Making return possible

Getting Bosnia and Herzegovina's many refugees and displaced persons to go home is an absolute priority for the European Commission.

The war caused the displacement or exodus of half the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 2 million people. At the height of the crisis, the European Union was sheltering more than 750,000 refugees from ex-Yugoslavia, the majority of whom were from Bosnia and Herzegovina. To date, for obvious political and security reasons, the refugees have returned to regions where people of their own ethnic origin are in the majority. There remains therefore the huge challenge of the return to regions where they will be in the minority. It was clear from the start of the European Commission's reconstruction activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina that it would not be sufficient to repair roofs and houses for the refugees to return. They would only come back if there were guarantees of safety, employment prospects, health care, schools for their children and quite simply the right to move about freely without hindrance from boundary lines or the risk of mine explosions.

An integrated approach

Although the improvement in infrastructures has contributed in a general way to encouraging the return of refugees, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of houses goes hand in hand with a whole series of measures to improve living conditions. This not only for returning refugees but also for the communities to which they are returning so as to avoid tensions between the two groups. The European Commission has therefore financed numerous housing projects together with the rebuilding of health centres and schools and the revival of small businesses. The Commission's privileged partners in this type of project are NGOs. Because of their good field knowledge and the direct contact they have with municipalities, they can identify the rightful owners of houses that are to be rebuilt. Through personal contacts with families, they prevent tensions by proposing solutions which benefit both returnees and host communities.

ECHO and OBNOVA: a complementary approach

The main instruments of the European Commission's action to encourage return are ECHO (the European Community Humanitarian Office) and the OBNOVA programme. Both have adopted a complementary approach: ECHO concentrates on displaced persons in rural areas, and follows-up on spontaneous return movements while OBNOVA finances larger scale return projects along the main return axes identified by the Reconstruction and Return Task Force chaired by the Office of the High Representative. This special issue covers projects funded by OBNOVA as well as ECHO.

"Easy returns" are over. Those who were able to return to unoccupied or slightly damaged houses have already done so. Most who have yet to return come from areas where they will be in the minority and/or where their homes are already occupied by other displaced families. Finding a solution is more and more complex. Displaced families have to be re-housed before refugees can be brought back. The owners of each house have to be properly identified. It has to be made clear whether families whose homes are to be rebuilt actually intend to live in them. Problems are solved almost on a case by case basis.

In 1998, three quarters of the European Commission's OBNOVA budget was dedicated to helping Bosnia's refugees and displaced people go home. 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 1998 projects are finished, 7,500 houses should have been rebuilt and 30,000 refugees or displaced persons gone home.

EC projects have knock-on effect

The EC may be counting on helping 30,000 people return home. But the figure will probably be double that because every family that returns to a house rebuilt by the EC vacates another home, meaning that yet another family can return. But 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-sponsored projects act as a catalyst, sparking off the process and encouraging people to go back to their places of origin.

The EC 1999 return programme

Thoughout 1999 the EC will continue to support projects encouraging the return of refugees and displaced persons. This specific "integrated return programme" worth around 44 million EURO is designed to support the 1999 Return Plan of the Reconstruction and Return Task Force (RRTF), and will be focused on certain "return axes" defined by the RRTF.

Establishing property rights

Property rights issues are one of the pivotal problems hanging over the refugee and displaced persons return process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Commission for Real Property Claims (CRPC), which is mainly funded by the European Commission, was set up under Annex 7 of the Dayton Peace Agreements to help people regain the property they lost during the war. As such it is the key decision-making body on property issues affecting dispossessed people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The CRPC issues certificates which can facilitate efforts by dispossessed people to return to their pre-war homes, or to seek to obtain value for their lost property through other means.

By issuing final and binding legal decisions on a case by case basis, the CRPC aims to develop the property law system in BiH by collecting a basis for reliable property records, many of which were lost or destroyed between 1992 and 1995. In the future, the CRPC certificates may also be used by individuals as security for housing and reconstruction loans.

Housing loans

The international community, and the European Commission in particular, have put a lot of effort into rebuilding houses destroyed during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia. But there are simply not enough grants to go around to deal with the extensive war damage. In the Federation alone half of the houses were damaged and six percent of those were destroyed completely (in the Republika Srpska, 24% and 5% respectively). That is why the EC has developed a system of reconstruction loans.

To sum up: with more than 200 million EURO allocated in 1996-1998 by the European Commission, about 26,000 housing units will be reconstructed for more than 100,000 beneficiaries. As many of these returnees make housing space free for others, the number of the overall beneficiaries is even much higher. In addition, the integrated projects contribute to improve the technical and social infrastructure of the receiving communities and they initiate job creation activities.