Return of all prisoners to Kosovo

In a strong statement in connection with the FRY Amnesty Law expected to be passed by the Yugoslav Parliament this week, SRSG Hans Haekkerup is urging the Belgrade authorities to return all Kosovo prisoners detained in Serbia to Kosovo. "Prisoners who would not fall within the scope of the amnesty law should also be returned to Kosovo," he told the KTC last week. Their cases should be processed through a judicial review conducted under UNMIK supervision, i.e. without waiting for judicial processes in the FRY. The UN mission in Kosovo would make sure this review started immediately and would be conducted according to international human rights and judicial standards, Haekkerup said.

Things moving in the right direction, Javier Solana  concludes

"At the end of the journey, you will have to be part of the European Union," Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, said last week, summing up Kosovo's prospects during his latest visit. His first trip to Pristina since SRSG Hans Haekkerup took over, Solana was at pains to underline the European Union's continued support for the Kosovo project.
   
This meant that Kosovo should continue to evolve in a direction compatible with the values and the way of life that Europeans had, the High Representative explained. After the Balkans Summit in Zagreb last December, the EU was offering this perspective to all the countries of the region. "Therefore all the steps that are taking place have to be in that direction, to comply and to prepare for the moment when the values, the structures, etc. will be compatible with those of European countries," he added.

Speaking at the end of two days of meetings with the SRSG, Kosovo political leaders, EU and UNMIK officials and the KFOR Commander, Solana underlined two directions: reconstruction and security. Fortunately, violence was diminishing: it was not necessary, during this visit at least, to appeal to leaders to condemn recent acts of violence, he observed.
  
Taking care to dispel any doubts over the EU interest and support for a general election in 2001, the High Representative strongly backed the SRSG's plan to define a legal framework for it first. But before that, he said he had told Kosovo Albanian leaders, Kosovo had to properly implement the results of the municipal elections. He hoped that having local leaders in charge of their everyday life would have an impact on Kosovo's development.
   
Solana publicly supported the SRSG's intentions to open an UNMIK Liaison Office in Belgrade. Moreover, the EU UNMIK Pillar (for reconstruction and economic development) would be represented in such an office, if the SRSG so wished, he said. The EU was also fully behind the ideas and the plan presented for the return of Kosovo's refugees this year.
   
The High Representative concluded his visit with an appeal concerning the detainees in the FRY and Serbia, the same one he had made in his preceding visit to Belgrade: "It is very, very important that these detainees return home, and that a new chapter is opened for these people."

Assembly to be responsible for functioning self-government, says SRSG

Elaborating his plans for the legal framework defining provisional self-government,  SRSG Hans Haekkerup has told the JIAS Co-Heads that the legal framework will either encompass several Regulations or consist of a single overarching Regulation, with the subsidiary regulations elaborating the principle enactment.
  
The Assembly should have the powers and competencies appropriate to its responsibility for the functioning of local self-government. It must have the right to pass legislation in the areas defined as self-government, Haekkerup told the heads of the JIAS Departments. Provision also had to be made for an Executive Body arising from the Assembly.
   
For real self-government to occur, however, power had to be transferred, so that part of a department, or whole departments, moved towards self-government. "Kosovarization of the departments will be carried out throughout all this process, both in departments partly or fully transferred, and in those not transferred," the SRSG explained.
   
Power transfer within the Administrative Departments will therefore be examined in the run-up to the general elections. But,  "the high level of the civil service must not be diminished during this transfer, if Kosovo is to continue attracting donors," he insisted.
   
An important component of self-government was economic responsibility, the SRSG pointed out. The Assembly should therefore have the right to prioritize within the budget that was transferred.
   
But while both the budget and sources of revenue should be transferred to local self-government, areas like law enforcement should not, Haekkerup underlined. Neverthe-less, Kosovars themselves should be involved in defining those areas and mechanisms. "We need a functioning democracy," he asserted. Efforts by Kosovars in creating their own self-government would help to realize that goal. Certain caveats, however, remained: for example, in the end the international community was responsible for implementing resolution 1244.
   
The SRSG called on political parties to participate in establishing the legal framework. He himself would pursue both external and internal consultations. But "I know it is that impossible to reach a consensus on all subjects, and that I'll have to take final decisions in such an eventuality," he added.

Briefs . . . .

The first 12 UNMIK Travel Documents were handed out by SRSG Hans Haekkerup to a group of Kosovar applicants last week. An additional 90 will be distributed in Kosovo's municipalities in the coming days. These documents, which are valid for the duration of UNMIK's mandate, are not passports but will allow Kosovars to obtain visas for travel to foreign countries. To date, they have been recognized by the following States: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States. UNMIK hopes that the FYROM-the country where Kosovars will have to go to obtain most visas-will soon follow suit. Only Switzerland has an office in Pristina, which issues visas. To apply for the Travel Document, a person must have a valid ID Card. Some 35,000 ID Cards were distributed by UNMIK in December. During the next six month, 900,000 more will be made available.

In the 2002 Budget (KCB 2002), donor contributions will be reduced and a higher share of the budget will have to be covered from locally-generated revenues, Central Fiscal Authority (CFA) Head, Mr Tony Preston-Stanley, warned the Council of JIAS Co-Heads last week. At the same session, SRSG Hans Heakkerup highlighted the need to identify spending that could be cut out of KCB 2002, the first budget available to the provisional self-government. Preston-Stanley said the CFA was already working on a range of options on revenue raising for the 2002-2004 budgets. A joint revenue-raising working party would be established in the near future. An important new issue was the role of the public sector in helping foreign direct investment and in creating the economic environment which stimulates the private sector. The budget would also have to accommodate the transition of the joint administration to one of self-government. Meanwhile, the CFA has been enjoying a cash surplus since late 2000. Late donor payments, customs revenues and taxes, along with early 2001 contributions, mean that all departments will receive an extra two months of expenditures.

The UNMIK Customs Service has proven to be one of the most successful public services in Kosovo and achieved "nothing short of a miracle", Deputy SRSG Andy Bearpark announced last week.. Paul Acda, Customs Service Director-General, reported that the Service had collected just under DM 225 million in revenues in 2000, exceeding its target by 38 per cent. The Customs Service was moving towards becoming a modern European-style service, Acda stated. The total number of workers now stood at about 150, but by February some 45 officers, who were now in training, would be added. Payment evasion remains a serious problem. The nearly 250 customs crimes investigated so far had generated DM 3 million in fines. "Tax evaders hurt the entire Kosovar population by depriving the Budget of revenues that could be used to improve healthcare, schools, transport and other government services," emphasized Customs Director Ylber Rraci.

Three months into the job, Kosovo's Ombudsperson, Marek Antoni Nowicki, has received 128 applications. They included 55 labour disputes, 15 social assistance and 32 property-related cases. In two cases, ex officio investigations were initiated-one concerning the electricity bills exemption scheme, the other relating to the detention of a person in Rahovec/Orahovac. Nineteen applications were filed against KFOR, most of them concerning property-related issues. Despite the lack of jurisdiction to investigate cases against KFOR, the Ombudsperson decided to accept those applications and send them to KFOR, asking to be updated on the results of the investigations and the decisions that would eventually be taken. Some applications were declared inadmissible either because the cases were ill-founded or applicants had not exhausted legal means in their possession to resolve their disputes. Some 124 people have also visited the Ombudsperson's Office just for advice, before taking a decision on whether to file an application or not.

Following the municipal elections, 18 municipalities have now appointed their Chief Executive Officers, seven have fully set up their Boards of Directors, two have adopted their Statutes, 14 have constituted their three mandatory committees and nine are in the process of doing so. In a few cases, Municipal Assemblies have (unlawfully) proposed the establishment of administrative departments in areas that fall exclusively under international responsibility, such as public security, or under the competency of central Departments. Municipal Administrators exercised their reserve powers under UNMIK Regulation 2000/45 on Self-Government of Municipalities and rejected the proposals as being at variance with the existing regulatory framework. One important issue still to be addressed was the relationship between the Assembly and village leaders who play an important role in rural communities but do not have legal status.

The Department of Agriculture is strongly supporting the initiative of the NGO PAWS, a newly founded association in Pristina, which is presently setting up a public health risk reduction programme through the control of stray dogs. The association is operating in close collaboration with the World Society for the Protection of Animals, which is running a successful capture, sterilizing and release programme in Prizren, where over 300 animals were re-housed in 2000.

The management of the Mirada milk cow farm in the Fushė Kosovė/Kosovo Polje Kombinat has been taken over by the Department of Agriculture. The farm will continue to be used as a quarantine transit farm for cows imported under a number of humanitarian programmes, but the main goal is to return it to a fully operational milk production centre. To this end, negotiations are under way with Kosovar and foreign investors to put in place a start-up herd of 500 head of Austrian cattle.

Following the UNMIK Railways request to become member, the Comité International de Transport Ferroviaire (CIT) is recommending that all its members accept UNMIK Railways. This will open the way to reconnect Kosovo's railway system, including its passenger and freight services, to the European network. CIT members are expected to vote by 26 February 2001.

Pristina Airport will have a new access road. The European Agency for Reconstruction agreed to fund its construction-from the main Pristina-Pejė/Pec road-provided that all landowners had been identified and that land acquisition was assured. The process to secure the land was established several months ago and details are being finalized.

Open commercialization tenders for the right to operate industrial enterprises for a fixed period of time have been announced by the Department of Trade and Industry. These relate to: Mitrovica Battery Plant; Progress Meat Processing in Prizren; Prizren handicrafts; Trofta Fish Farm and Hotel Complex, and  FATEX Textiles in Istog/Istok; IMB Bakery in Mitrovica; Bottling facility in Lipjan/Lipljan; Eurometal in Ferizaj/Urosevac; Betonjerka in Mitrovica; Llamkos in Vushtrii/Vucitrn; and Massive Furniture in Decan/Decani. All Kosovars and international businesses and persons are allowed to participate.