DETERMINACION DEL PUNTO DE EQUILIBRIO
10. ANALISIS DE SENSIBILIDAD
“The unemployment rate in Kosovo is very high. Therefore, repatriation will make this situation even more serious”. Reintegration Strategy, 2010, p. 14.
“About 45 per cent of people in Kosovo are not employed – here in Fushë Kosovë it’s about 99.5 per cent, and it’s getting worse because of people returning. They return a five to 10 member family, and then there are
115 Amnesty International interview, UNHCR Pristina, June 2010.
116 OSCE, Implementation of the Strategy for Reintegration of Repatriated Persons in Kosovo’s
Municipalities, 2009, p.11, footnotes 50, 51.
117Reintegration Assessment, p.19. 118 See Reintegration Strategy, pp. 24-28
another five to 10 people with no work and no assistance. What are they thinking of? There are 736 families here, 564 of them are IDPS from other parts of Kosovo, and maybe they should [look after them] first.” Bekim Syla, Roma and Ashkali Documentation Centre, June 2010.
According to the UNDP 45 per cent of the total working-age population in Kosovo are unemployed; the rate is higher for women and for minorities. Some sources estimate Roma unemployment at over 90 per cent: UNICEF in their recent report stated that in the capital Pristinë/Prishtina “Roma [un]employment may be nudging 100%”. Further, UNICEF in their study of families forcibly or otherwise returned from Germany has estimated, while the average income for Romani families already living in Kosovo is 120 euro a month, in families who had been returned they found it was 88 euro.119
In June 2010 Ferdana, a Romani woman working for the NGO Balkan Sunflowers, told Amnesty International that no Romani women in Fushë Kosovë/Kosovo Polje had a job, even those who had finished secondary school. According to a local Roma representative, Qerim Gara, “It’s a catastrophe. Before the war, there was about 70 per cent employment. Now, there are around 5-6,000 people in Fushë Kosovë, and only about 30 of them are working”.120
Before 1999, many Roma and Ashkali worked in state industries; in theory former employees in such industries are eligible to return to their jobs, or to receive a pension. In practice, and with the passage of time and privatization of former state companies, this is not the case. The Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) power stations near the Roma settlements at
Obiliq/Oblić and Plemetina, for example, formerly employed a large percentage of Roma and Ashkali; despite measures taken in 2003 to enable persons previously employed in socially- owned enterprises to reclaim their former jobs on privatization, in 2009 only three out of 7,654 (0.04%) of employees were from these communities.121 Further, despite ethnic
quotas, few Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians are employed in local or municipal government.122
“We try and get some daily labour, but all of the [state] companies have been sold and there is no
economy. Some [Roma] do criminal acts just to survive. We might have freedom of movement, but –
simply – we need to fill our stomachs”, Halil Cerimi, interviewed by Amnesty International, June 2010.
119 UNICEF, Integration unter Vorbehalt, p. 95, Tabelle 17: Monatliches Durchschnittseinkommen von
RAE (KFOS 2009).
120 All quotes in this section, Amnesty International interviews, June 2010.
121 Roma and Ashkali Documentation Centre, Helplessness, p. 17. UNMIK Regulation No. 2003/13,
amended by Regulation No. 45/2004, provides that “an employee is eligible [for re-employment] if such employee is (…) registered as an employee with the Socially-Owned Enterprise at the time of
privatization”. Amnesty International in 2002-4 worked without success to seek the reinstatement of an Ashkali man previously employed in by KEK.
122 In 2009, 10 per cent of state employees in Kosovo originated from minority populations, below the
While some Roma are able to survive by collecting and re-selling or recycling or re-using scrap and the contents of garbage cans, and others may find occasional work as a day- labourer, there are no real prospects of employment. Even those who return voluntarily are only sometimes assisted in employment through income generating projects.123 Such
assistance may provide returnees with income for a short period, but fail to provide sustainable or long-term employment.
According to the Reintegration Strategy, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has reportedly established “policies and measures through which it will be able provide appropriate services to repatriated persons through employment services and vocational training”. Municipalities are required to identify potential donors and design appropriate projects that repatriated persons will benefit, especially with regards to the creation of employment opportunities”.124 However, as of April 2010 such measures remained to be
implemented and, according to the Ministry of Interior’s 2010 Assessment of the Reintegration Strategy only one municipal project had been identified, funded by a Swiss donor, and implemented by the IOM.125
For those with sufficient documentation, and who fulfil the criteria, the only regular source of income is social benefits. According to UNHCR, such social welfare benefits “are insufficient to ensure an adequate standard of living for recipients.”126 The standard monthly payment
ranges from 40 euro per month for a single individual to 80 euro for a family of seven persons.127 Amnesty International has not been able to establish the percentage of returnees
in receipt of social benefits.
In the absence of an overall social policy, including on employment and social assistance, Kosovo is assisted by the European Commission under a European Partnership agreement which makes provision for the prioritization of funding for the improvement of social and economic rights, including the implementation of “strategies and action plans relevant to integration of Roma, including returnees”.128 In their Kosovo Study, the EC proposes that
123 Income generating projects for voluntary returnees are provided by international funders, for example
UNDP (see above) and Mercy Corps, see http://www.osce.org/item/30136.html
124Reintegration Strategy, 2010, pp. 14-15. 125Reintegration Assessment,p,10, para 6. 126 UNHCR, Eligibility Guidelines, p. 13.
127 Kosovo Statistical Office of Kosovo, Social Welfare Statistics 2009, June 2010, pp. 11-12; in total
35-38,000 families were in receipt of social benefits in 2009 – no ethnic breakdown of recipients is provided. http://www.ks-gov.net/ESK/eng/dmdocuments/Social%20Welfare%20Statistics%202009.pdf
According to RADC, “Calculated on an average amount of 50 euro per month, the Kosovo government would have to provide a budget of 500.000 euro per month or 6.0 Million euro per year just for social assistance of returnees – and these costs would not include the provision of accommodation and other issues”, RADC, Helplessness, p.15.
128 2008/213/EC: Council Decision of 18 February 2008 on the principles, priorities and conditions
specific assistance will be provided to “help efforts to include minority communities in social protection and inclusion measures”.129 However, the organization has been unable to
identify any current employment programmes which are specifically designed to address the employment needs of forced returnees.