At the beginning of his speech, Dacic thanked everyone who helped implement the Joint Regional Housing Program for the Permanent Care of Refugees and Displaced Persons from the former SFRY, which is being implemented in the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and Montenegro.
We owe special gratitude to the UNHCR and the OSCE, which provided housing for the most vulnerable refugees. Our joint efforts have led to the fact that 5,143 families have been provided with housing in Serbia so far through the Regional Housing Programme, said Dacic.
He pointed out that the Regional Housing Programme is an example that the path to a solution can always be found, when there is a will for something like that.
This is a very important message, because in addition to refugees from the former SFRY, there are approximately 200,000 internally displaced persons from Kosovo-Metohija in the Republic of Serbia, for whom the conditions for sustainable return have not been met even after 21 years, he said.
Dacic emphasised that a negligible number of them exercised their right to return, unhindered disposal of property, non-discrimination and unhindered access to political, economic and social rights in Kosovo-Metohija.
The population of internally displaced persons from Kosovo-Metohija has been waiting too long to resolve basic existential issues, Dacic added.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs reminded that Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija have been out of their homes for more than two decades, which is one of the longest-lasting internal displacements in Europe.
We believe that the time has come to take concrete measures to help these people. Therefore, we would highly appreciate the additional engagement and support of international partners in solving the problem of prolonged displacement of Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija, while respecting the lessons learned and repeating good practice, the Minister of Foreign Affairs pointed out.
He said that the Republic of Serbia already provides support to internally displaced persons from Kosovo-Metohija – by implementing programs financed from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, donor funds and funds from the pre-accession funds of the European Union.
In anticipation of concrete initiatives to address the situation of long-term internal displacement in Serbia, I would like to finally thank High Commissioner Grandi and UNHCR for their commitment and tireless work to help all IDPs in the circumstances of the pandemic, as well as on the engagement within the global refugee-migration crisis, he concluded.