UNMIK ON AIR

WEEKLY ROUND-UP

FEBRUARY 8 2003

Hello and welcome …

…

In the programme today…

CUT 1 (edited): ISUFI: It estimated that 10 percent of Kosovar households do not have any employed family member.

Unemployment in Kosovo soars…

And minority freedom of movement suffers as Belgrade drags its heels on recognizing Kosovo licence plates.

But first:

The latest figures from the UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) show more than 4000 people are still unaccounted for since the war. 900 are minorities, the rest K-Albanians.

OMPF head Jose Pablo Baraybar emphasizes that the issue of missing persons is still extremely sensitive, and, unfortunately, there is very little hope that anyone will be found alive.

Baraybar estimates that by the end of this year the exhumations of all remaining, previously known gravesites in Kosovo will be completed. He hopes the exhumations will produce between 500-700 bodies that were recovered this year in Kosovo.

Over 2000 bodies have been identified so far. But Jose-Pablo Baraybar says finding names for the rest could take a long time.

CUT 2 – The problem is the following; I think there is enough room for everybody to just help out in this process. If we got over 4.000 people missing, even if we were to identify, say, 200 people a month, you’re still talking about a number of years … a couple of years in this effort. I mean, this effort can’t be resolved from one day to the next.

LINK: For the process to work the families of the missing need to come forward with information. And, crucially, officials in both Belgrade and Pristina need to cooperate… an area where Baraybar says there is room for improvement.

CUT 3 – We have at the moment a good working relationship with both authorities. This week there will be a number of meetings, including a meeting with the Governmental Commission for Missing Persons … we have a meeting with Coordination center in Belgrade, so I think the cooperation in general terms is sort of working, but we need to invest much more efforts to make it work smoothly,

The Office of Missing Persons and Forensics plans to increase the number of exhibitions of clothing and personal effects of the unidentified dead throughout Kosovo. And there are plans to install a phone “hot-line” to encourage people to anonymously provide information regarding the whereabouts of missing persons.

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FX – Car driving off

Freedom of movement – it’s one of the biggest problems faced by minorities in Kosovo. Particularly for Serbs in the southern enclaves, travel can be frustratingly restricted. Many never leave the outskirts of the often tiny areas where they feel safe.

One of the biggest problems has been car licence plates. Under the old Yugoslav system, the plate on your car says very clearly where you’re from. And if you’re a minority that can put you at risk.

Since last year Serbs have been signing up for the new Kosovo plates in increasing numbers. With nothing but a series of numbers and the letters KS, there’s no way of telling where a car comes from.

And that’s a big advantage when traveling around Kosovo, according to this driver from the enclave of Gracanica.

CUT 4: For the sake of security … you are less visible with KS plates …

But the KS plates still aren’t recognized by Belgrade. And that means that if Kosovo Serbs want to drive to Serbia proper they have to change plates when they leave Kosovo. Inconvenient, and with two lots of insurance and registration fees to pay, expensive.

Last year Belgrade agreed a protocol recognizing the KS plates in Serbia proper. Belgrade’s envoy to Kosovo, Nebojsa Covic, even visited Pristina in January… but didn’t sign the protocol. So what’s the deadlock? Oliver Ivanovic, a member of the Kosovo Assembly and a high-ranking official in Mr Covic’s party:

CUT 5: IVANOVIC: In any case KS plates can improve freedom of movement, because the people would be less visible, to say so, or they would not be recognized by car plates. But it is certain that that issue won’t be agreed upon easy, because it is not just a question of freedom of movement of the Serbs here, but it is also a matter of inter-relationship between Republic of Serbia and UNMIK.

Whatever the political wranglings, Serbs in Gracanica are fed up. They want to be able to get into their cars and drive in safety to Serbia proper. And they want Belgrade to do something about it.

CUT 6: VOXPOPS – it must be on the level of state, Coordination center and Government of Serbia to reach an agreement and to make it possible to drive in Serbia with KS plates …

– Maybe it is good to have KS plates, but to be recognized by Serbia, Macedonia and others … so we could travel anywhere …

And UNMIIK spokesman Simon Haselock says allowing KS plates in Serbia is something Belgrade should be doing for its people in Kosovo. It’s the single biggest thing they can do, he says, to increase freedom of movement.

CUT 7. SIMON: The question is, is there a realistic desire to do something which benefits the people they claim to represent in Kosovo, i.e. the Kosovo Serbs. And the simplest way it seems to me to do that is to sign this protocol, which has been ready for signature since August last year.

Of course, giving minorities licence plates they can use in Kosovo and beyond isn’t going to solve freedom of movement overnight. That’s a much bigger problem, involving fundamental changes in the relationship between Kosovo’s minority and majority populations… something Gracanica residents are well aware of.

CUT 8: VOXPOPS: – Is it good, it is not good … if you have not a freedom of movement everything else isn’t worth much ,,, the plates or anything else …

Tr 17 – Kosovo plates we do not need for Gracanica only, what does it mean KS plates for us if we are driving only in Gracanica, if we have not a freedom of movement …

But in a part of the world where progress is often slow, being able to drive around safely is an important step in the right direction.

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CUT 9 : (muhamed Mustafa) : Our public surveys are telling us that , ever since November last year, problem nr 1 for Kosovars is unemployment….edit to tr…05: Our analysis says that, in order to cut down on unemployment in Kosovo, we need to create 25 to 30 thousand new jobs every year, for the next ten years.

Muhamed Mustafa , head of the private institute RIINVEST, talking about the biggest issue in the minds of Kosovar people, unemployment.

RIINVEST recently surveyed over a thousand Kosovar households and hundreds of businesses of all sizes about the job market and unemployment. The result? Not very encouraging. Altogether, states the report, the unemployment rate is now 38 percent. Some 11 percent of the population survives on seasonal work. Speaking in numbers, it would mean that around 450 thousand people are currently unemployed.

Avdullah Hoti, an economist from RIINVEST, worked on compiling this report. He warns that, with the natural population growth, these numbers will only increase in the future:

CUT 10: (Avdullah Hoti) : starting with the number of people who are joining the labour force every year, and taking into account the retirements and those who reach working age, we have estimated that in Kosovo, every year, 21 to 25 thousand people join the labor market.

Ahmed Isufi, the minister of labour and social welfare, says the job crisis runs deep through Kosovar society. There is, he says, some demand for skilled workers. The problem is that most of the unemployed don’t have the qualifications.

CUT 11 (AI): It estimated that 10 percent of Kosovar households do not have any employed family member. The situation on the employment field is hardened by an extraordinarily high number of the unqualified and semi-qualified job seekers…

Mr Isufi says the Assembly has granted the ministry a budget increase this year, which it plans to use in dole payments for the unemployed, though the details have yet to be finalized.

But what can be done to increase the number of jobs? The job market is still very small in Kosovo and it is still unclear whether privatization will yield noticeable results. According to RIINVEST’s Avdullah Ahmeti, the best thing to do is create an environment that will allow local businesses to develop and, hopefully, grow.

CUT 12 :(AH) : The creation of a macro economic environment that would stimulate employment. This is an urgent issue. The investment environment should be improved and made more suitable. The tax and customs policy should be coordinated and made to support employment….edit to tr …30: On the other hand the government and the responsible organs should launch programs of support for new businesses and especially agriculture.

B/A: Kosovo’s Labour Minister bringing us to the end of this week’s roundup from UNMIK on Air. From all of us here at the Pristina studios, thanks for listening.