1.Background
The ongoing conflict in Kosovo caused a profound crisis within the housing sector. In addition to the physical destruction of homes and the unlawful occupation of abandoned houses and apartments, housing rights violations that took place throughout the nineties continue to create uncertainty about ownership rights.
In 1990, the Serbian authorities restricted self-management rights in Kosovo and adopted so-called 'provisional measures'. This led to a general strike, which in turn led to the dismissal of many Kosovo Albanians. Some of them lost their apartments that had been allocated to them by their employers. Many of these apartments were reallocated to Serbian employees and were subsequently privatised.
In 1991, the Serbian Parliament legislated to restrict the sale of property between ethnic groups in order to stem the migration of Serbian population away from Kosovo. However, sales continued to take place through informal or unregistered contracts. Such contracts were not notarised by a court official, as required by the Yugoslav law, and therefore could not be registered in the cadastre records. Those transactions still have not been registered.
The recent conflict caused a set of different problems, often involving forced evictions and illegal occupations. One hundred thousand housing units are estimated to have been destroyed during the conflict, representing almost half of the housing stock. UNHCR has registered 199,543 IDPs in Serbia proper and an additional 32,241 in Montenegro. As the elections registration campaign revealed, many of 45,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo have been internally displaced into Serb-controlled areas. Among the other minority communities in Kosovo (Bosniaks, Roma, Turks, Goranis), which totalled approximately 120,000 individuals before the conflict, the estimates are that as many as 40,000 may have left Kosovo as refugees and IDPs. Of the Kosovar Albanian community, up to 100,000 individuals who have left Kosovo over the past ten years may have attempted to return.
The number of individuals
housed in internationally managed community shelters or live with their relatives
and friends is limited, with most of the displaced population illegally occupying
abandoned property. A proportion of these persons have already benefited from
the reconstruction program, but due to various reasons are not willing to
move out of the houses and apartments they have occupied since 1999.
Mandate and responsibilities
The Housing and Property Directorate (HPD) and Housing and Property Claims Commission, (HPCC), were established by UNMIK Regulation 1999/23 on 15 November 1999. The Directorate and Commission were accepted as an interim measure and charged with responsibility to restore property rights, resolve long-standing claims and endorse the rule of law in Kosovo. Both institutions have broadly defined functions, which will progressively be handed over to local authorities, as their capacity develops.
Managed by the UN-HABITAT
under the auspices of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in
Kosovo, the HPD/HPCC became a part of a larger strategy designed to restore
housing and property rights in Kosovo.
Three categories of claims
The HPD/HPCC is an internationally
supervised body, with exclusive jurisdiction to receive and settle three specific
categories of claims involving residential property disputes in Kosovo. These
are:
(a) claims by individuals who lost property as a result of discriminatory
laws after 23 March 1989 ("Category A");
(b) claims by individuals who entered into informal transactions on the basis
of free will of the parties between 23 March, 1989 and 10 October, 1999 ("Category
B");
(c) claims by refugees and displaced persons who have lost possession of their
property after 24 March, 1999 as a result of the recent conflict ("Category
C").
The HPD has four permanent
offices inside Kosovo in Gnjilane, Pec, Mitrovica and Pristina and a Headquarters.
It is staffed with 20 internationals and 150 local staff.
2. The Reporting Period
Claim Intake Operations
By the end of 2001, it was determined by the dwindling number of clients to the offices inside Kosovo that most of the potential claimants residing in Kosovo had approached the HPD and the number of claims registered in the Province was largely exhausted and the HPD turned its focus to claimants outside Kosovo. Three HPD offices in Serbia proper conducted mainly claim intake operations in Belgrade, Nis and Kraljevo with satellite offices operating in Novi Pazar, Kursumlja and Vranje in Southern Serbia until the HPD determined all potential claimants had filed a claim in those areas. (Novi Pazar closed on 31 January 2002, Kursumlija on 1 April 2002 and Vranje is expected to finish its work in April 2002.) From January - March 2002, the total number of claims registered with the HPD doubled by the end of the quarter, bringing the total to 13,000.
Belgrade
The HPD office in Belgrade started active collection of claims with the transfer of five staff from Mitrovica Regional Office who were already trained in claim intake. . A press conference was held in the city media center with participation of Executive Director HPD and Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia immediately prior to the official opening of the office to give a boost to claim intake in the capital. Since then, the office has registered an average of thirty claims per day reaching the number of 1573 claims in the end of March. However due to the lack of resources (vehicles and funds for active media campaign) the office was not able to conduct mobile operations and the number of collected claims did not reach the expected level.
In the beginning of March two additional vehicles were delivered to the office, which will enable HPD to reach claimants in Municipalities of Belgrade Region and Vojvodina who due to various reasons, including financial, are not able to approach the Belgrade Regional Office.
At the end of March, funds
were granted for a Media Campaign in Serbia by the Canadian International
Development Agency to facilitate a proper information campaign.
Kraljevo
Opened in December 2001 the HPD Office soon became fully operational and within the last three months collected over 2250 claims from IDPs. Active mobile operations were organized covering the surrounding small towns of Gornji Milanovac, Trstenik and Recovac with regular HPD presence in Kragujevac. With the arrival of an additional vehicle in the beginning of March, the mobile activities in the region were further increased.
Nis
The HPD Office in Nis was officially opened on December 17, 2001 with an active media campaign urging IDPs to lodge property claims. Due to vehicle shortages, the HPD team was able to conduct few mobile operations in the nearby Municipalities and collected 762 claims mainly in Nis, Aleksinac and Krusevac. It is anticipated that the number of claimants coming to the Nis office itself will be soon exhausted as most IDPs do not have the resources to travel to the office. Additional vehicles are expected at the beginning of April which will assist the HPD to reach the estimated 39,900 IDPs who live in the Nis area.
Satellite offices in Novi Pazar, Kursumlija and Vranje
The HPD pilot mobile offices in Novi Pazar, Kursumlja and Vranje were opened as an immediate measure in November 2001 shortly after the MOU was signed between the authorities of FRY and UN - HABITAT allowing HPD to collect claims in Serbia proper. All the three offices were planned to reach only IDPs from the nearby municipalities pending reallocation of resources to opening of bigger offices in Belgrade, Kraljevo and Nis. Claim intake operations in Novi Pazar were completed on January 31, 2002 with reallocation of resources to Kraljevo. The Kursumlja office was closed on 1 April and the Vranje office is expected to be closed in April.
Another satellite office
in Serbia proper is being planned for Novi Sad (Vojevodina, Northern Serbia)
Montenegro and Macedonia
In March 2002, the HPD approached officials in Montenegro and Macedonia seeking a formal invitation of the Governments to operate in these republics. At the same time, HPD established numerous contacts to prepare for the beginning of claim intake operations. It is estimated that the number of potential claims is 7,500 in Montenegro and 1,500 in Macedonia although the HPD does not expect the number of claims collected to reach those numbers as the majority of IDPs in these areas are Romas who have been historically difficult to convince to file claims. A proactive and balanced information campaign will be organized to support claim intake operations in Serbia proper, Montenegro and Macedonia in 2002.
Case processing
Case processing suffered serious setbacks when three of the six contracts of international legal staff were terminated at the end of February due to lack of funds. Consequently, the number of cases heard by the Commission in March did not increase, with 101 claims being decided. The Commission also encountered its first allegations of fraud and guidelines on processing such allegations were established. One of the cases has been forwarded to the Police for investigation and possible prosecution.
Notification of current occupants and verification of documents were continued but again were hampered by the lack of vehicles. In addition, difficulties experienced in locating some of the addresses and source documents delayed the processes. However the quarter ended with the acquisition of new vehicles to the regions and HQ verification unit leading to a significant increase in the accomplishments in such operations.
The data base consultant retained in November to develop a database continued to work throughout the reporting period. At the end of March, the Norwegian Government committed additional funds which will allow a comprehensive database to be developed by the end of the year. The database will not only automate the processes and reduce human error (currently the HPD relies on an excel spreadsheet) but it will allow the HPD to track information which will enable the HPD to batch cases with identical or similar legal and factual issues.
A mass claims processing expert was also retained and he came to Kosovo in February to review the processes. The expert is currently completing his report and the HPD expects to begin implementing those recommendations which are feasible in the next reporting period (some won't be for example, because the HPD does not have the resources to link all the regional offices to the data base).
The HPD completed much
of its research on "Category A" claims (i.e. those who lost their
property as a result of discrimination during the 1990s) whereby it investigated
selected allocation right holders to determine whether there was a pattern
or system of discrimination. If the research reveals such a pattern the Commission
may make a recommendation to include a presumption of discrimination in the
Regulation. A report containing the recommendations of the Directorate is
being actively worked on for the next Commission session which is scheduled
for June.
Administration of abandoned properties
Under UNMIK Regulation 1999/23 and 2000/60 the HPD is authorized to administer vacant and abandoned residential properties and allocate units for humanitarian purposes.
Due to "contingency
plan" necessitated by lack of funding, the Directorate had to limit its
activities to cases already initiated. All the four Regional offices minimized
operations in correspondence with available staff and recourses and to those
cases which assist in the resolution of claims.
Implementation
Execution of the HPD and HPCC decisions continued throughout the three months. Fifteen evictions were executed in Gnjilane Region, four in Mitrovica and six in Pristina as a result of the HPD Administrative decisions. Five evictions were executed in Pristina as a result of Commission decisions. In all cases, the police provided support to ensure the evictions were smoothly carried out. In 36 cases, the illegal occupants moved out voluntarily.
With the limited available
resources, one of the HPD priorities for 2002 remains to finish the already
initiated cases and execute eviction orders decided by the HPCC. An "enforcement
officer" devoted exclusively to evictions began working at the end of
March and another is expected to be hired in April.
Public relations
Throughout the reporting period a proactive media campaign was developed and implemented in Serbia proper to encourage IDPs to file their claims with the HPD. Radio jingles and TV announcements were broadcasted to create public awareness of the opening of HPD offices. Press conferences were held in Belgrade, Kraljevo and Nis catching great public interest and creating positive respond in local and national Media. Many interviews and articles were generated within Kosovo and Serbia proper to address housing related issues and answer numerous questions from the public. Thanks to the Canadian International Development Agency, an aggressive Media Campaign In Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro is planned to begin shortly in order to provide all relevant information to IDPs, including an active Deadline Awareness Campaign within two months prior the deadline of December 31, 2002.
Challenges and constraints
The major challenge for the HPD remains to complete claims intake in, Serbia proper, Macedonia and Montenegro before deadline of December 1, 2002 with limited resources.
The main constraint remains resources. In February 2002, the HPD implemented its "contingency plan" as new funds were not secured and there were insufficient funds to carry all the current staff. The contracts of three international experts were terminated, although an increase in the number of legal experts is actually required to ensure an efficient rate of claims processing. If no additional funds are located, the operations inside Kosovo will close in September and the entire HPD operation will close in December 2002 after the deadline for the collection of claims has expired.
The rate of claims processing must be improved but will not be until the database is developed and the case processing unit can be properly staffed.
Neither "Category A" claimants nor refugees ("Category C" claims residing outside FRY) have been properly informed of their right to file a claim with the HPD. The HPD has taken initial steps to reach potential claimants outside Former Yugoslavia by publication of relevant information through Department of Non-Resident Affairs of UNMIK and will approach RTK in April, although a proper information campaign in Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and Western Europe is required. In addition, claimants are required to file their claims in person, however, due to lack of funding HPD is not able to organize operations outside Former Yugoslavia to allow potential claimants to do so. Refugees and Diaspora therefore are being advised to lodge claims through their authorized representatives in case they are not able to reach one of the HPD Offices. In addition, the HPD has approached the Norwegian Refugee Council and asked it to serve as authorised representatives for those persons without contacts inside Kosovo. Cooperation with NRC is pending receipt of funding.
Ongoing discussions between UNMIK and UN-HABITAT with respect to the institutional standing of the HPD must also draw to a close to ensure solid support from donors.
3.Conclusion
In accordance with the priorities set in light of the scarce resources, this quarter has seen a significant increase in claims intake operations in Serbia proper with initial measures taken to expand such activities into Montenegro and Macedonia. More evictions were carried out in Gnjilane, Pristina and Mitrovica regions with relevant support of the police and KFOR. The claims processing was hampered by the layoffs of international staff but has to be significantly increased as required by the HPD Mandate.
The HPD continues to work
with UNMIK, UN-HABITAT and donors to resolve the funding crisis. Without resolution
of this issue, the HPD will close in Kosovo in September 2002 and in its entirety
in December 2002.
Periodic Reports
January-March 2002