Displaced populations in Balkan:
Case Studies:
1. Social sector development in Serbia with a focus on health sector and marginalized groups and the work of the Commissariat for Refugees in Serbia
Speaker: Dr. Ozren TOSIC, MPH ’96, Former Commissioner for Refugees in Serbia and President of the Harvard Club of Serbia
2. Refugee Protection and Integration in Bulgaria
Speaker: Dr. Louise DRUKE, MPA ’87, IAF’88, HLS VR’88, Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bulgaria Oct. 2000 through June 2005, currently HAA Regional Director Europe and PHRJ Visiting Scholar, MIT
Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Monday 31 Oct. 2005, 12.-13.00 STARR Auditorium
Hosted and co-sponsored by the KSG Mid Career Program and the KSG Alumni Office
Co-sponsored by the:
* Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies
* Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
* HLS Human Rights Program
* MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice and the The Inter-University Committee on
International Migration
* Fletcher Round Table on Refugees and Forced Migration
* Kokkalis Program at the Kennedy School
* Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, HSPH
Details of co-sponsors:
, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Rubenstein 113, 79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA, 02138, Phone: (617) 496-4950, Fax: (617) 495-4297
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: (617) 495-5819, Fax: (617) 495-4297,
Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, Pound Hall 401, Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617-495-9362, Fax: 617-495-9393, Email:
The Inter-University Committee on International Migration, Center for International Studies (CIS)
292 Main Street, Building E38, 6th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139,
MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice, Email: or , Phone: 617-258-7614, Center for International Studies, Building E38-600, 292 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
Fletcher Round Table on Refugees and Forced Migration, Ms. Sarah Feldman:
The Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe, JFK, Harvard University,79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138, Telephone: +1 (617) 496-0175, Fax: +1 (617) 496-5700, E-mail:
François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard School of Public Health, 651 Huntington Avenue, 7th floor, Boston, MA 02115 USA, Tel: +1-617-432-0656 Fax: +1-617-432 4310, Email:
Kennedy School of Government (KSG), Monday 31 Oct. 2005, 12.-13.00
STARR Auditorium
Displaced populations in Balkan:[1]
Speaking notes for: Refugee Protection and Integration in Bulgaria and EU Integration
Speaker: Dr. Louise DRUKE, MPA ’87, IAF’88, HLS VR’88, Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bulgaria Oct. 2000 through June 2005, currently PHRJ Visiting Scholar, MIT and Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Regional Director, Europe (www.luisedruke.com)
1. Historically there have been many and large population displacements in the Balkans last century, post WWI
2. Post WW II most of the new EU enlargement countries, except Malta and Cyprus, have been refugee producing countries during the cold war.
3. Even still in the decade after disintegration of the SU (1990-2000), some 120.000 Bulgarians applied for asylum outside, 85% of then in Germany, and many more left and tried to build a live elsewhere, which continued to make this region a source country of migration.
4. During the past 15 years Central Europe, incl. Bulgaria, has also been a country of transit: People came through this region in search of reaching a country in Western Europe, preferably of the EU.
5. In the framework of EU Integration preparations, candidate countries needed to prepare also to become partners in adopt international and EU refugee policies and legal standards, develop refugee and migration capacities and institutions, in order to integrate eventually the European asylum system, decided upon by the European Council of Tampere in October 1999 in implementation of the Amsterdam Treaty.
6. The “EU Aquis” in this field, namely EU regulations, directives and related measures have become applicable with the enlargement in May 2004 to ten new countries and will after full accession of Bulgaria and Rumania in 2007 or 2008, which basically is intended to mean that these countries become part of the EU asylum system and that :
a)population displacement, that is transit trough the region becomes less
b)these new EU countries are not any more generating larger population displacement and refugees, and become destination and host/asylum countries of population displacements and refugees.
c)What are major elements to this? Local integration of lawfully residing immigrant and refugees:
7. Thus since Oct. 2000 Bulgaria, for example has been working with support of UNHCR on developing a national Refugee Integration Program, which the Government finally adopted in May 2005 with funding from the State Budget
8.In November 2004, the EU adopted a European wide program for integration of lawfully residing third country citizens, including refugees, in The Hague Program of for an Area of Security, Justice and Freedom Integration, which is a continuous, two-way process for both legally resident third-country nationals and the host society; includes, but goes beyond, anti-discrimination policy and implies respect for the basic values of the European Union and fundamental human rights; it requires basic skills for participation in society; relies on frequent interaction and intercultural dialogue b/nl members of society within common forums and activities in order to improve mutual understanding; it extends to a variety of policy areas, including employment and education. A framework, based on these common basic principles, will form the foundation for future initiatives in the EU, relying on clear goals and means of evaluation. The European Council invites Member States, the Council and the Commission to promote the structural exchange of experience and information on integration, supported by the development of a widely accessible website on the Internet. …“
9.In October 2005, the Excecutive Program of the UNHCR adopted local integration of refugees as a priority for solving refugee problems, so Bulgaria with its national integration program shows best practice and is ahead of the curve.
10.Definition of a refugee and more emphasis on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
11. Of the 10 million refugees worldwide in 2005, 670 000 asylum seekers (3 top from Russian, SERMO and China).
12. UNHCR has 263 offices in 116 countries, 6540 staff (84% in the field), budget 2005 $1.35bill, working with 578 NGOs, 145 States are parties to the 1951 UN Convention related to the Status of Refugees and/or it Protocol, for more information see: www.unhcr.bg, www.unhcr.ch.
Cambridge, 31 October 2005
[1] Co-Speaker was Dr. Ozren Tosic, Refugee Commissioner for Serbia & Montenegro (2002-2004)