United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNMIK news No. 109
  
IAC debates structure of future Executive

The blueprint for Kosovo's first post-conflict government is being reviewed by the Interim Administrative Council (IAC). The IAC has agreed in principle to the proposal on the executive structures of provisional self-government. Its answer is expected early this week. The draft regulation, presented by SRSG Hans Haekkerup, formally defines the structure of the executive branch of the provisional institutions of self-government, to be formed after general elections on 17 November - effectively Kosovo's future government.

The Constitutional Framework, promulgated last May, describes only broadly the institutions that will be placed in the hands of Kosovo leaders and civil servants after the general elections. A regulation is needed to set up the future governing structure and to fill in the details. It is now the task of the IAC to decide whether to endorse UNMIK's draft.

The draft regulation is not, however, new to IAC members. They have already been in bilateral talks with the SRSG on the new structure for some time. With outstanding reservations only from one Kosovo Albanian party, and aquiescence from the other two last week, UNMIK is optimistic about their acceptance of the draft in its present form. Some requests, when they are within the confines of Security Council resolution 1244, have already been incorporated.

Nine ministries

One of the major changes is the replacement of the present twenty administrative departments by only nine ministries. Notable absences from the nine are ministries for justice (whose administration falls to the Ministry of Public Services), foreign affairs and defence. Under the Constiutional Framework, none of them are to be within the competencies of the new self-government institutions.

Why nine instead of twenty? The international community feels that Kosovo, as a relatively small territory and only 2 million inhabitants cannot afford, and can manage well enough with, only a handful of ministries. Attached to some of them, in any case, will be executive agencies-like the Kosovo Drug Regulatory Authority (under the Ministry of Health, Environment and Spatial Planning) and the Kosovo Statistical Office and the Kosovo Cadastral Agency (attached to the Ministry of Public Services). Further executive agencies and their functions may be established in later legislation.

Another key principle to be established by the regulation is that the civil service will mirror the proportional representation of non-majority community members in the elected Kosovo Assembly. Civil servants will normally be recruited through open competition. The senior civil servants, the Permanent Secretaries for each ministry and chief executives officers of the executive agencies, will be appointed by a Senior Public Appointments Committee-convened by the Office of the Prime Minister. The Committee, which will include two Ministers from Kosovo non-Albanian communities, will also appoint officials to other posts decided by the SRSG.

As part of the SRSG's continuing overall authority, the UNMIK Head will have the power to assign international and other personnel to Ministries and Executive Agencies as he deems appropriate. The draft regulation confirms the competency of the SRSG, in consultation with the Prime Minister, to instruct ministries and executive agencies to carry out specific functions and duties that the Office of the SRSG may require. This ensures that the responsibilities entrusted to the executive branch of the provisional institutions of self-government will not encroach upon the ultimate authority of the SRSG.

For the existing joint administrative structure, the changes are major, with entire departments moving to new buildings and establishing security for the new provisional government. Haekkerup thus urged IAC members to approve the draft as soon as possible, in order to minimize the inevitable disruption to work in the coming months. The sooner the regulation is passed, the sooner physical changes of handing over can begin.

UNMIK extends voter registration deadline for two weeks

The deadline for voter registration has been extended for two weeks, until Saturday, 22 September. The extension period will apply to voter registration operations in Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, as well as to the mail-in process being co-ordinated by IOM in Vienna.

"This operation which began on 30 July was intended as an opportunity for those who could not register last year to be counted as residents of Kosovo," Principal Deputy SRSG Gary Matthews told the press in Pristina. "It targets primarily Kosovo Serbs, as well as others who for other reasons were not able to register previously."

Deputy SRSG Daan Everts said "it would not be right to stop the process ... when the momentum to register is clearly there. The OSCE wants a Voters' List which is as accurate and as inclusive as possible."

Forty-seven Voter Services Centres around Kosovo have opened for business as usual on Monday, 10 September. Thirty-five mobile registration teams will revisit about 100 locations populated by small, isolated communities.

But 22 September will be the final deadline. It will not be possible to extend beyond that date and still leave sufficient time to produce the updated 2001 Voters' List for the 17 November elections.

The latest registration figures confirm the upward trend of the past fortnight. By 10 September, a total of 33,500 Kosovo non-Albanians visited civil registration and voter sites for communities which chose not to register last year. Those who have visited voter services centres to check or update their details on the Voters' List now number some 59,000.
However, OSCE election officials are still concerned by the low number of recently registered Kosovo Albanians who have visited the voter services centres to find out where they should vote on 17 November. Roughly 80,000 voters still need to be assigned to polling centres. Now that the deadline has been extended, OSCE strongly urges them to do so. The process only takes a few minutes but it will save them, other voters and polling station staff a lot of trouble on election day.

Outside of Kosovo, almost 70,000 people have registered in Serbia and Montenegro. Some 13,500 mail-in applications have been approved so far.
Educational challenges brought to the KTC

The standard of education provided in Kosovo is inadequate. There is a lack of funding, trained teachers and school materials. Nevertheless, plans are in place to raise the level of education up to that of Western models, the Co-Head of the Department of Education and Science Co-Head, Michael Daxner, told the KTC past week.

In a frank presentation Daxner called on the Council to be farsighted in their role and take on the responsibility of raising the standard of education and make it accessible to all communities and to girls and boys equally.

Plans for reform of all parts of the system were in place and incorporated in draft regulations on Higher Education and on Primary and Secondary Education. Areas needing particular and urgent attention include teacher training and the accessibility of education to young girls. Reforms would be initially directed at higher education, for, as Daxner believes, that is the most important level at which the cultural and structural profile of society is built.

There were 73 schools this year on a priority list that still need urgent rehabilitation-in addition to the the unacceptable multi-shift system in operation in many schools, said Daxner.
Working on a tight budget of DM 12 million-equivalent to the average budget of a social sciences department of a university in Western Europe-makes the hiring of much needed teachers a virtual impossibility for the Department, which is why emphasis had to be placed on teacher training, Daxner told the Council members.

The Co-Head criticized local communities for having neglected their disadvantaged children and stressed that many are not handicapped and could be easily integrated into existing classrooms. A Finnish organisation called the Helsinki Group was carrying out revolutionary work in preparing a curriculum for special needs children. Daxner reminded the members of their duty as politicians not to turn their back on the problem.


Supreme Court rules out genocide

The Kosovo Supreme Court has ruled that the Yugoslav troops did not carry out genocide of ethnic Albanians during the 1998-1999 military campaign in Kosovo. The decision was based on the 1948 Geneva Convention which defines genocide as the intent "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such".
Briefs . . .

In order to provide independent judicial review in cases of extra-judicial detention by Executive Order, SRSG Hans Haekkerup has signed a regulation which will establish a Detention Review Commission. The regulation is intended to apply to those cases of very serious crime, in which the SRSG has ordered detention on the basis of information which is so sensitive that it cannot be presented in ordinary judicial proceedings. The Review Commission will be composed of three international legal experts, appointed by the SRSG. At least two of the members must be judges in their home countries.

The OSCE and the Kosovar Civil Society have launched two publications intended as resources for the growing NGO community in Kosovo. One is a donor manual to assist local NGOs in designing projects related to donors. It contains a glossary of donor terms, guidelines for project planning, and profiles of potential donors supporting local NGOs. The other contains speeches given at the First Forum of Kosovar NGOs held last year, and identifies common priorities and key challenges facing the local NGO sector. Both publications are produced in English, Albanian, Serbian and Turkish languages.

Advertisements for 96 railway positions for northern Kosovo have been made, following successful negotiations held by the Department of Transport and Infrastructure with the Deputy General Manager of Serbian Railways. Support is also being sought for enrolling Kosovo Serb railway workers from the Serb National Council and the Serbian Railways.

A Kosovo-wide Labour Market Survey will be undertaken by the Department of Labour and Employment, in co-operation with the Statistical Office of Kosovo (SOK) and International Labour Organization (ILO). The SOK will do the fieldwork and the ILO will provide assistance on the design, methodology and elaboration of the questionnaire to ensure that the survey contains reliable and internationally comparable data. An ILO expert is expected to come to Kosovo by the end of September 2001.

The Department of Civil Security and Emergency Preparedness plans to review the existing structure of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) in order to establish a more rational geographical structure of the KPC sites. The Department has also prepared a priority list of the most urgently needed equipment for the KPC. It will focus its efforts on procuring these items in the coming months.

The Department of Youth has inaugurated an "Open Air Cinema" in Pristina. Established by the local youth organization "New Life" and supported by the Department and the Canadian Office in Kosovo, the theatre will be operate free of charge every night until 22 September 2001. It will be located at the Boro i Ramiz Sports Centre. In addition to movies, UNICEF, UNHCR and WHO will be showing documentary films on such issues as AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse and smoking. Each documentary will be followed by a round table discussion.

Deputy SRSG Tom Koenigs has approved a second batch of projects for the minorities funded by the German Government, for a total value of DM 415,180. Overall, some 24 projects-to be implemented in 24 municipalities-will be funded from this source. Beneficiaries include different ethnic communities and women.

Pristina regional authorities have condemned the recent, long-lasting illegal obstruction of the regular garbage collection service in Pristina City and the serious consequences it has posed to the population. The Region also utterly rejected the detestable attitude shown by some strikers during the illegal occupation of the landfill site.

A business plan to reactivate the Brezovice Ski Resort has been prepared as a result of a meeting between the Department of Local Administration, representatives of the United States KFOR, UNMIK Pillar IV and Shterpce/Strpce Municipality. The U.S. KFOR outlined the minimum security requirements needed for the resort to reopen.


UNMIK News is a publication of the Division of Public Information, UNMIK Pristina - Tel: (381.38) 504.604 Ext. 5610, email: ellwood@un.org