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OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPS #0617/01 2211332
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091332Z AUG 07
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7606
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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