FM Alert, Vol III, No. 12
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Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 12:07:24 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: FM Alert, Vol III, No. 12
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Paulette Layton <[email protected]>
FM Alert, Vol III, No. 12
FM Alert, Vol. III, No. 12
March 23, 1999
DEVELOPMENTS IN REPUBLIKA SRPSKA DECREASE LIKELIHOOD OF MINORITY
RETURN
An international arbitration ruling on the status of Brcko, and a
decree issued by the top international official have stirred turmoil
that could inhibit minority return to the Serb entity in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. On March 5, an international panel decided that Brcko, a
strategic town that the Dayton peace agreement provisionally assigned
to Republika Srpska, would become a neutral district within Bosnia and
Herzegovina. On the same day Carlos Westendorp, the international
community's High Representative in Bosnia, sacked Nikola Poplasen, the
hard-line nationalist President of Republika Srpska, for obstructing
the implementation of the Dayton agreement. Serb Premier Milorad
Dodik and Zivko Radisic, the Serb member of the tripartite Bosnian
Presidency, both political moderates who had previously been willing
to discuss minority return to the Serb entity, protested the Brcko
decision. Poplasen, however, has succeeded in pushing minority return
off the international agenda by heightening the political crisis in
Republika Srpska. He has refused to recognize his dismissal and
threatened violence against western officials seeking to remove him
from office. The Forced Migration Projects have advocated a regional
framework to resolve citizenship and property rights issues to
facilitate the voluntary repatriation of refugees and displaced
persons. An FMP meeting in Budapest on December 10-12, 1998, examined
these issues both in Republika Srpska and throughout the former
Yugoslavia. (For additional details see FM Alerts of February 5,
January 8, 1999, and October 9, 1998).
UNHCR HOLDS CONSULTATION WITH NGOs ON REFUGEE PROTECTION
UNHCR's Department of International Protection initiated a meeting at
the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on March 11-12, seeking
to reinvigorate support for UNHCR's international protection mandate.
"Consultations on Strengthening Collaboration Between UNHCR and
Humanitarian and Human Rights NGOs in Support of the International
Refugee Protection System" provided a forum for UNHCR to express its
desire to increase cooperation with nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) in the spheres of advocacy and field operations. Numerous
heads of European and U.S.-based NGOs attended the meeting. Some NGOs
expressed strong support for the initiative. Others NGOs questioned
UNHCR's overall commitment to refugee protection. Several NGOs at the
meeting supported the idea of promoting the head of UNHCR's Department
of International Protection to the rank of Deputy High Commissioner to
give the position more weight within the UN agency. A top UNHCR
official at the meeting, however, was not supportive of the idea.
Participants noted the absence of NGOs from developing countries at
the meeting, as well as substantive discussion on the protection of
internally displaced persons. They agreed to establish a steering
committee to support continued UNHCR-NGO dialogue.
(For additional details see FM Alerts of November 20 and November 5,
1998.)
PUBLICATION FOCUSES ON MIGRATION DILEMMAS IN THE CAUCASUS
A new book, published by the Danish Refugee Council, examines
migration-related dilemmas in the Caucasian states of Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia. The volume, Conflict and Forced Displacement
in the Caucasus, was published in January 1999. It is a compendium of
speeches and papers presented at a September 1998 conference in
Copenhagen, sponsored by the Danish Refugee Council, that explored
potential responses to population displacements in the Caucasus. Among
the chapters are: Facilitating the Safe and Orderly Return of Refugees
and IDPs in the Caucasus, by Greg Hansen, a UN volunteer in Georgia;
UNHCR: Capacity Building in the CIS, by Ekber Menemencioglu, the head
of UNHCR in Georgia; and Refugees, Displaced People and Humanitarian
Assistance in the Caucasus, by Ann Mary Olsen of the Danish Refugee
Council. Also including are the opening remarks by Soren
Jessen-Petersen, UNHCR's assistant high commissioner. The Forced
Migration Projects (FMP) have advocated a variety of approaches in
seeking to ease the hardships of refugees and displaced persons in the
Caucasus. For example, the FMP has called for the creation of a
civilian police force in the separatist Abkhazia region of Georgia.
Such a force could help promote stability in the conflict-ravaged
region, fostering security conditions that would facilitate the
voluntary return of displaced persons.
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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