UNMIK ON AIR

WEEKLY ROUNDUP

MAY 3 2003

Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup program from UNMIK on Air. In the show today

“The situation is much worse than the ministry of health admits, and, above all, what our people, deserve.”

A crisis in Kosovo’s heath-care system?

And why do Kosovans put up with living surrounded by garbage?

But first:

In one way or the other, the murder of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has affected not just Serbia but the entire region. Dubbed the “man of reform”, Djindjic was committed to transforming Serbian society, still struggling to set itself free of the Milosevic legacy.

Officially, a criminal clan known as “the Zemun group” killed Zoran Djindjic. Other groups blamed for involvement in the murder include the infamous “red berets “ a special antiterrorist unit within the Yugoslav army and the paramilitary group run by the notorious Franki Simantovic.

Over 2000 people were arrested during the clampdown after the Djindjic assassination. But leading human rights activist, Sonja Biserko of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, says the police may have arrested some of the people involved, but the whole story is still far from being known.

Sonja Biserko: His murder is of the utmost importance in the history of Serbia. It is very important to look at the murder from a broader context since it is not enough just to know who were the direct murderers, which has been the case up to now, but the entire background should be revealed and that is more important.

And Sonja Biserko asks if all the names of the executioners of the crime are known, where are the names of the people who ordered it? The real danger to Serbian society has not been removed, she says. The surgery undertaken by the Serbian government took care of the body of the beast, but left its head untouched.

Sonja Biserko: The government has made an enormous cut but that cut wasn’t radical enough since the addresses of the real crime are high up in the army, in the financial-economic elite, which has up to now remained untouched. It is invisible – and they, the people in the background remain unknown. So, since the beginning this has been a horizontal not a vertical fight against crime.

So what will the final verdict be? Will the murder of the Serbian PM be the last kick of a dying mule or will the beast whose body has been destroyed resurrect itself through another “Zemun group” or another Franky Simantovic? According to Sonja Biserko this is where the international community needs to be vigilant - the truth behind Djindjic’s assassination is also in their interest.

Sonja Biserko: It mostly depends on how much the international community wishes to engage – and it seems that that it does want to stabilize Serbia. Amongst other things, the funeral of Zoran Djindjic has shown that the entire world and the region is worried about what is happening in Serbia so it has a lot of interest in stabilizing it. It is obvious that Serbia, as it is currently, is pulling the entire region downwards.

JINGLE

There is hardly any area of Kosovan society today that doesn’t come in for criticism, from one quarter or another. Growing complaints too about the slow pace of transfer of powers and that Kosovo’s politicians are not being given a chance to prove themselves. Equally in question though is the track record of local authorities in areas where competencies have been handed over – the health sector for example.

Few in Kosovo today are happy with the services offered by the health sector, though many will admit that there have been improvements. According to Dr. Arben Cami, deputy Director of Health care, both points of view are legitimate.

Dr. Arben Cami: The situation today cannot be compared to what it was four years ago. It is much better but it is still far from the situation we would like to bring to the Kosovar health sector. But concerning the various complaints about the quantity or quality of the services we provide, I still say that the situation is much worse than the ministry of health admits, and, above all, what our people, deserve.

Still the problems remain, although they now stem more from the way the health sector is organized. But this, says Mathias Reinicke, of the European Agency for Reconstruction’s health department, can only be improved by the people themselves.

Mathias Reinicke: We still have, every eight hours, a newborn child dying, which could be saved if health care could be better. That is a question of procedures, of hygiene. There is still a lot to be done and we have to push that the public becomes more aware of its right as a patient.

One of the biggest problems during the first year was the lack of proper equipment. Most of the equipment was looted or destroyed during the war, and what was left was, by and large, useless. Donations have taken care of the shortage of equipment - but that was the easy part, says Mathias Reinicke, what is now needed is training:

Mathias Reinicke: In terms of technology most centers are fairly up to date, at least concerning the core equipment, now it is important to train people, to work with this equipment and at the end to provide better services for people living in Kosovo. That, however is much more difficult and it takes more time, here we talk of years not of months

Not just training, adds Dr. Arben Cami, there are other needs too. Prishtina University Hospital still has insufficient water supply and most medical workers are struggling simply to survive:

Dr. Arben Cami: Matters that have to do with finance are a problem, not only when it comes to equipment, or building new buildings, Hospitals or whatever. You know that one of the needs, that isn’t expressed only in health but in all public services are small salaries. And they do play a big role in motivating health workers.

JINGLE

And here’s another motivational question: how do you get people to look after their environment? It just takes a glance at the mountains of trash all over Kosovo to see environment education and protection needs more attention. The garbage is unsightly, smelly, and potentially dangerous to health. What’s more, the few factories still operating in Kosovo add significantly to air and water pollution.

Things are looking up: a “basic environmental law” has now been passed. But as yet it has no provision for fining people or entities that contribute to pollution. Too early for that, say the members of the Assembly.

So it’s literally down to people on the ground. Earth Day in Kosovo was the start of a clean-up Kosovo campaign, organized by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning. But with just a few participants, most of them environmental officials, the response from public was not satisfactory at all.

VOX-POP:

Hysni: How much do we care about the environment?

-Not at all, there is a lack of awareness.

Hysni: Don’t people want to have a cleaner environment?

-They all do, but actually they do not pay proper attention to the environment.

But Marco Lembo, an ardent environmentalist and advisor for education and public awareness in the Ministry of Environment, believes Kosovans can care for their surroundings, given encouragement. More green areas, more parks, more rubbish containers would help people change their attitude.

But not everyone believes Kosovans can be clean and green. People here keep their houses and their yards clean, but don’t care what happens outside, says Zeqir Veselaj, advisor to the Minister of Environment

Zeqir Veselaj: This is why we called the campaign “Kosova shtepia ime” (Kosovo my home) to make people see Kosovo as their home.

The Kosovo-wide cleaning campaign will continue until the fifth of June. But the issue remains how to make people come forward and join the campaign in bigger numbers. Children can make a change, stresses Lembo, at least in the long run.

Marco Lembo: Every week we visit a different school, both Albanian and from last October we have started to go to Serbian enclaves, in which we organize seminars, workshops, interactive activities with the children on environmental education and protection. We know that they will be one day the next generation of Kosova, they will be maybe politicians, managers, engineers, lawyers, and we want them to grow with a kind of environmental protection consciousness and education.

Spring’s here, and the buds are starting to push their way through the garbage. Let’s make life easier for them and join the cleanup campaign. That’s all for this week’s program. Stay tuned.