FM Alert, No. 51

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
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Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 20:06:31 -0700
Subject: FM Alert, No. 51

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: "by way of Office <[email protected]>"
<[email protected]>

FM Alert, No. 51

 
FM Alert, No. 51
20 October 1997
 
SARAJEVO MEETINGS ON BOSNIAN PROPERTY RIGHTS, CITIZENSHIP
 
Experts from both entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina are expected to
attend two roundtable discussions in Sarajevo, one on property rights
dilemmas, the other focusing on citizenship issues. The meetings are
scheduled to take place October 24, and are sponsored jointly by the
Forced Migration Projects' Legal Policy Task Force for the former
Yugoslavia (LPTF) and the Sarajevo Law Center. The first roundtable,
Remedies to Property Rights Violations, seeks to provide a forum for
legal analysis by local and international actors. Talks will focus on
ways to bring legislation and practice in both the Muslim-Croat
Federation and Republika Srpska into compliance with the Dayton Peace
Agreement, which promotes the return of refugees and displaced persons.
Repatriation in Bosnia has been hampered by property rights-related
disputes, especially those connected with war-time legislation governing
occupancy and tenancy rights. The citizenship meeting will analyze a
model citizenship agreement prepared by the LPTF. Participants will also
have the opportunity to consider other citizenship initiatives. (For
background on property rights consult FM Alerts of July 18, April 25 and
April 18).
 
OSCE WORK IN THE CIS
 
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), acting
within the context of the Programme of Action adopted at the 1996 CIS
Conference on migration-related issues, is launching a variety of
initiatives to promote freedom of movement. In the Ukrainian capital
Kyiv, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
(ODIHR) will co-sponsor a December gathering of experts that is expected
to focus on reforming arcane residency registration procedures in CIS
states. Soviet-style registration practices are perhaps the biggest
single factor limiting freedom of movement. Representatives of UNHCR,
the Council of Europe, the World Bank, relevant governmental officials,
as well as local nongovernmental organization leaders are expected to
attend. OSCE/ODIHR is also planning a Moscow meeting in December that
will explore opportunities for cooperation with the NGO Task Force on
Prevention, created at the CIS Conference Steering Group meeting last
July. In the Transcaucasian nation of Georgia, OSCE officials are
studying ways to help resolve property disputes that are delaying the
repatriation of 50,000 displaced persons now in the Russian region of
North Ossetia. The displaced are mostly ethnic Ossetians. A draft
repatriation plan could be ready within a month, an OSCE official said.
(For more information see FM Alert of June 16 and the following FM Alert
on the role of OSCE in Tajikistan).
 
REPATRIATION CREATES HOUSING CONCERNS IN TAJIKISTAN
 
Tajiks repatriating to their homeland from refugee camps in northern
Afghanistan are encountering a housing shortage, and a lack of essential
social services, a Forced Migration Projects (FMP) consultant in the
Central Asian nation reports. Since July 17 - the launch date of a
repatriation program that is a central element to peace accords ending
Tajikistan's five-year civil war - about 5,600 Tajiks have returned from
Afghanistan. Roughly 15,000 remain in Afghan refugee camps. The success
of the repatriation program is hampered by the war-shattered
infrastructure's inability to accommodate returnees. 

The housing stock in southern areas of Tajikistan, the place of origin
of many returnees, suffered extensive damage from fighting between
government forces and Islamic opposition groups. UNHCR is seeking about
$9 million for a program to renovate 4,600 houses and apartments, and to
bolster health care, education and job training for returnees. So far,
UNHCR appeals have encountered a muted response.

Compounding housing dilemmas, some returnees are finding that their
pre-war property, even while not damaged, has been illegally occupied in
their absence. According to the FMP consultant, the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe is exploring ways to settle property
disputes involving returnees. (For more information on Tajik
repatriation consult FM Alert of September 12).
 
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