01 December 1999

BONN: United Nations Volunteers are gearing up to begin registration of the Kosovo population before the end of 1999. About 130 UN Volunteers have already been fielded, and the remaining 70 are to be deployed by January 2000.

According to the United Nations Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), 90 registration centres, to be managed by UN Volunteers and local staff members, have been identified so far. An additional 30 mobile centres will be made available for the registration process, during which Kosovars will be issued identity cards and a voters' list prepared to pave the way for elections.

The registration, which will take four to five months, is expect to start in the provincial capital Pristina and then be extended to the rest of Kosovo as of January. A statement issued by UNMIK in Pristina noted that by registering the population, UNMIK will "re-establish the public order that was seriously disturbed by the systematic destruction of identity cards during the recent conflict".

UNV became involved in the work of UNMIK following a request from the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO). UNMIK was established under United Nations Security Council Resolution S/RES/1244 of 10 June 1999 to provide transitional administration, while establishing and overseeing the development of provisional democratic and self-governing institutions for Kosovo. UNMIK works within its four "pillars" of responsibility, namely humanitarian affairs, civil administration, institution building and reconstruction.

To best complete their tasks, UN Volunteers are given training in Kosovo history, politics, economics and aspects of the territory's new legal framework being established by UNMIK.

In addition to the UN Volunteers working with UNMIK, 14 Japanese and four French UNVs have been serving since early November on a programme to rehabilitate housing in Kosovo through a Memorandum of Understanding between their Governments and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The project aims to provide shelter in the areas hardest hit by the recent conflict, namely in Pec, Istok, Decani, Klina, Djakovica, Serbica, Glagovac, Kosovska Mitrovica and Vucitrn. During the project's first phase, the UN Volunteers are to help 3,000 households, representing up to 36,000 people.

An additional 28 UNVs are carrying out humanitarian work with the UN Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Programme, the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration.