Each year on June 20 the United Nations, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host World Refugee Day events in order to draw the public’s attention to the millions of refugees and Internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution.
In the honour of the World Refugee Day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communities and Returns Dalibor Jevtic estimates that all institutions, stakeholders and society must invest more effort in the return of displaced since previous years failed the desired results, reports Kontakt plus radio.
“At a time when the issue of returns should be a long-closed theme, we now on 20th of June, during the mark of the World Refugee Day still talk about the figure of 200,000 people who were displaced from Kosovo but also about the fact that those who wish to return to Kosovo have no chance to do so and some of them still live in inhumane conditions that are unworthy of a human being”, Jevtic says.
Jevtic in his remarks recalls that on this day, the World Refugee Day, in a huge number of cities in Kosovo where Serbs lived, today are without Serbs and that towns like Musutiste and Djakovica are forbidden cities for displaced even for a one-day visit, reports the radio.
He expresses his concern over the poor level of the conditions for return and the survival also.
“What worries me is that those who have returned are under continues attack, a large number of cases of usurped property is still waiting for the epilogue in the courts, as the economic situation in returnee areas is very poor, a desire of the displaced to visit their sacred places is negatively perceived and what the most worries me is that even after so many years, the mutual trust that should be the key to success, is still disrupted,” Jevtic says.
To those who wish to return, he says that he will not give up of their return.
“We will invest all our efforts to enable you to return, because the right of return and free life is a fundamental right for all and we will fight for it. Please, I today ask of you not to sell your properties and be persistent in your intention to come back. This is the only way to succeed and to what we all strive for – what once belonged to you, to be yours again,” Jevtic concludes.
