Serbia Handbook for Legal Aid Providers Final

Section 1 - Introduction
This manual has been drafted as a practical guide to assist practitioners in the provision of
legal aid to internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Kosovo and Metohija 1 . It does so by
incorporating lessons learned from several other existing and previous assistance
programmes that have been involved in property restitution, access to justice and similar
problems affecting Kosovo IDPs.
When this document is read online, the links underlined and in blue text can immediately be
accessed by holding the Ctrl key and clicking on the link.
The framework of this handbook has been drafted in accordance with local and international
legislation and practical methods of providing assistance to these vulnerable groups. This
methodology is also encouraged in the Principles on Housing and Property Restitution for
Refugees and Displaced Persons, (Pinhiero Principles) 2 . The UN Guiding Principles on
Internal Displacement (Guiding Principles) 3 also state that the national authorities have the
responsibility to provide protection and humanitarian assistance to displaced persons within
their jurisdiction.
The situation for Kosovo and Metohija IDPs is distinguishable from that of many other IDPs,
in that here the State has limited legal authority and influence in the area where the IDP is
originally from. However, in this case the State does have the ability to assist these IDPs in
realizing their rights by cooperating, participating and even supporting legal aid projects like
the present one.
The Pinheiro Principles directly addresses situations like the one in Kosovo and Metohija,
where the UN exercises the effective powers of the State, and emphasises that the UN
transitional authority maintains primary responsibility to implement international human
rights law, as described in the Principles. 4
The major difference in this in this handbook, compared to most others, is the special
attention given to the actual provision of legal aid through representation of IDPs before
courts and other institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, which differentiates the legal aid being
provided under this project to IDPs from other legal aid offered in Serbia to this group.
The current situation in relation to property rights for IDPs from Kosovo
The UNHCR reports approximately 205,000 IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija living in
Serbia 5 , not including approximately 21,000 “Internal” IDPs living in Kosovo 6 or the
approximately 16,000 displaced from Kosovo and Metohija living in Montenegro. 7 The
Kosovo Property Agency has listed on its website that there are over 40,000 property claims
filed with it, out of which over 21,000 have been decided. In 2004 approximately 21,000
1
All references in this handbook to Kosovo and Metohija are done so in respect to Article 182 of the
Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. All references to Kosovo includes the entire region of the
province including Metohija
2
UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/17, Principle 22.3
3
Contained in the annex of UN document E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2 dated 11/02/1998.
4
UN Handbook on Housing and Property Restitution for Refugees and Displaced Persons, page 19.
5
UNHCR Serbia website www.unhcr.org.yu/utils/File.aspx?id=326 including breakdown by municipality
6
Internal Displacement website http://www.internaldisplacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/E2928D405B865F3D802570B8005AAF37
?OpenD ocument#sources
7
President of Montenegro website http://www.predsjednik.cg.yu/eng/?akcija=vijest&id=2389
3