FM Alert, Vol II, No. 35
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 07:41:42 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: FM Alert, Vol II, No. 35
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Paulette Layton <[email protected]>
FM Alert, Vol II, No. 35
FM Alert, Vol II, No. 35
September 4, 1998
OCTOBER DEADLINE FOR FILING BOSNIA PROPERTY CLAIMS LOOMING
The Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina is
considering whether to urge an extension of the deadline for filing
property claims on socially owned apartments. Under property
legislation adopted by the Federation, October 4 is the deadline for
the filing of claims. However, international monitors assert that
there have been numerous problems with the law's implementation.
Monitors have documented cases in which municipal housing authorities
have charged illegal application fees. Military and police officers
have additionally subjected applicants to intimidating interviews.
While the law requires housing offices to issue decisions within 30
days of application, applicants often wait up to three or four months.
Furthermore, the decisions being issued are often ambiguous and do not
affirm the right of pre-war occupants to return. International
monitors say Federation authorities have not established clear
guidelines to facilitate decision making. It was hoped that the law
would encourage ethnic Serbs to reclaim their pre-war apartments in
the Federation. This process would free property up in Republika
Srpska for non-Serb return. However, there is a lack of public
awareness. In addition, international efforts to encourage compliance
with the new law and inform those eligible have been inadequate. As a
result, tens of thousands of Bosnian citizens face being deprived of
their right to reclaim pre-war property.
(For additional information see FM Alert of August 7, May 1 and March
19).
FMP CO-SPONSORS CITIZENSHIP MEETING IN ESTONIA
The Forced Migration Projects (FMP) is a co-sponsor of a September 11
meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, that will examine the issue of granting
citizenship to effectively stateless children in the Baltic republics
of Estonia and Latvia. About 150 persons are expected to participate
in the meeting to be held in the National Library of Estonia. The
Estonian President's Minorities Roundtable and the Open Estonia
Foundation, which is part of the Soros foundations network, are also
sponsors of the gathering. Representatives of the Estonian government
are scheduled to make presentations on efforts to expedite the
naturalization of children born in Estonia to resident aliens, many of
whom are Russian speakers. A Latvian representative is also expected
to discuss Latvia's efforts to provide children with easier access to
naturalization. Representatives of human rights organizations, along
with an OSCE official, will also make presentations. "The only
solution to the dilemma of stateless children, following the
precedents established by international law, is to grant them
citizenship," said FMP Director Arthur C. Helton.
(For additional information see FM Alert of July 17 and the FMP
special report, "Estonia and Latvia: Citizenship, Language and
Conflict Prevention).
LATVIA TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON CITIZENSHIP LAW AMENDMENTS
Latvia's decision to hold a referendum on citizenship law amendments
could result in the repeal of measures that facilitated the
naturalization of Russian-speaking non-citizens, including children
born in the Baltic republic after independence. Latvia's governing
political parties had reached agreement on the amendments earlier this
summer, but implementation had been suspended pending a petition
drive, initiated by the Fatherland and Freedom Party, to force a
plebiscite. The Central Electoral Committee announced in late August
that the petition drive had collected over 224,000 signatures, more
than enough to ensure a popular referendum. The proposed amendments
would have lifted the so-called naturalization windows, which limited
opportunities for non-citizens to go through the naturalization
process, as well as simplified the language test required for
citizenship. In addition, children born in Latvia after August 21,
1991, would have become eligible for expedited naturalization on their
sixteenth birthday, pending satisfactory completion of a Latvian
language test. The topic of citizenship for children born to resident
aliens in Latvia and Estonia will be discussed at a meeting in
Tallinn, Estonia, on September 11. The vote is set to coincide with
national elections on October 3. There are roughly 700,000 Russian
speakers in Latvia, the large majority of whom were disenfranchised
when Latvia re-established its independence in 1991 and revived
inter-war citizenship laws. (For additional information see FM Alert
of March 13, and the Forced Migration Projects special report,
"Estonia and Latvia: Citizenship, Language and Conflict Prevention).
--------------------
(From the moderator: Sorry to say, the information above is a bit
inaccurate. The final version of the amendments to the Latvian
citizenship law, which is now questioned by referendum, reads that
children born in Latvia after the restoration of independence, must be
granted Latvian citizenship from birth if their parents declare their
wish for this. The option mentioned in the text (naturalization at the
age of 16) is in fact stipulated already in the law currently in force
and is, in the view of many HR activists, in breach with the
Convention of the Rights of the Child, 1961 Convention on the
Reduction of Statelessness, and other HR instruments.
Boris)
----------------------
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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