UNHCR Kosovo* update

August September October 2016

Highlights
169,459
Refugees and migrants
arriving by sea to Greece
in 2016 (Jan-October)

61,057
Refugees and migrants
present in Greece on the
mainland and on the
islands

695
Returns to Turkey

UN General Assembly Summit for Refugees and

Migrants adopts key commitments to safeguard those
on the move. At the high-level UN Summit in New York on 19th
September, the governments of 193 countries adopted key commitments
to enhance protection for millions of people who have been forcibly
displaced and are otherwise on the move around the world.
The UN Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants
adopted the key commitments, they became known as the New York
Declaration.
The Declaration calls on countries that can resettle or reunite refugees to
do so. It also calls for those in the richer part of the world to recognise their
responsibility to provide timely and dependable humanitarian funding,
while robustly investing in communities that host large numbers of
refugees. Host countries are called upon to increase opportunities for
refugee adults to work and for children to go to school.
Governments pledged in the Declaration to better address the drivers and
triggers causing the record numbers of forcibly displaced in todays world.
The Declaration also tasks UNHCR to develop a Comprehensive Refugee
Response Framework, setting out a blueprint for a stronger system with
more reliable funding and early engagement of development actors to help
those forced to flee their homes and the communities hosting them.

(EU-Turkey agreement)

3,949
Refugees and migrants
estimated to have died/

gone missing at sea

in Europe in 2016

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, at the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of
Refugees and Migrants at the UN General Assembly in New York. UN Photo/Cia Pak

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244
(1999).

Governments commit to improve protection and solutions for refugees at

the Leaders Summit on Refugees, convened by US President, Barack
Obama, in New York on 20th September. 50 states and organisations participating in the
Summit have increased their contributions to humanitarian appeals in 2016 by US$4.5 billion, including
US$1 billion from the US, according to President Obamas opening address. President Obama also said
that the major commitments of Turkey, Thailand, Chad and Jordan will collectively help more than a
million refugee children to receive education, and one million refugees to receive training and new skills.
In addition, the President noted the countries taking part in the Summit increased the number of
refugees that they agreed to resettle or afford other legal pathways to more than 360,000 refugees.

Refugees and High Profile Celebrity

Supporters handed over global refugee
petition. UNHCR delivered #WithRefugees petition to the
annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York, on 16th
September. Over one million people signed the petition across
the globe appealing to UN member States to commit to doing
their fair share to help people forced to flee conflicts or
persecution. Refugees themselves helped the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, to hand over the
#WithRefugees petition to the UN Secretary-General Mr. Ban
Ki-Moon. The campaign continues until a global compact for
refugees is signed in 2018. Stand #WithRefugees and sign the
petition: in English or in Albanian.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in a report

Secretary, General Ban Ki Moon, speaks during UNHCR
released on 15th September, said that more UN
#WithRefugees petition handover at the UN General Assembly on
16 2016. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for UN
than half 3.7 million of the 6 million September
High Commission on Refugees)
school-age children under its mandate have
no school to go to. Some 1.75 million refugee children are not in primary school and 1.95 million
refugee adolescents are not in secondary school, the report finds. Refugees are five times more likely
to be out of school than the global average. Entitled "Missing Out: Refugee Education in Crisis", the
report compares UNHCR data on refugee education with UNESCO data on global school enrolment.
Only 50 per cent of refugee children have access to primary education, compared with a global average
of more than 90 per cent. As children grow older, the gap even increases: only 22 per cent of refugee
adolescents attend secondary school compared to a global average of 84 per cent. At the higher
education level, just one per cent of refugees attend university, compared to a global average of 34 per
cent.

UNHCR welcomes Security Council recommendation and General Assembly

approval of Antnio Guterres as the UN next Secretary-General. During his ten
years at UNHCR, Mr. Guterres managed some of the biggest refugee crises of our times, said High
Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. We know that he will lead the United Nations with the
vision, political skills and deep sense of humanity needed to make an unprecedented push for world
peace, Grandi said. Antnio Guterres will formally take over from the departing Ban Ki-Moon in January
2017.
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UNHCR Special Envoy urges action to solve the Syria crisis.

During a 3-day visit

in September in Jordan, UNHCR Special
Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt urged the
international community to do more to
solve the countrys crisis which is now in
its sixth year, noting that the gulf
between our responsibilities and our
actions has never been so wide. Now in
its sixth year, the brutal conflict in Syria
has forced more than 4.8 million people
to seek safety in neighbouring
countries. The Special Envoy met with
refugees in Azraq camp in Jordans
UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt meets with Syrian refugees at Azraq refugee
barren north-eastern desert, currently
camp in Jordan, home to 37,000 people. UNHCR/Ivor Prickett
home to around 37,000 Syrian refugees
registered with the UN Refugee Agency. I met a family this morning, who fled Daesh in Raqqa, and
then moved 20 times, trying to find safety inside Syria. In that time, the mother suffered repeated
miscarriages, and her two brothers and one sister were killed in an airstrike, Angelina Jolie Pitt told
a news conference at the camp following her visit.

Greek Volunteers, the Hellenic Rescue

Team (HRT) and Efi Latsoudi of PIKPA
village, win UNHCR 2016 Nansen Refugee
Award. More than 2,000 volunteers make up the HRT

Joint UNHCR 2016 Nansen Award winners Efi Latsoudi and

Konstantinos Mitragas in Lesvos. UNHCR/Gordon Welters

and have been rescuing people from the Aegean Sea and
Greek mountains since 1978. In 2015, the volunteers
worked 24 hours a day, responding to endless rescue
calls in the middle of the night undertaking 1,035 rescue
operations, saving 2,500 lives, and assisting more than
7,000 people to safety. On Lesvos Island, PIKPA village
provides a safe and welcoming environment on the island for particularly vulnerable refugees including
women, who had lost their children during the crossing as well as adults and children with physical
disabilities. Efi Latsoudi is one of the volunteers who in 2012 transformed the former childrens summer
camp into a refugee haven with the help of local authorities. PIKPA hosts up to 600 refugees a day,
despite a capacity of just 150, and distributs over 2,000 meals each day.

The offensive to retake Mosul can

take months and UNHCR is ready to
provide protection and shelter
support. The offensive started on 17th October

Displaced Iraqi women line up to receive food and water at Debaga

camp for internally displaced people in Iraqs Erbil
Governorate. UNHCR/Ivor Prickett

and according to UNHCR data as of 7th November more

than 34,000 men, women and children who have fled
their homes in Mosul. The flow of new arrivals set to
increase sharply as fighting moves into more densely
populated urban areas around Mosul. UNHCR is
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constructing 11 camps across northern Iraq to host the displaced, with five camps currently receiving
people fleeing the city.

More of the latest information on UNHCR activities and programmes is available on

the website:
http://www.unhcr.org/
http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/regional.php

UNHCR Kosovo key developments in August-September-October

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency,
supports the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on human rights of
internally displaced persons (IDPs),
Dr. Chaloka Beyani, during a twoday visit in Kosovo on 14th and 15th
September. Mr. Beyani met with relevant
authorities, civil society organisations and UN
partners with the aim to assess progress
following his previous recommendations made in
The UN Special rapporteur Dr. Chaloka Beyani during his meeting with an
2014. He also spoke with many internally IDP family in Pristina region
displaced families living in various locations
across Kosovo. Mr. Beyani noted with concerns that many IDPs are still living in squalid conditions,
especially those belonging to the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities. He also deplored the living
conditions of the most vulnerable IDPs still housed in collective centres. These IDPs have specific
protection needs, especially in terms of accessing their rights to housing, employment, health care and
education, which should be addressed as a matter of urgency, said Dr. Chaloka Beyani. According to
UNHCR there are still some 16,000 individuals in Kosovo who remain with displacement related needs
and lack durable solutions. You can read the full press release by clicking here.

On 20th-21st September, we
received in Pristina Professor Geoff
Gilbert, an expert from Essex
University, who joined us to share
his knowledge and experience in
refugee rights. UNHCR, the UN Refugee
Agency in Kosovo, together with the Civil Rights
Program-Kosovo (CRP-K) organised a training
course delivered by Geoff Gilbert, Professor of
International Human Rights & Humanitarian
Law at the University of Essex, on the exclusion
criteria in refugee status determination procedure. Participants in the training course included
representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kosovo Appeal Court, Basic Court in Pristina, Kosovo
Judicial Institute, Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Communities and Returns, Ministry of Local
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Government Administration, Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and Kosova Rehabilitation Centre
for Torture Victims. The objective of the training was to discuss best practices in various countries in
terms of the refugee status determination procedure.

On 4th August, UNHCR supported KFOR to

deliver clothes and hygiene items to
internally displaced persons living in
temporary
collective
shelters
in
Zvean/Zvean. KFOR soldiers from Portugal
provided families living in Samacki Blok and Hotel 3
with clothes, hygiene items and clothes for children. The
donation was delivered to some 40 individuals.

On 12th August, on the occasion of

International Youth Day, UNHCR organised
a work-related activity for returnee youth.
In a bakery in Peja/Pe town experienced bakers thought
them how to make various types of bread. "I will make
burek at home after learning this in the bakery today", said
one of the boys. The objective of the activity was to engage
with youngsters by encouraging their interest in jobs
available locally and teach them new skills.

On 4th October, Chief of UNHCR

Mission in Kosovo, N. L. Narasimha
Rao, spoke with the Association of
Kosovo Journalists about Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Mr. Rao said
that #SDGs are developed with the intent of leaving
no one behind. Conversation with journalists
focused in particular on SDG goals #10 and #14, and
actions needed to create better return conditions in
Kosovo through closing temporary collective shelters, providing higher financial support to Kosovo
municipalities involved in returns and better integrate returnees into the society. This activity was
organised together with United Nations Development Coordinator Office in Kosovo. Read more about
SDGs in Kosovo by clicking here.

On 7th October, UNHCR supported a

returnee to Gjilan/Gnjilane who received
an income generation tools to enable him
and his family to earn a living. He received a
machine to press plastic bottles and a moto-cultivator
that will enable him to set up a small business of
collecting and selling recycled plastic bottles.

On 12th October, UNHCR Kosovo received in its

office in Pristina students for a briefing on
UNHCR activities and programmes in Kosovo.
Students were from various American universities and
were spending this semester studying the Humanitarian
Law and Armed Conflict in Copenhagen. Their questions
touched upon UNHCR work in Kosovo, how it evolved
since 1992 and present day challenges.

UNHCR Kosovo handed a price to

a Kosovo journalist, Durim Abdullahu,
from Koha Vision TV channel for his TV
story on the problems faced by Kosovo
Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities
in Fush Kosov/Kosovo Polje. The
Journalism Poverty Prize in Kosovo is intended to mark
the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
th
celebrated every year on 17 October. This year, it was the 11th time that the awards and ceremony
were organised in Kosovo by the UN Kosovo Team in partnership with the Association of Journalists of
Kosovo (AJK). You can watch in Albanian by clicking here.

Contacts:
Malgorzata Bratkrajc, External Relations Officer, bratkraj@unhcr.org, Tel: + 38138241509 Ext. 2700, Cell +377 (0) 44115560
Shpend Halili, Public Information Associate, halilis@unhcr.org, Tel: +38138241509 Ext. 2701, Cell +377 (0) 45286862