FM Alert, Vol III, No. 7
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Subject: FM Alert, Vol III, No. 7
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Paulette Layton <[email protected]>
FM Alert, Vol III, No. 7
FM Alert, Vol. III, No. 7
February 19, 1999
UNHCR AND IOM MAKE 1999 FUNDING APPEALS
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) are seeking a combined
$66 million for programs in the former Soviet Union. UNHCR seeks $16.2
million for general programs and $40 million for special programs in
connection with follow-up to the 1996 CIS Conference on
migration-related issues. IOM, meanwhile, is asking for almost $10
million. Over the last several years, the response of donor
governments to the UNHCR and IOM appeals has lagged. Both agencies
underscored the need for long-term projects to improve migration
management in the former Soviet Union. "Establishing efficient
migration structures and institutions in CIS countries, and bringing
their migration legislation and policies up to international
standards, are a medium- to-long-term goal," IOM said in its 1999
appeal. UNHCR, at the same time, is stressing flexibility in
approaches. "The operations in CIS countries have gradually entered a
post-emergency phase and UNHCR's programs are being adjusted to
reflect changing conditions," UNHCR's appeal says. Both UNHCR and IOM
plan to devote a large part of their activities on the Transcaucasian
states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as on the Russian
Federation, Tajikistan and Ukraine. "The diminishing donor response to
the UNHCR and IOM appeals should be seen as reflecting the end of the
CIS Conference follow-up process," said Forced Migration Projects
Director Arthur C. Helton.
(For background information see FM Alert of February 12 and January
9).
QUESTIONS CLOUD ROLE OF CROATIAN PROPERTY COMMISSION
While Croatian officials have been regularly accused of obstructing
the return of displaced ethnic Serbs, the Croatian government has
established a lavishly funded agency that appears to facilitate the
transfer of property from Serbs to Croats. The Agency for Mediating
Property Exchanges has operated since April 1997, working to purchase
real estate from owners, and then renting or selling the properties to
Croatian citizens. Agency officials say that from September 1997 to
December 1998, more than $46 million in Croatian government funds were
used to purchase approximately 2,800 properties. While 131 of these
properties have been resold, over 1,400 have been rented as temporary
housing to returnees at below-market rates of $7-15 per month.
Eligibility for special housing arrangements is determined by local
Croatian authorities. The agency plans to purchase an additional 5,400
properties in the following three to four years if it receives an
additional $135 million from the Croatian state budget. Of particular
note, the agency is allowed to purchase property from non-citizens.
This makes over 300,000 ethnic Serbs from Croatia, who currently
reside as refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia, eligible to sell their property in Croatia. At the same
time, the Croatian government regularly denies these non citizens
access to Croatian citizenship, thereby hindering their return to
their pre-war homes in Croatia. Meanwhile, the agency rents or sells
property to Croatian citizens exclusively, including to ethnic Croats
from neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina who to receive Croatian
citizenship promptly, and who are often settled in the homes of ethnic
Serbs. The President of the agency's Executive Council is Croatian
Minister for Reconstruction and Development Jure Radic. The Forced
Migration Projects advocates the establishment of a regional
interstate framework to regulate citizenship and property issues
arising out of the 1991 collapse of Yugoslavia.
(For additional information see FM Alert of December 10, 1998).
LOCAL NGO LEADERS EXPRESS CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM OVER REGENT DISMISSAL
Leaders of migration-related nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in
Russia are welcoming the dismissal of Federal Migration Service (FMS)
chief Tatyana Regent, but some express concern over the future of the
agency. A presidential decree, announced February 15, relieved Regent
of her duties "because of a transfer to a new (unspecified) job."
Regent's tenure was marked by a generally stormy relationship with
local NGOs. A forum of migration-related organizations, meeting in
spring 1998 in Moscow, demanded Regent's resignation. Some NGO
representatives including Boris Sergeev, chairman of the Coordinating
Council of the Russian Compatriots Fund, and Lydia Grafova, a leader
of the group Assistance for Refugees and Forced Migrants, said that
Regent had been unresponsive to the plight of displaced persons,
adding that her dismissal was overdue. However, many NGO
representatives are concerned about the future of FMS activity. No
replacement has been named to take over as FMS head. Newspaper reports
have speculated that the FMS may be eliminated as an independent
agency and incorporated into a newly created "superministry." Svetlana
Gannushkina, head of the organization Civil Assistance, lamented the
upheaval, saying that Regent's departure casts doubt on the viability
of a working agreement between her NGO and the federal agency.
(For background see FM Alerts of February 5 and January 29).
For more information contact:
The Forced Migration Projects
400 West 59th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10019
tel: (212)548-0655
fax: (212) 548-4676
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.soros.org/migrate.html
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