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Europe for
BiH No
6, February
1999: page 1 | page 2 | page
3 | page 4
EC 1998 return projects
Making return possible
Getting Bosnia and
Herzegovina's many refugees and displaced persons to return home is
an absolute priority for the European Commission. It hopes that
30,000 people at least will return home thanks to its 1998
integrated return programme.
In1998 three quarters
of the European Commission's OBNOVA budget was dedicated to helping
Bosnia's refugees and displaced people return home. Following a
workshop held in Brussels in January 1998, 27 projects submitted by
non-governmental organisations and two projects from the United
Nations were selected. Contracts were then signed in the spring.
Most of the projects are still underway and it is difficult to give
a precise assessment of the results, but what is certain is that the
return programme will have a sizeable impact during the second half
of 1999. Even at this early stage, however, it is clear from reports
from NGOs and field visits that the European Commission's integrated
return programme has led to a breakthrough at local level in
minority returns: by the time the projects are finished, 7,500
houses should have been rebuilt and 30,000 refugees or displaced
persons gone home. Rebuilding houses, however, is not enough, if the
goal is to be met. The 1998 return programme is also helping to
rehabilitate essential infrastructure, like electricity networks,
schools and health centres. It also helps create jobs.
EC projects have knock-on effect
The Commission counts
on helping 30,000 people return home. However, the figure will
probably be double that because every family that returns to a house
vacates another home, meaning that yet another family can return.
The domino effect does not end there. Developments over the past
year demonstrate that when a small group of people returns thanks to
an assisted programme, other people follow. Thus European
Commission-funded projects act as a catalyst, sparking off the
process and encouraging people to go back to their places of origin.
"Our project to
bring back 51 Serb families to Bosansko Grahovo (Federation BiH)
clearly gave a sign to other families" says Suzana Jasarevic
from Hilfswerk Austria, one of the NGOs selected under the 1998
return programme. "Twenty-four additional Serb families,
originally not included in our house reconstruction scheme, followed
the movement spontaneously". Hilfswerk Austria also succeeded
in securing the return of the first Bosniak families to the Prijedor
municipality in Republika Sprska. In Drvar, a city presently
occupied by displaced Croats. OXFAM helped defuse the very tense
situation created after returning Serbs were driven out by a mob of
angry Croats last spring. Of the 29 European Commission-funded
return projects for 1998, 13 are taking place in northwestern
Bosnia. The Return and Reconstruction Task Force (RRTF)*, chaired by
the Office of the High Representative, stresses that the EC/DGIA
1998 return programme provided an essential framework for helping
minority returns in this particular region.
RRTF 1999 action plan
In its 1999 action
plan, the RRTF considers that "the EC's continued emphasis on
integrated programmes with a housing component will be key to
achieving sustainable return into viable communities". It
stresses that whether or not there will be a breakthrough in
minority returns in 1999 depends on three factors, which it calls
the "three Ss.'
The first S is:
space. That means creating enough space for people to return to. The
second S is: security. That means creating an environment which
people feel safe enough to go back to. The third S is:
sustainability, making it possible for people, once they have gone
back, to build a future for themselves. This involves, of course,
finding a job.
The European
Commission's return projects are focusing on the first and third
tasks, leaving security issues to the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR)
and the United Nations Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina (UNMIBH) which
is trying to build up a professional multi-ethnic police force.
Creating space
Most of the housing
which is inhabitable in Bosnia-Herzegovina is currently occupied,
whether legally or illegally. That means that in order to create
space to allow refugees and displaced people to return, destroyed
houses and apartments have to be rebuilt to allow pre-war
inhabitants to move back . It also means that property disputes
hanging over occupied houses and apartments have to be settled.
Since 1996 the European Commission has been playing an active role
in both tasks. Tens of thousands of destroyed houses and apartments
have been rebuilt, and larger-scale infrastructure rehabilitated.
The Commission is also the largest donor to the CRPC, the Commission
for Real Property Claims which establishes property rights (see
separate article p.3).
Ensuring sustainability
Job creation
initiatives are essential if the housing reconstruction projects are
going to be effective and lead minorities to return. A European
Commission-funded housing project in Vogosca (near Sarajevo) led to
the creation of two new construction companies established by
beneficiaries in order to compete in the tenders for the
reconstruction programme. These two new companies will generate 25
long-term jobs in the villages of Hotonj and Kobilja Glava.
Returnees thus gain both a job and more confidence in the future. An
Italian NGO working on the reconstruction of Stup, a devastated
Sarajevo suburb, is encouraging Italian companies to invest there.
In the Northwest, in Drvar, OXFAM managed to get Croat and Serb
entrepreneurs to work together.
* The RRTF was set
up in order to create an integrated approach to the return process
in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is composed of the main international
organisations present in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the European Commission
and its humanitarian aid arm ECHO among them. At the highest level
the RRTF is a forum in which all international organisations get
together to develop policy, share problems and find solutions. At
ground level the RRTF is a coordinating mechanism which brings all
the relevant players together to exchange information.
Giving responsibility for minority
return to a Bosnian organisation
Delijasi, a village
in the municipality of Trnovo, 35 kilometres from Sarajevo, was
totally destroyed during the war. Now a Bosnian organisation called
PIU Housing, established by the Ministry of Physical planning and
Environment of the Federation BiH*, has submitted a proposal to the
European Commission to rebuild 135 houses. Of those 115 would be for
Bosniak families and 20 for Serb minority families. As well as the
housing, the PIU has proposed to rebuild 10 kilometres of destroyed
roads, a health centre, the primary school and to connect all the
houses to the electricity and water networks. The European
Commission accepted the programme as part of its 1998 return
programme, allocating over three million euro to the project.
"This is our
first completely integrated project" says Muris Hadzic,
Director of PIU Housing. "Most of the people who fled this
village are now living in Sarajevo. They need to be strongly
motivated to come back here. "The destruction apart, Bosniak
families are also put off from returning by the fact that part of
the road running to Delijasi runs through Republika Srpska."
Many families chose to come back when we explained to them that we
would not only rebuild their house, but also their social
environment. We will even provide apartments to school teachers and
doctors, because they are essential to revive this community"
explains Muris Hadzic.
A primary school
existed in Dijelasi before the war and was attended by children from
the whole area. The school was heavily damaged during the war and as
soon as it is rehabilitated, 100 pupils will once more be able to go
back to school in the village. At the moment the nearest schools are
quite far away in Trnovo or Sarajevo. The fact that there will be a
school closer to home is acting as a strong motivation for young
families to return. Under the project 600 pre-war inhabitants will
return to Delijasi, thus freeing up the space they are currently
occupying, mainly in Sarajevo. This in turn will allow the pre-war
occupants to come back. "We are very satisfied with our
collaboration with PIU Housing" says Charles Pallant, EC task
manager for return and reconstruction. The Commission previously
worked with them for emergency housing reconstruction under the 1997
programme. A new reconstruction contract has also been signed for
the Sarajevo suburb of Dobrinja.
"It is important
for us to work more with Bosnian organisations, as they will have to
take on the reconstruction job which will last for a great number of
years to come" says Charles Pallant. "The obvious strength
of the PIU is its cost-effectiveness and the relations they have
with local construction professionals. They also showed us that they
accept and implement the principle of minority return, and it seems
to me of utmost importance to give responsibility for minority
return to a Bosnian organisation." This does not mean, Charles
Pallant adds, that European NGOs are not needed anymore. On the
contrary they are very much needed, especially in difficult areas
like Eastern Republika Srpska, for their neutral approach and their
expertise in rural development and micro-enterprise.
PIU Housing's Muris
Hadzic says that the most difficult part of the job is selecting the
people who will benefit from the scheme. " 17.000 families
applied to return to their pre-war home in Sarajevo. 9. 000 of these
homes are occupied by displaced people. Nearly 8.000 housing units
to which people want to return are destroyed. Over the next 5 to 10
years, these people will not be able to go home. Up to now, between
25 and 28 % of Sarajevo's damaged housing have been rebuilt. When
people knock on your door to ask why they weren't included in the
reconstruction projects, the answer is always very painful..."
* A PIU (Project
Implementation Unit) Housing has also been set up by the government
in the Republika Srpska, but at this stage the European Commission
has not yet worked with it.
Prospects for 1999
While the overall
strategy of the international community in supporting the return
process in Bosnia and Herzegovina is laid out in the RRTF 1999
action plan for minority return, the European Commission's DGIA and
ECHO will each focus on those elements in the plan which best
reflect their different mandates and capabilities. DGIA (Obnova)
will therefore lend its support to the larger-scale returns along
the major axes identified in the RRTF action plan. These projects
will be complemented with help in creating jobs and relaunching the
economy in the areas where returns are taking place. This should
help ensure that the return process is sustainable in the long-term.DGIA
(Obnova) will also continue to support loan schemes which were
started in 1998.
ECHO will in 1999
continue to use its more flexible procedures to focus its efforts on
supporting spontaneous returns and pilot minority return projects.
Quick initial assistance will be provided to spontaneous returnees.
ECHO will also continue to fuel support to small pilot projects in
politically difficult areas. A share of ECHO's funds will be set
aside for a "Quick Response Fund", allowing ECHO to react
even more rapidly to local developments.
Refugees and displaced people: the
figures
In 1998, 140.000
refugees and displaced persons returned home. 100.000 of them were
refugees from abroad, mainly Germany. Of those, 35.000 were people
returning home to places where they are in a minority a slightly
higher number than in 1997. That leaves 375.000 refugees still
abroad along with 860.000 internally displaced people who would be
in a minority if they returned to their pre-war homes. Of those
internally displaced people, 120.000 would be prepared to return if
the conditions were such that they could feel safe and build a
future for themselves and their offspring. However, three years
after the Dayton accords were signed, real barriers to return
persist. The biggest barrier is an appalling lack of political will
on the part of the authorities at all levels.
Source: RRTF 1999 action plan
Ongoing EC (DGIA) funded return
projects in BiH
EC funding for return projects in
1998
Directorate General IA
(Phare and Obnova): 112 million euro
ECHO (European Community Humanitarian
Office): 60 million euro
Europe for BiH
Quarterly newsletters published by the European Commission on
its actions in Bosnia and Herzegovina
No 6, February 1999
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