UNMIK On-Air

Let’s Talk 3: Returns

By Gezim Kasapolli

 

 

SLUG: Last month, UNMIK together with Kosovo’s PISG, Provisional Institutions of Self Government, launched the first in a series of TV programs called “Let’s talk” which aims OF MAKING the issue of Standards and their significance clearer to the citizens of Kosovo.  This week the discussion centered on ‘returns’.

 

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on air.

 

Each week “Let’s Talk” will examine a new topic, outlining one of the eight Standards essential to the governing principles for the people of Kosovo. These are the stepping-stones that will support Kosovans in their quest for stability, peace and improved living conditions.

 

This third edition of “Let’s talk” dealt with one of the most sensitive and most complicated of the Standards: the rights for sustainable returns of those displaced and the rights of minority communities and their members.

 

Although most of the local leaders and institutions say this is one of the most important standards for the future of Kosovo – statistics tell that the achievement of this standard is still very far.

 

According to UNHCR, only about 5% of the displaced people have returned to Kosovo in the last five years: 10.500 out of the total 200.000.

 

Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova was one of the panel members in this edition of “Let’s Talk”.

 

Rugova asserts that Kosovo institutions have always supported the right to return, but adds that the issue is too often approached as a political issue instead of a humanitarian one.

 

 

“To return is an undisputed right according to the international rights of every citizen. There have been political manipulations concerning returns, especially from Belgrade. We as Kosovo institutions guarantee the right to return for all those who want to return individually. We do not want this issue to be politicized, we want it to be a humanitarian and a human issue for all those who want to come back to where they were before.”

 

Another panel member was Hashim Thaçi, the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo [PDK].

 

Thaçi claims that some social changes are necessary in order for these returns to happen.

 

“An internal agreement is needed between the majority and the minorities, an agreement of mutual interests, an agreement for integration that would stop segregation, parallel structures and enclaves. It would accommodate the integration of Serbs in the institutions. We have to understand that this agreement would be in the best interest of all the citizens and it would be compiled based on European standards and principles that would also have strong guarantees from USA and EU.”

 

Alliance for the Future of Kosovo Party [AAK] leader Ramush Haradinaj says that the local government has to be closer to the citizens of Kosovo.

 

In Haradinaj’s estimation, this is the only way to improve the situation of minority communities, which in turn would raise the number of returns:

 

“I have proposed some concrete steps that could be undertaken such as putting a time line on the issue of reconstruction, reforming the local governance in order for it to be suitable for all the citizens of Kosovo and of course an active participation in the Advisory Security Group in order for more security to be created during its work and during the process of monitoring.”

 

Lutfi Haziri is the President of Gjilan municipality and the President of Kosovo’s municipal assemblies. He says that the discussion should be focused more on creating a safe environment and economic conditions for those who return:

 

“We have worked actively in cooperation with the office of the President, institutions, the Government, the Parliament and political parties in order to create a sustainable environment for the return of all the citizens who fled Kosovo. This end has been achieved considerably in Kosovo. Except for the part of evaluating whether the private property was damaged or occupied that is being done through UN agencies, where the institutions of Kosovo have less responsibilities, the second step of demands of all the citizens who wish to return to their property is the demand for a secure environment and an environment where they could get jobs. However, we are facing a difficult economic situation and the issue of employment has an impact on those who are displaced in or out of Kosovo. 

 

Marcie Ries, Chief of US office in Prishtina agreed with Lutfi Haziri that the bad economic situation in Kosovo has a direct effect on the issue of returns.

 

Ries says, “he mere fact that the unemployment rate is high and that most of the unemployed are young people represents a problem.” She asserts that standards should be addressed as a package for implementation and not separately.

 

According to the official Standards Document: “Members of all communities should be able to fully participate in the economic, political and social life of Kosovo and should not face threats because of their ethnicity. All refugees and displaced persons who want to return to Kosovo must be able to do so in safety and dignity.”

 

Thanks for listening to another edition of UNMIK On-Air. Stay tuned for more.

 

NOTE: Each edition of “Let’s Talk is rebroadcast in Serbian on Sunday afternoons on RTK.

 

The next edition of the TV program “Let’s Talk” will focus on the KPC and will be broadcast the 8th of July on RTK, RADIO TELEVISION KOSOVA.

 

If you’re interested in joining THE live audience for upcoming debates, please give UNMIK A call at 38 504 604, extension 5628 and “Let’s Talk.”