On the occasion of marking the World Refugee Day (20 June), on 19 June 2008 UNHCR organized a round table in Media Centre, Belgrade, with the aim to once again draw public attention to the problems of refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless persons and asylum seekers. UNHCR representative John Andrew Young emphasised that the solution for Kosovo must include finding the durable solution for the problems of approximately 206,000 persons displaced from Kosovo, who are the hostages of the current political situation. He also said that the international community had particular responsibility for displaced persons’ accessing their rights and property repossession. It was also pointed out once more that the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian minority (RAE) are the most vulnerable group among those displaced from Kosovo, since they have not exercised their right to citizenship and other documents. Praxis Executive Director Ivanka Kostic said that it was inconceivable that in the 21st century there were still persons who could not exercise their rights and be recognized as persons before the law, such as the case with the Roma displaced from Kosovo. Ms Kostic also pointed that neither the new Draft Law on Registry Books, which should be proposed to the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia, offered systemic solution for the problems of legally invisible persons. She also pointed to the problems of the displaced in accessing property rights in Kosovo, emphasising that there was a significant number of violations of property rights.

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