UNION OF ASSOCIATIONS OF REFUGEES, DISPLACED PERSONS AND RETURNEES SUPPORTS SUSTAINABLE RETURN CAMPAIGN

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 16,2007) - The Presidency of the Union of Associations of Refugees, Displaced Persons and Returnees in Bosnia has adopted the Decision to support the campaign of sustainable return in Bosnia by supporting the consistent application of the Strategy for the Implementation of Annex VII of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

The Union has sent a request to the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly Speaker and all its members urging them to take care of the needs of the refugees, displaced persons and returnees when they vote on the budget of the Bosnian government for 2008.

The Union stressed that representatives of international organisations and leading donors in the return process (EU, SIDA, SDC, USAID, Dutch Embassy) expect the Bosnian state institutions to finally realize the importance of the return process and to start providing significant amounts for this process in the coming year.

The million or so Bosnian Marks, which was the annual amount provided from the Budget of the Bosnian Council of Ministers in the previous years, represented a symbolical amount and was in no way able to cover for the real needs of this process, the Union stated.

The Union stated that the return process was not accompanied by the coordinated work of all participants and that this has resulted in poverty, homeless people and desperation.

The Union reminded that 23 political parties signed and pledged to implement the Platform for Refugees, Displaced Persons and Returnees in Bosnia before the elections in 2006.