http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EDIS-79RN5X?OpenDocument
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
December 10, 2007
Risk of new displacement heightens as deadline for
resolving Kosovo's final status expires, says report
-Some 250,000 people – mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma –
fled their homes in Kosovo during the 1999 NATO
bombardment and ethnic violence....
Geneva – The risk of renewed displacement in Kosovo is
increasing as the deadline for the resolution of the
province's future status is likely to expire today
without a decision, warns a report released by the
Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
“In case Kosovo declares independence unilaterally and
without effective international safeguards in place,
many of the remaining Serbs may decide to leave their
homes and seek safety and better livelihood prospects
in Serbia”, said Thomas Colin Archer, Secretary
General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Some 250,000 people – mostly ethnic Serbs and Roma –
fled their homes in Kosovo during the 1999 NATO
bombardment and ethnic violence, and most of them have
been unable to return to the province or fully
integrate in their current places of residence. Their
future, too, hangs on the resolution of the status
question, the report says.
Serbia currently hosts 206,000 IDPs from Kosovo.
Violence, isolation and discrimination faced by the
remaining Serbs in Kosovo have kept return figures
down.
....
Minority communities in Kosovo, including displaced
people and returnees, are largely segregated from the
majority Albanian population.
Kosovo's Serbs and Roma suffer from widespread
discrimination, restricted freedom of movement and
access to property, justice, education, healthcare and
employment.
If problems relating to their personal documentation
and civil registration remain unaddressed, many risk
becoming stateless in an independent Kosovo.
....
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
