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Belgrade seminar to focus on refugees' property rights under European Convention on Human Rights

BELGRADE, 11 March 2003 - A two-day seminar for lawyers who provide legal aid services to refugees in Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, aims to outline and clarify mechanisms within the European Convention on Human Rights, which can enable refugees to repossess their property.
The event, which will start tomorrow, is jointly organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro and the Council of Europe.

As outlined by Ambassador Maurizio Massari, the Head of the OSCE Mission, "the Mission is committed to the application of the European Convention on Human Rights and other international human rights treaties, which give the refugees the right to return to their country of origin. However, the failure to return property to refugees is one of the principal barriers preventing the return of refugees to their country of origin."

"The purpose of this seminar, therefore, is to bring lawyers from the region together in order to see how to speed up the return of property, through firm application of the European Convention on Human Rights," added Massari.

Seminar participants will also be welcomed by the Commissioner for Refugees and IDPs, Ozren Tosic; the Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to Serbia and Montenegro, Verena Taylor; and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative for Serbia and Montenegro, Dario Carminati.

Media representatives are invited to attend the opening session on Wednesday, 12 March, from 9:00 to 9:30 at Hotel Palas, Belgrade.

For further information, please contact:

Rory Keane
Spokesperson
OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro
Bulavar Mira, 26 11000, Belgrade Serbia and Montenegro
Tel.: +381-11 3606 149
+381-11 3672 425
+381-11 3672 427
+381-63 337 461 (mobile)
Fax: +381-11 3672 429
E-mail: osce-portparol@omifry.org