PRESS

December 1, 2000

 

HOUSES TO REPLACE TENTS

 

The President of the Association of Refugees and Displaced Persons in BH Mirhunisa Zukic claims that in BH about 30,000 citizens who started returning to their houses, are living under tents or in ruins. The Office of the High Representative of the International Community in BH promised assistance in order to enable the people to wait for winter in pre-fabricated houses that are to replace the tents.

The local authorities in Bijeljina and Janja (Republika Srpska - northeastern Bosnia) issued 1,244 decisions on return of property to pre-war owners, mainly Bosniaks. 940 owners entered their property. In a co-operation with the department of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), a list was made for evictions of Serb families who are unlawfully occupying someone else's property.

The Department for Refugees and Displaced persons in Bratunac (Republika Srpska - northeastern Bosnia) passed decisions and entered into possession 165 pre-war Bosniak owners of houses and apartments. The apartments were not as yet moved in by any of the owners. The local authorities deem that the reason for that lies in a bad economic situation in that municipality.

The Conference of the Ministers of Internal Affairs of the Federal German Countries allowed to traumatised refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina to stay there for two more years. This refers to physically and physhically most volnurable categories out of the remaining 38,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Source:

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina