Group 484 Presents Report on Status of Refugees

21 June 2006

The status of refugees in former Yugoslavia and the Kosovo IDPs in Serbia and Montenegro has turned for the worse by the breakdown of the union of states and the uncertain status of Kosovo, say the representatives of the Group 484 at the presentation of their 2005 Report on Status of Human Rights of Forced Migrants.

Danilo Rakic

At the press conference held on the occasion of June 20, the International Day of the Refugees, Vesna Golic, Group 484 Executive Director, emphasized that no significant improvement of the status of refugees and IDPs is possible in the current circumstances of deteriorating economic situation and political instability in the country. She pointed out that the cease of existence of the union of states Serbia and Montenegro, as well as the future status of Kosovo will have a direct impact, especially in terms of citizenship of refugees and IDPs.

Danilo Rakic, the editor of the Report, said that the latest campaign registered more than 140,000 refugees in Serbia, but only about 107,000 of them have regulated and confirmed refugee status. Rakic added that the reduction in the number of refugees doesn't mean that the problems have been solved on the long run, and that for some of them the loss of refugee status can mean only that they got integrated in the local poor population.

Regarding the internally displaced persons from Kosovo, Rakic pointed out that the security situation and the uncertain future greatly reduce the will of the donors to assist the return. Saying that many IDPs lack one or more important documents, Rakic emphasized that their situation in Serbia slowly deteriorates with the depletion of property and money they took with them, the inability to use the property they left in Kosovo and the falling international assistance.

Rakic also addressed the difficult situation of refugees and IDPs in Montenegro, saying that there are legal obstacles that prevent them from application for Montenegrin citizenship, which in his view is a discriminatory measure. �Back in March, the Government adopted a National Strategy, something was done regarding housing and accommodation, but we have no idea what its long-term strategy may be�, said Rakic and added that, in his opinion, the Montenegro Government doesn�t want to integrate the refugees believing that it could shift the ethnic structure of the population.

In his presentation of the Report that also offers an analysis of the situation of rights of human trafficking victims, for the first time this year, Rakic repeated that Serbia and Kosovo remain both countries of origin, transit and final destination. He placed special emphasis on the problem of huge number of asylum seekers from Serbia and Montenegro, which got in the first place in the world in 2005 in terms of asylum applications, overcoming Russia and China, the former global leaders.

For as long as we have such statistics, we will remain on the Schengen list�, said Rakic and added that most of the asylum seekers apply on grounds of poverty, not persecution.

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