Preparing the ground for returns to Ru(d)nik

Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) successfully mediated between IDPs and the receiving village community, organising meetings and building trust in order to facilitate return and re-integration.

Description

Even though the war ended several years ago, return of internally displaced people (IDPs) has been remarkably low. For the peace process it is particularly important to get more Serb returns, but for mainly political and security reasons this has been extremely difficult. The process has been so difficult in Runik/Rudnik that the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) decided to withdraw from it since they found IDPs were “not interested in returning”.

Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) has stepped into the dialogue between IDPs and the receiving community in the village of Runik/Rudnik in the Skenderaj/Srbica municipality. This has involved holding meetings, counselling, events and mutual work to support the return and re-integration process.

Aims / Objectives

• Creating safe ground for refugees to return to their homes;
• Organising facilitation and mediation between returned refugees and their old neighbours; and
• Rebuilding the multi-ethnic idea which was destroyed by the ethnic violence in the war.

How it is Articulated

The projects were implemented as part of the KIP (Kosovo Initiative Program) in partnership with the NGO Zavica za Povratak from Kraljevo. The approach has been very inclusive to all major stakeholders. We talked to the returnees and the receiving community in separate focus groups, and they experienced this as being taken more seriously. At the same time we also talked to the officials in charge of the return process within the Skenderaj/Srbica municipality about their concerns and conditions.

All this resulted in a group of 27 Serb IDPs coming to a ‘community meeting’ in Runik/Rudnik in a special convoy. Although the major international institutions were present at the time, the meeting was predominantly local. With Valdete (project coordinator for this initiative) in charge we saw the mayor and several of his senior staff welcoming the IDPs and inviting them to come back, and after that giving time to the IDPs to ask questions. During the break the atmosphere relaxed completely with some thirty Albanian villagers warmly greeting their neighbours again in person.

The final outcome was the signing of a statement by all stakeholders committing them all to an actual return. This result made the news on both sides of the Ibar.

Achievements / Learning points

• The main achievement is the fact that this project succeeded and that today we are implementing second phase of this project: Facilitating the planned returns in Ru(d)nik - phase II
• The preparations for this meeting were so professional that UNMIK officials asked CBM to present their work as a ‘how to’ example even before the actual meeting took place.

Geographical Area of Operation

The village of Runik/Rudnik in the Skenderaj/Srbica municipality, Kosovo.

Funding Resources

• Zavica za Povratak (Kraljevo, within the KIP network) With the stakeholders of: municipal authorities, mayor and deputy mayor of Srbica/Skenderaj;
• United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK);
• Kosovo Police Service (KPS);
• Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC);
• Kosovo Force (KFOR)
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE);
• Danish Refugee Council (DRC);
• Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);
• Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG); and
• Ministry for returns of Kosovo .