PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release : 19 June 1998

ICG Publishes Report Examining Minority Return to Konjic, the Model Open City

The 21-page report, entitled The Konjic Conundrum: Why Minorities have Failed to Return to Model Open City, is the latest in a series of ICG municipality studies. Earlier studies have included Drvar, Grahovo and Glamoc, Brcko, the Sarajevo Canton and Jajce and Travnik.

Konjic became on 1 July 1997 the first municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina to be officially recognised as an Open City by the Office of the United Nations High commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). To obtain this status Konjic had to demonstrate a willingness to accept the return of minority displaced persons. In return the UNHCR endeavoured to reward the municipality with additional funding.

Despite large-scale financial assistance and although UNHCR considers Konjic the most successful Open City, reliable sources estimate that fewer than 300 minority returnees have made their way home to Konjic since the Dayton Peace Agreement brought the Bosnian war to a halt.

The report assesses Konjic's record as an Open City during the past year. It examines the current demographic position, the municipal administration, the police and the overall receptivity to minority returns.

It assesses obstacles to return: the difficulties returnees face reclaiming their property; obstructionism by the municipal authorities; security concerns and the lack of basic services; the pressure of Serb and Croat authorities on displaced persons of their own ethnic group not to return; and the unfavourable economic environment.

The report also considers problems with implementing the Open Cities Initiative. And it ends with three pages of considered recommendations many of which are also relevant in other municipalities and which, if implemented, could help ease reintegration of minority communities and facilitate further returns.

Read the report: The Konjic Conundrum: Why Minorities have Failed to Return to Model Open City

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