PRESS BRIEFING BY ASSISTANT HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY ASSISTANT HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES

Due to the improving security situation created by the presence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Force in Kosovo -- KFOR -- it was clear and it was good news that the majority of 850,000 Kosovo Albanian refugees would be back in Kosovo before winter, the Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, Soren Jessen-Petersen, told correspondents today at Headquarters, as he briefed them on the report he had given yesterday to the "Friends of Kosovo" meeting at Headquarters.

Representing the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at the meeting, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said he had reported that the returns to Kosovo were happening at a lightning speed. The 500,000 mark had been passed this morning, in fact, which meant that half-million refugees had returned to Kosovo in two weeks. That was evidently positive news, indicating that people wanted to go back and reclaim their property, rebuild and prepare for what would undoubtedly be a difficult winter. However, it was also worrying that half-million people had gone back to a situation where, as the Secretary- General's Special Envoy to the Balkans, Carl Bildt, had said yesterday, there was a political vacuum, a security vacuum and, equally worrying for the UNHCR, an economic vacuum.

For the UNHCR, Mr. Jessen-Petersen continued, the economic vacuum was worrying, because the UNHCR and its partners -- notably, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) -- could and did help every day with immediate relief and repair of shelter. It could not, however, engage in the larger reconstruction absolutely essential to consolidate the return, because it had neither the capacity nor the resources.

Earlier this week, Mr. Jessen-Petersen continued, the UNHCR had begun an organized return of those who did not have their own means of transport, using buses and, in Albania as of yesterday, train transport. The organized return was incrementally phased and would continue over the coming weeks in coordination with KFOR, which would provide the UNHCR with the necessary security assessment. Three towns had been initially targeted, but others would be added, if and when, in coordination with KFOR, it was determined that security was in place.

At the meeting yesterday, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said he had appealed strongly to governments to keep in mind that, while supporting the return programmes, the countries of asylum could not be overlooked. Both the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania, as well as Montenegro, had very generously received up to 850,000 refugees at the peak, and they were clearly worried that with the return home of the refugees, the world would turn its back to the assisting countries and on their very, very serious problems. The UNHCR had reassured those countries that it would stay with them as long as

there were refugees, but the international community must not forget the need for major assessments to deal with the impact of the refugee crisis on other countries.

As of this morning, the UNHCR had closed the first of eight refugee camps in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said. Later in the week, the UNHCR would close another camp that, at its peak, had hosted 40,000 refugees, and others would follow. Inside Kosovo, meanwhile, as the UNHCR continued distributing tents, blankets and mattresses, its priority needs were emergency shelter materials. It was distributing plywood, window- frames, nails and tools so that the returning refugees could themselves repair one or two rooms to make them habitable, and from there they could start rebuilding their houses and lives.

Mr. Jessen-Petersen said that a most important actor in the return programme, the WFP, had this morning announced a very dramatic expansion of its emergency food aid. It would now target 1.5 million refugees inside Kosovo, both displaced and local, and another 1 million outside in both Bosnia and Serbia. For the UNHCR now, some major concerns were of a protective nature. The UNHCR had urged restraint on all sides so as not to provoke a new refugee exodus -- as of the Serbs who had not been involved in the atrocities and who had wanted to stay, but were scared.

The UNHCR estimated that 50,000 to 70,000 Serbs had left Kosovo over the last two or three weeks, with 50,000 having gone into Serbia and 20,000 into Montenegro, he continued. The fate of some 5,000 Krajina Serbs was also worrisome -- Serbs in Croatia who had been forced out of Krajina during the war in August 1995 and who had then been resettled by Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo. From 20,000, they now numbered 5,000, gathered in collective centres. Under immediate and direct threat for their own security, some of them would have to be evacuated and some perhaps would be allowed to return to Krajina. A third protection concern was Belgrade forcing back some of the Serbs who had left over the last weeks. It was desirable for Serbs to stay in Kosovo and be protected, but to force Serbs back to Kosovo against their will was of concern.

Another area of UNHCR activity concerned the humanitarian evacuation programme initiated during the height of the conflict and the pressures of getting people admitted into the former Yugolav Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Jessen-Petersen added. Under that programme, the UNHCR had appealed to countries around the world to temporarily receive refugees, and some 90,000 refugees had been placed in Europe and outside it, including the United States. With the refugee return on the way and no more need for the programme, it had been suspended at the same time that the countries involved had been urged not to rush the refugees back. The priority was to bring back the refugees from the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, and only later from other countries and Europe, because the security situation in Kosovo was still fragile and because of limits on the absorption capacity.

UNHCR Briefing - 3 - 1 July 1999

Most Kosovar refugees would eventually return, but unless they decided to voluntarily go back, they should not be rushed.

One additional note on the subject, Mr. Jessen-Petersen added, was that, while much of UNHCR's attention had been on Kosovo in the past three months, its activities around the world continued. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadago Ogata, had just returned from a trip to Africa, and she would brief the Security Council at its request on African issues later this month. Despite difficulties in Afghanistan, 50,000 Afghan refugees had been returned. Yesterday, a major programme for Guatemalan refugees had been completed. Developments, in fact, were too numerous to mention. "The point is that, for the sake of good order, UNHCR is not just about the Balkans or Kosovo", he said. "It is about 23 million refugees worldwide."

In response to a question about a seeming discrepancy between today's news and earlier reports that the refugees would not return before winter, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said the discrepancy was a misperception. The UNHCR had said three or four weeks ago, when there had been no prospects of an agreement, that if no agreement was reached by the end of July, the UNHCR would have to plan for winter activities in Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It would have been irresponsible not to start planning for a continued stay in those countries, but those activities were started at the same time as return plans were under way. The return plan had been in place and on track, which was why half-million refugees had been able to go back so quickly.

Further, Mr. Jessen-Petersen added, since those refugees had their own transport, many of them were being assisted upon return with relief aid. The UNHCR offices had been opened in seven places in Kosovo. Daily convoys were running with relief items throughout Kosovo and from Kukes and Skopje into Kosovo, with the WFP distributing food. So, there had been two plans in the works at the same time and, so far, the return was taking place in a very orderly way, with relief being provided, despite a very serious shortage of funding. The return programme, of course, was preferable to 800,000 refugees having to be cared for in collection camps or host houses.

The return plan, then, he summed up, had been a contingency, dependent on the security situation in Kosovo. Without security, the refugees would not have returned. With the presence of KFOR, Kosovo was felt to be secure, and the refugees were going home. The KFOR had provided the necessary security condition, and the UNHCR was coordinating the return.

In response to another question, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said there were two major problems in Kosovo right now. One was the security situation, of course, and KFOR, the UNHCR and the Kosovo Albanian leadership had urged the refugees not to rush back, because KFOR wanted to establish both itself and the necessary security. There had also been concern about the mines and unexploded ordinance.

UNHCR Briefing - 4 - 1 July 1999

The second problem, he added, was that of shelter. Many refugees were going back to urban centres, such as Pec or the central villages, which had been heavily destroyed. All the UNHCR could do was help repair a room, but unless massive reconstruction by the European Commission got under way, there would be a very serious gap with major problems during the forthcoming winter. The urgent message yesterday, from both the UNHCR and the Secretary-General, had been for reconstruction to get under way immediately, because the matter of shelter also involved questions of the larger infrastructure. Heating, for example, would be a major problem in eight months, and it was beyond the scope of the UNHCR and its partners.

In response to a question on whether the UNHCR was receiving adequate voluntary contributions in light of the large task ahead, Mr. Jessen-Petersen said, "I'm glad you asked that question. No, we're not, and I expressed that serious concern yesterday. I said it is, indeed, a pity that after the international community spent billions and billions of dollars on a military campaign intended to pave the way for the return of refugees, and we finally get there, the international community is not prepared to spend what we have asked for, which is close to $400 million, plus $500 million requested by our partners. They are not willing to spend $900 million to see the refugees make it all the way into their villages and reintegrate themselves."

Out of the $400 million that UNHCR needed for 1999, Mr. Jessen-Petersen concluded, the UNHCR had received only $140 million. That was totally unacceptable. The UNHCR was working on about $10 million a week, living from hand to mouth. A pipeline about five or six weeks down the road was needed, and the UNHCR was not in a position to do that, which was affecting the emergency shelter situation, among many things. The situation was the same for UNHCR's partners, who had received only 40 to 50 per cent of what they had appealed for. "I hope after our strong appeal, strongly supported by the Secretary-General yesterday, funds will start arriving at a faster and larger rate."

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