The UN High Commissar Antonio Guterres has later on met, in the presence of the Commissar for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, Vladimir Cucić, with the representatives of refugee associations and associations of internally displaced persons in the Republic of Serbia, Miodrag Linta – chairman of the Coalition of Refugee Associations in the Republic of Serbia, Milojko Budimir – chairman of the Refugee Association and other associations from the Republic of Croatia in the Republic of Serbia, and Dosta Palić – representative of the Alliance of Associations of Internally Displaced Persons “Union”.

Miodrag Linta has depicted the problems in the realization of human rights for present and former refugees, the deprivation of tenancy rights, the inexistence of compensation for the destroyed and damaged properties, the problems of restoring demolished houses, unpaid pensions from 1991, the unrealized right to receiving a share in the privatization process, as well as the problems of refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which relate to the realization of property and acquired rights.  

Milojko Budimir has emphasized that the biggest problem for the 86.000 refugees presents the deprivation of tenancy rights. Budimir has been explicit in demonstrating that housing care cannot be a substitute for the lost tenancy rights and drew attention to the discriminatory laws of the Republic of Croatia. The Law on Seizing Apartments, namely the apartments of citizens who are Serbian nationals which were allotted to Croats who came from Bosnia and Herzegovina, even though they have been given back all their properties in BiH. He pointed out that if those tenancy rights were restituted and the 10.000 existing requests for the restoration of properties were validated, around 200.000 people could return to the Republic of Croatia, who are reduced by the laws of the Republic of Croatia to second class citizens. Budimir stated that the refugee persons in Serbia ought not to be accommodated by ways of humanitarian programs, but rather they need to be given back their seized and reoccupied property. Likewise, he underlined the importance of setting in motion the issues of more than 2.000 perished persons.

Dosta Palić, the representative of the Alliance of Associations of Internally Displaced Persons “Union”, has illustrated the problems that she herself, as an internally displaced person, faces. The problems affecting internally displaced persons present the usurpation of property rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian in Kosovo and Metohija, who in spite of their submittal of requests to KPA and HPD are still not in the position to reclaim their possessions and make use of the same. Thereafter she specified the impossibility of utilizing unoccupied land due to the inadequate security situation, the unrecognized appurtenance of labor relations, as well as the exclusion of Serbs and other non-Albanians from the process of distributing of shares of state owned and publicly owned firms, which are carried out on the basis of the UNMIK regulation. Dosta Palić has also elaborated on the difficulties that are being faced by the inhabitants of Serbian enclaves, because of the utter isolation and marginalized freedom of movement in a limited space.

At the end of the visitation of the collective centre, the Commissar for Refugees of the Republic of Serbia, Vladimir Cucić, familiarized the UN High Commissar for Refugees with the achieved results thus far in the field of integration and the improvement of living conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons. Cucić has also depicted the exertions and problems which Serbia has to struggle with on a daily basis in solving the issues of refugees and displaced persons, as well as the possibilities to resolve them.

The UN High Commissar for Refugees has in several instances underlined the close cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and the necessity of finalizing the long-lasting refugee crisis by ways of taking responsibility by all countries in the region. He also stated that the Republic of Serbia can count on the full support of the UNHCR.