Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PRISTINA617
2007-08-09 13:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: DEPORTATION OF FAILED ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM

Tags:  PGOV PINR PREL EAID PREF PHUM SOCI UNMIK KV 
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7606
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RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0970
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
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RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000617 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, SCRS, PRM, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR MAYHEW

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL EAID PREF PHUM SOCI UNMIK KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: DEPORTATION OF FAILED ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM
WESTERN EUROPE MAY DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT RAE


Classified By: CDA ALEX LASKARIS FOR REASONS 1.4 (b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000617

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, SCRS, PRM, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR MAYHEW

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL EAID PREF PHUM SOCI UNMIK KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: DEPORTATION OF FAILED ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM
WESTERN EUROPE MAY DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT RAE


Classified By: CDA ALEX LASKARIS FOR REASONS 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. According to UNMIK's Office of
Communities, Returns and Minorities (OCRM),more than 47,500
people have been deported to Kosovo since 2000, with Germany
alone accounting for 8,454. Concern is growing among
internationals, the PISG, and the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian
(RAE) communities that any resolution of Kosovo's status and
the corresponding end to UNMIK's restraining role could bring
an increase in deportations for which Kosovo is unprepared.
The PISG and municipal governments in Kosovo are not ready to
handle any increase. Our understanding is that persons with
bona fide claims to refugee status are unaffected. These
actions appear directed at economic migrants, many of whom
are members of the RAE community. We do not doubt that
living conditions for Roma in Germany are far superior to
what they could expect in Kosovo even in the best-case
scenario. END SUMMARY.

BACKGROUND: REPATRIATION PROCESS


2. (C) The ranks of those displaced from Kosovo include
upwards of 100,000 who have been denied refugee or permanent
legal status in a third country, often referred to as "failed
asylum seekers." According to UNMIK/OCRM head Shahzad
Bangash, Germany alone hosts some 53,000 people in this
category, of whom some 38,000 are from the RAE community.
All have received some form of administrative order to leave
the host country. Since 1999, UNMIK has worked with more
than 20 Western European countries to manage the deportation
process, and has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)
with Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden in an effort to avoid
deportations of persons UNMIK considers in need of

international protection.


3. (U) A 2003 MoU between UNMIK and the German government
set a maximum limit of 50-100 deportations per month, giving
UNMIK/OCRM discretionary powers to screen and refuse cases it
deemed too vulnerable for such returns. (Note: This
screening process was extended to the MoUs with Switzerland
and Sweden. End Note.) German complaints led to revision of
the MoU in May 2005, increasing the limit to 300-500 per
month. Based on official UNHCR policy regarding repatriation
of persons in need of international protection, UNMIK has
consistently refused to accept any repatriations of Kosovo
Serbs, Roma, or Kosovo Albanians from areas where they would
be the minority, and certain other groups. To date,
deportees have largely been Ashkalis, Egyptians, and
Albanians returning to Albanian-majority areas.

SUPPORT FROM HOST COUNTRIES LIMITED


4. (SBU) Concern is growing among many international
observers and within the PISG that final status resolution
could lead to an increase in the number of deportations once
UNMIK's authority (and the MoUs) is terminated. Host
countries have generally proved unwilling to support projects
assisting deportees in Kosovo; Germany, by far the biggest
potential source of deportees, has taken some limited steps
to assist, including agreeing in January 2006 to second two
German liaison officers to UNMIK to assist with its
repatriation cases and increase transparency in the process.



5. (C) According to Monika Lenhard of the German Liaison
Office, recent German legislation would allow some Kosovars
without legal status to remain, provided they have been in
Germany for six to eight years and are able to secure
employment by September 2008; however, Lenhard admits that
estimating the potential number of beneficiaries of this new
law is impossible. Her explanation is that the German
government feels it has hosted these asylum seekers long
enough and that the time has come to send them home. (Note:
Egyptian Kosovo Assembly Member Xhevdet Neziraj recently
admitted to USOP that many Kosovo Egyptian failed asylum

PRISTINA 00000617 002 OF 003


seekers living in the West get good benefits there and do not
want to return to Kosovo. Note.)


6. (C) The German government has also provided funds
through the European Commission to the Kosovo Social Return
Support Network Project in south Mitrovica (Roma Mahala) to
establish a Return Center ("The Bridge"),which would assist
returnees in the reintegration process. Nonetheless, UNHCR
Mitrovica Field Office head Sunil Thapa told poloff that the
idea of using a shelter in Mitrovica to hold deportees headed
to all areas of Kosovo was flawed, pointing to the
municipality's lack of capacity to handle forced returnees,
lack of transport, and other problems. Thapa also voiced his
fear that the existence of this shelter could become a
pretext for accelerated returns from Germany. (Note: UNMIK
refused a German proposal to fund new camps for RAE in the
north, on the grounds that it would be used as justification
for increased deportations. End Note.).

AUTHORITY TRANSFERRED WITHOUT REAL CAPACITY


7. (SBU) In preparation for status, UNMIK is transferring
authority over migration and borders to PISG institutions.
UNMIK Regulation 2005/53 made the PISG Ministry of Internal
Affairs (MOIA) responsible for laws on movement of persons
into and out of Kosovo. MOIA will take up readmission
procedures during the foreseen transitional period after
determination of final status. In May 2007, the final draft
of a Readmission Policy was approved by the Repatriation
Working Group. The draft designates the Ministry of Local
Government (MLGA) as the chief coordinator of reintegration
policy at the central level, with municipal Returns Officers
(MROs) the chief point of contact for returnees at the local
level. While the Readmission Policy forsees extensive
government involvement by numerous actors, it does not
contain any details to make the policy operational.
(Comment: Notwithstanding the transfer of authority, MLGA,
MIA, and other PISG institutions lack even basic capacities
to handle a potential increase in forced returns. For
example, MIA's Department of Border Administration and
Migration is staffed by only nine people. End Comment.)

DEPORTEES VULNERABLE


8. (SBU) Lack of housing is the most serious problem facing
deportees; the property ownership rate in the RAE community
has been low, and many who did own property sold it. Since
these displaced populations fall outside criteria for
existing reinsertion and reintegration programs, they are
extremely vulnerable immediately after arrival. Although the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed
programs to provide temporary shelters for deportees in 2006,
these competencies were transferred to the Ministry of Labor
and Social Welfare, which lacked funding and canceled the
program. There are currently no temporary shelters for
deportees in Kosovo apart from the German-funded shelter in
Mitrovica.


9. (SBU) Even if deportees return to their home
municipalities, other problems await; information sharing is
poor, with returnees often appearing "unannounced." Even
with advanced notice, the capacity of municipalities to
accept, shelter, and reintegrate large numbers of returnees
is practically nonexistent. In 2006, the IOM started a
municipality capacity-building project, but the project is
only in its early stages and resources are scarce. During
numerous field visits, USOP has talked to many deportees who
confirm the numerous difficulties they face.

THREAT TO VOLUNTARY RETURNS PROGRAMS...


10. (C) Municipal funds for returns are dedicated solely to
voluntary returns, so that large-scale deportations could
disrupt these already-delicate programs. One example is the
Roma Mahala project in south Mitrovica, which, due to

PRISTINA 00000617 003 OF 003


political sensitivities, has taken longer than expected to
resettle 54 voluntary-returnee Roma families. This
relatively large investment, located on prime land in the
city center, has created some resentment among local
Albanians, according to UNHCR officials and the Municipal
Deputy of south Mitrovica, Fatmire Berisha. UNHCR is afraid
that increased numbers of deportees at the German-funded
shelter co-located on the 3.5 hectares donated by the city
for the Roma Mahala project could imperil the fragile
progress to date; both Thapa and UNHCR Protection Officer
Shubhash Wostey told us that the Mitrovica municipal
government may try to halt the operation of the shelter,
although they added that the municipality had not yet taken
any concrete steps. Additionally, Thapa warned that
municipal officials had threatened to annul the agreement
granting the land for the original Roma Mahalla project
because of the German-funded shelter.


11. (C) COMMENT: We should continue to encourage European
governments, the UN and the PISG to manage the impact of
large-scale deportations to Kosovo. A returns policy whose
consequence -- intended or otherwise -- is the selective
deportation of RAE back to untenable situations would be
harmful.
LASKARIS