Forced Migration Monitor: September 1998, No. 25
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Subject: Forced Migration Monitor: September 1998, No. 25
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Original sender: Paulette Layton <[email protected]>
Forced Migration Monitor: September 1998, No. 25
(From the moderator: the full text of the Monitor can be obtained by
request from either the Forced Migration Projects OSI or from the
MINELRES moderator. Boris)
Forced Migration Monitor
September 1998, No. 25
Table of Contents
* Armed Conflict in Kosovo and Chechnya: A Comparison
* Bosnian Property Commission Struggles to Fulfill Its Potential
* FMP Sponsors Budapest Meeting on Balkan Issues
* Forced Migration Projects Publish Special Report on Tajikistan
* New Crimean Tatar Library Project
Armed Conflict In Kosovo and Chechnya: a Comparison
Political decisions often have a major impact on forced migration.
Understanding the political forces at work in any conflict is thus
essential in order to develop remedies for human displacements. The
following translated article attempts to gauge the potential for
forced migration in Kosovo by examining the political factors
influencing developments. Comparing and contrasting events in Kosovo
with the war and its aftermath in Chechnya brings the dangers of
forced migration better into focus. The article was contributed by
Emil Payin, head of the Center for Ethno-Political & Regional Studies
in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Payin, an expert on ethnic conflicts, has
served as an adviser to the Russian President and is a consultant for
the Forced Migration Projects.
An analysis of the armed conflict in Chechnya from 1994 to 1996 may
provide some indications as to the way the situation in Kosovo will
develop, specifically, the duration and ferocity of the conflict, and
its consequences in respect of forced migration.
...........................
Bosnian Property Commission Struggles To Fulfill Its Potentional
The continued inability of the majority of those displaced by fighting
in Bosnia and Herzegovina to return to their prewar residences remains
one of the most glaring failures of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement to
facilitate long-term stability.
Mechanisms established under the Dayton peace agreement (DPA) have the
potential to achieve a breakthrough in promoting the return of
displaced persons. However, those mechanisms have either been
underutilized, or worse, ignored. The recent elections in Bosnia will
set the scene for the next phase of DPA implementation. It is time for
the international community to examine these devices and make some
hard decisions.
...............................
FMP Sponsors Budapest Meeting on Balkan Issues
The Forced Migration Projects have scheduled a meeting in Budapest on
December 10-12, 1998, to discuss citizenship and property rights
issues in the former Yugoslavia. The meeting is also expected to
consider the humanitarian emergency in Kosovo. For more information
contact Alex Lupis, manager of FMP's Legal Policy Task Force, at (212)
548-0330, or by e-mail at<[email protected]>.
Forced Migration Projects Publish Special Report On Tajikistan
The Forced Migration Projects (FMP) are seeking to build momentum for
the precarious peace process in the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan
by publishing a special report on repatriation and the role of the
nongovernmental sector in promoting stability.
The 77-page report, entitled Tajik-istan: Refugee Reintegration and
Conflict Prevention, examines the country's civil war and the
challenges associated with restoring the peace, in particular the
return of Tajiks who fled to neighboring Afghanistan. The report,
published in September, also contains extensive information on the
international humanitarian response. Special attention is given to the
activities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
................................
New Crimean Tatar Library Project
The expansion of a Crimean Tatar library will mark a major step in the
effort to protect the cultural traditions of the formerly deported
people who are returning to Ukraine. A target completion date of June
2000 has been set for the $389,000 project, which is being funded
primarily by the government of the Netherlands, the Ukrainian
government's State Committee for Nationalities, and the Kyiv-based
International Renaissance Foundation (IRF). The Forced Migration
Projects (FMP) of the Open Society Institute have also been active
promoters of the library project, which is part of an overall plan to
promote the stable repatriation of Tatars to the Crimean peninsula.
The project would vastly expand the existing Gasprinsky library, which
currently has a relatively small collection of 8,000 books and
periodicals relating to Crimean Tatar heritage. Upon completion of the
expansion, the library would be home to tens of thousands of volumes,
as well as provide state-of-the-art facilities for researchers.
...................................
Forced Migration Projects Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10019
tel: (212) 548-0655
fax: (212) 548-4676
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.soros.org/migrate.html
Advisory Committee:
Ludmilla Alexeeva
Jeremy R. Azrael
Arthur C. Helton (convenor)
Murray Feshbach
Morten Kjaerum
Aryeh Neier
Barnett R. Rubin
Warren Zimmermann
Staff:
Arthur C. Helton, Director
Justin Burke
Eliana Jacobs
Marie J. Jeannot
Paulette A. Layton
Alexander Lupis
Tatyana Lyutova
The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and
grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies
around the world. OSI-New York develops and implements a variety of
domestic and international programs in the areas of educational,
social, and legal reform, and encourages public debate and policy
alternatives in complex and often controversial fields. OSI-New York
is part of a network of more than 24 autonomous nonprofit foundations
and other organizations created and funded by philanthropist George
Soros in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Haiti,
and South Africa, as well as in the United States.
� OSI, September 1998
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