UNMIK ON AIR
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
22 February 2002
Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup programme
from UNMIK on Air. In the show today….
CUT 1: LIMAJ There is no need for anyone to make us go to the Hague. We are
ready to pay off that debt too and I will go there voluntarily.
CUT 2: ATMOS: A baby crying
VOX-POP (the baby crying in the background)
Hysni: Lady, how long have you been waiting
here?
Since 6 o’clock in the morning.
What are you waiting for?
To get a visa to go to my husband.
Fahrie Hasani has come from Ferizaj with her baby in the hope of getting a visa to travel to Germany where her husband is working. It’s freezing cold on Monday morning, the 17th of February, the first day the German Office in Pristina is issuing visas. It seems as though thousands of people from all across Kosovo, like Fahrie, have come. They flood the street in front of the office, and block the road…. Almost like another column of refugees leaving Kosovo.
And it’s not just Germany. It seems these people are willing to go almost anywhere, to look for a better life. Poverty and unemployment seem to be the driving force behind these desperate people. More than half of the Kosovo population lives in poverty, different surveys show, around the same number are not employed.
If you want to leave Kosovo you need a passport or a UN travel document. But they’re useless for most countries without visas. And until recently, Kosovars had to go to Skopje, Belgrade or Tirana to get them… not always an easy trip.
The Swiss office was the first to break the ice and start issuing visas in Kosovo, followed by Italy, and now Germany. Peter Rondorf is the head of the German office in Pristina. He stresses that while being able to apply for visas in Pristina certainly makes life easier for Kosovars, it doesn’t increase their chance of actually getting accepted.
CUT 3: The most important thing is
that there has to be an invitation from the Federal Republic of Germany. The
inviting person obliges himself to pay for all costs and also takes the
responsibility for a possible misbehaviour. Then there is absolutely necessary
a health insurance and the proof of sufficient money.
LINK: Meanwhile, in the crowds outside the office,
there’s still some confusion. Heda Elfeti, from Ferizaj wants to visit her son
in Germany… but she’s been getting the runaround.
CUT 4:
I
arranged everything in Skopje to get a visa, and I was sent to get it here. I
was in Skopje, I just got back from there, they told me to come and get it
here, and these are telling me to go to Skopje again.
But despite the difficulties it seems Mrs Elfeti is
just one of thousands of people willing to lining up in the snow for hours
outside foreign offices in Pristina, desperate for a visa to leave.
** MUSIC **
CUT
5 : LIMAJ: I would like to…through
RTK…greet all Kosovar citizens, especially
my supporters and tell them to be faithful since, when we knew how to
defend Kosovo in much harder times, I will know how to defend Kosovo and the
KLA again in the Hague…
Kosovo MP Fatmir Limaj, during a phone interview with RTK on Monday night, just before he handed himself over to Slovenian police. Mrs Limaj’s the first high-ranking K-Albanian to be indicted by International War Crimes Tribunal on suspicion of war crimes committed during the Kosovar war.
The
day before in Kosovo, Haradin Balaj, Isak Musliu and Agim Murtezi were arrested
on similar charges of illegal detention, torture and murder of Albanian and
Serb civilians in a KLA prison-camp in the Llapushnik area during 1998.
It
wasn’t until the following afternoon when it became public that the list of the
accused also included a fourth name, that of Fatmir Limaj, known as “Commander
Steel” during the war, and now a Kosovo Member of Parliament and high-ranking
PDK official. Although all charges made by the Hague are individual Mr Limaj
has been charged with the overall responsibility for the crimes.
And,
contrary to many people’s expectations, his arrest did not spark turmoil or
violent demonstrations. Even Kosovar government officials and PDK party members
have been keeping a pragmatic approach to the issue, a fact that has pleased the
international community. SRSG Michael Steiner speaking on RTK:
CUT
6: (RTK) : You know there have been indictments from the Hague , we have all
the obligation to cooperate with the ICTY. I am very encouraged by Fatmir
Limaj’s statement in which he expresses that he recognizes the obligations
towards the Hague. I am also encouraged by that fact that the prime minister
has confirmed that Fatmir Limaj is ready to come and face the authorities.
UNMIK’s praise for the way Mr Limaj handed himself in has not been universal. ICTY’s head prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, claimed that Mr Limaj was allowed to leave the country by KFOR troops, while the ICTY spokesperson Florence Hartmann has said Mr. Limaj “did not surrender - he was arrested”. UNMIK’s head of Information, Simon Haselock, says the statement was completely unnecessary, since Mr Limaj acted in the most dignified manner:
CUt
7 : Whatever interpretation may be
put on it by people outside Kosovo the fact remains that it was clear to us
that Mr. Limaj had formed a clear intention to hand himself in , he made it
clear publicly, he made it clear to us , he made it clear to the government and
the institutions. There was absolutely no reason for going public in such an
obvious way should he not wish to hand himself in.
Now, of course, it’s up to the Tribunal to determine whether the four arrested are guilty as accused. One question that remains open is will there be more arrests of K-Albanians? The Tribunal is keeping silent and everyone else seems able only to make guesses. Simon Haselock again:
CUT
8 : All I can say is that you have
to go with what Carla Del Ponte herself said when she was here last. I think
she was here in November or December and I think she said we should expect people
to be indicted this year and, I think she mentioned four people and it seems to
me that is what has happened. And therefore I think it would be speculation to
imagine that there would or would not be any more. It’s possible but we will
have to wait and see.
Unemployment is one of Kosovo’s biggest problems. According to the latest research done by RIINVEST institute around there are around 450 thousand unemployed people in Kosovo and, unless there are drastic changes, this number will continue to grow at a rate of 21 to 25 thousand people every year.
With most of the employed working either in small private businesses or on the land, and no industry to speak of - or any short term prospect of creating one - the future of the Kosovar unemployed does not seem too bright.
What’s more, the average Kosovar salary is around 150 Euro, while local prices rival those elsewhere in Europe. So it’s no surprise that a large number of people are making their living in the so-called informal economy. Which means that they are employed doing seasonal work or in the private sector, but they do not pay income taxes or pension contributions, they have no social security or work insurance and, they do not sign contracts.
Muhamed Sadiku, from RIINVEST, says that this is no surprise, since the “informal economy” is a common by-product of a society facing an economic crisis:
CUT 9: I do not think that this phenomenon is a Kosovar specialty. This has happened to all the countries that went through transition. It is because informal economy is a result of serious irregularities in general economy. And if we take a look at this phenomenon through the world economy perspective we will see that this type of economy is still present in a lot of places.
CUT
10: When it comes to income taxes it is certain that this is very damaging
since it is estimated that up to 30 percent of the people working are within
the informal economy. But when it comes to the pension fund they are damaging
themselves because none of them secures anything for their old age
Besides the damage that is being inflicted to the general budget Ismail Kastrati warns that people who are working in informal economy face a lot of risks, not getting the pension being the smallest of them all:
CUT
11There is another risk involved in this – A person employed in the informal
economy can be hurt while working, can even become an invalid and he will not
get any payments in the future. A person can actually die at his workplace and
the employer will not bear any responsibility for that. He is not protected on
his working place, he does not even have the right for holidays, daily breaks,
even days off.
A grim situation, it seems. Still, Muhamed Mustafa
from RIINVEST is optimistic that as Kosovo gradually makes progress, the blight
of the grey economy will become less of a problem.
CUT 12 : Kosovo has entered a stage of finalising its institutions and, within all of this, I do think that Kosovo will create a job market. First of all legislation will be created and the job market will be institutionalized, and this will be accompanied by a three-sided agreement between the government, the independent unions and the chamber of commerce.
Let’s
hope he’s right. That’s all for this week’s roundup from UNMIK Radio…