07/25/2012 13:23 GMT

by Olivera Nikolic

PODGORICA, July 25, 2012 (AFP) - Some 800 Kosovo Roma, including children, were left homeless after a fire tore through a shantytown refugee camp on the outskirts of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica, officials said Wednesday.

No one was hurt and it is not clear what started the blaze in the camp, where the Council of Europe in February described living conditions as "inhuman and hazardous".

The fire broke out early Tuesday and quickly reduced the camp, which consisted of some 40 wooded shacks, to ashes.

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Humanitarian Aid Group Donates Funds for Emergency Relief for over 300 Families and Launches Web Appeal for Additional Emergency Support

Silver Spring, MD - (December 20, 2010) - CHF International (CHF), the U.S.-based international development and humanitarian assistance organization, today announced the first phase of its response to the flooding in Montenegro with the launch of a web appeal to further support relief efforts.

Local authorities report that approximately 20,000 people were evacuated in the Western Balkans after heavy rains and

13 October 2010

By Giovanni Zambello, IFRC and Milica Kovacevic, Montenegro Red Cross

Every second Wednesday of October, the world marks International Day of Disaster Reduction. It is an opportunity for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world to highlight the importance of disaster preparedness in order to minimize the humanitarian impact of natural disasters.

The Montenegro Red Cross (MRC) recently participated in an international disaster simulation exercise "Medceur 2010", held in Danilovgrad, and jointly organized by the Montenegro

PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO, Aug. 5 (UNHCR) - At the age of seven, Adnan Behuli finally legally exists. Although the young refugee boy was born in a hospital, he was until recently officially "invisible" in Montenegro, because his birth had never been registered.

Now, with the help of UNHCR's legal aid implementing partners, Catholic Relief Services/Legal Centre, the boy has a birth certificate - a legal identity that will allow him to enroll in elementary school this September.

Adnan is one of 4,338 Roma, Ashkaelia,

NIKSIC, Montenegro, May 20 (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency wrapped up its long programme of emergency shelter provision for refugees in Montenegro earlier this week with the closure of a collective centre in the town of Niksic.

UNHCR representatives and government officials attended the closing ceremony on Monday at the Trudbenik Collective Centre, which was opened in 1993 to provide shelter for refugees arriving from other countries in the former Yugoslav federation.

The 65 residents of the last official collective still open in Montenegro have been moved to family apartments

PODGORICA, Montenegro, May 31 (UNHCR) - Bursting with energy, Hadzi and Maksum Miftari grin at visitors from the family living-room sofa before rushing outside to play with their friends. They seem full of life, but in legal terms the boys practically did not exist in their birthplace Montenegro or anywhere else until recently.

It seems inconceivable that bureaucratic red tape could have derailed the hopes and potential of Hadzi, aged six, and his four-year-old brother, Maksum, whose parents fled to Montenegro from Kosovo in 1999 to escape persecution based on their Roma ethnicity.

The Danish Refugee Council Western Balkans (DRC WB) has together with UNDP offices in Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro embarked on a new regional initiative to improve capacities and advocacy skills of IDP associations.

On 15 March 2007 DRC WB signed a first contract with UNDP Kosovo for the implementation of the Regional Initiative for Capacity Building to Kosovo Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Associations in Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo. This new project has been entirely funded by the UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery,

Belgrade, Nov 1, 2006 - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said today that the draft solution for Kosovo-Metohija by Marti Ahtisaari is bound to fail if it is not in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and if it violates the territorial integrity of Serbia.

Kostunica pointed to the fact that the Serbian government has not received the document prepared by Ahtisaari regarding the solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, neither has the government had an opportunity to talk with Ahtisaari on the matter.

The Serbian Prime Minister said that