programme includes repair and improvement of existing water supply. The programme will take 18 months to complete.

Radio Television Kosovo celebrated the launching of new studio facilities . The provision of equipment came through the Kosovo Independent Media Project implemented by UNDP/UNOPS. The USD 14.5 million project is funded largely by the Government of Japan. The installation of the new equipment at RTK radio and TV studios has been completed, thanks to the hard work of 15 Japanese engineers who have been working for three months in Kosovo.

The OSCE inaugurated the reconstructed Kosovo Terrestrial Transmission Network (KTTN). The system, set up with funding by the United States and Japan means that the television programmes of RTK, Koha Vision and TV-21 will be able to be seen throughout Kosovo. The KTTN will soon also carry four radio frequencies.

Families of Albanian prisoners in Serbia were able to visit their detained relatives in Belgrade for the first time. The visit which it is hoped will be the first of a series of trips was organised by UNMIK's Bureau for Detained and Missing Persons together with IOM and the FRY Presidential Office for Refugees, Internally Displaced People and Missing. Families were allowed to bring packages containing food and clothing. The Association for Political Prisoners in Serbia also provided similar packages to 20 inmates.

The future Kosovo Company Registry will be under the authority of the Commercial Court and will be based on the existing Provisional Business Registry. The decision was made by the JIAS Department of Judicial Affairs together with representatives of the World Bank and the Department of Trade and Industry. The World Bank is proposing a USD 3 million technical assistance project to set up the registry, train judges and lawyers in commercial issues and to introduce accounting standards. The Department of Judicial Affairs will have the lead role in the implementation of the first two components.

The major train routes of Kosovo are now functional again thanks to a joint KFOR and the Department of Transport project. It will now be possible to transport goods throughout Kosovo by rail and it is hoped this will lead to decreased lorry traffic on Kosovo's already crowded roads. UNMIK's railway division undertook the 570,000 DM refurbishment of the machine that fixes the track with the money being donated by the European Agency for Reconstruction. The Italian Railway Engineer Regiment provided engineering expertise, tracks, ballasts and ties.

The health sector can keep funds paid by the users of different health services UNMIK's Central Fiscal Authority decided. This means that the health sector can put the money into its own budget rather than the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. This "income earned" by providing services will now be directly controlled by the health sector.

The new administrative instruction on the implementation of drug control policy , issued by the Department of Health and Social Welfare, indicates the procedures to be followed when applying for licenses for the import, wholesale and retail of drugs. License fees are expected to generate DM2 million in revenues for the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. The instruction is part of a massive operation to control and license the large number of illegal pharmacies in Kosovo.