BADIL

Itinerary

Participants

Monday, 10 June: Sarajevo
Ms. Mirhunis Zukic, Association of Displaced Persons and Refugees
Background information about the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, political actors and the refugee issue.

Tuesday, 11 June: Sarajevo
Mr. Paul Prettitore, Office of the High Representative (OHR)
Presentation and discussion about international policy, legislation and practice of refugee return and real property restitution, and achievements and obstacles 1995-2002.

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
The rational of integrating human rights in the Dayton Peace Agreement, the status of displaced person and refugee return and restitution within a human rights framework, and minority returns.

Commission for Real Property Claims (CRPC)
The legal basis of real property restitution in BiH, mechanisms, and experience with implementation.

Wednesday, 12 June: Sarajevo
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Origins of UNHCR mandate and involvement with refugees in BiH and current role and experience.

Sarajevo Canton Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons
Local views and perspectives of current efforts at refugee return and restitution in BiH, relationship between international and domestic efforts, obstacles and achievements in the Sarajevo canton.

PLO Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina
Informal meeting with delegation.

Thursday, 13 June: Kupres and Banja Luka
Kupres Village
Visit to the village of Kupres and meeting with returnees to talk about the return process and housing reconstruction, host by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Friday, 14 June: Banja Luka
Banja Luka Canton Ministry of Refugees
Local views and perspectives of current efforts at refugee return and restitution in BiH, relationship between international and domestic efforts, obstacles and achievements in the Banja Luka canton.

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Meeting with legal staff at NRC legal aid office advising prospective returnees and discussions with refugees.

Office of the High Representative (OHR)
Presentation and discussion about legislation and practice of refugee return and real property restitution, and achievements and obstacles in the Republika Srpska.

Saturday, 15 June: Kozarac
Visit to the village of Kozarac which was completed destroyed during the war. The town was been completely rebuilt with significant investment by residents themselves.

Terry Rempel Head of Delegation, and co-ordinator of BADIL's Research and Information Unit. Mr. Rempel holds a MA degree in Middle East Politics from Exeter University (UK), and is a research fellow at the School of Historical, Sociological, and Political Studies at Exeter University.

Nihad Boqai of BADIL’s research staff, a social science graduate from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Mr. Boqai was born and raised in the Galilee area inside Israel. His family was forcefully evicted from their home in Galilee in 1948 and has not been permitted to return to its home and land since them.

Waji Atallah secretary of the Union of Youth Activity Centres, Palestine Refugee Camps (UYAC) and a member of BADIL’s General Assembly. He was born and raised in Kalandia camp (Jerusalem). His family originated from ‘Islin, a 1948 depopulated Palestinian village now located within Israeli-held western Jerusalem. The UYAC is a grassroots union with some 20,000 members who live in and outside refugee camps in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Ahmad Osman AIDUN Group-Lebanon.

Jaber Suleiman is an independent researcher with Palestinian NGOs and the Institute of Palestine Studies in Beirut, Lebanon and a founding member of AIDUN Group-Lebanon. He was evicted in 1948 as a child from his hometown Majdal in southern Palestine. Majdal is now known as Ashkelon, a large coastal town in Israel, just north of the Gaza Strip. His family fled to Saida (Sidon), Lebanon. AIDUN is an initiative launched in 2000 to raise awareness among Palestinian exiles and promote Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and property.

Majed Fanous AIDUN-Syria, advocate, Damascus.

Walid al-Masri High Committee for the Right of Return, Jordan. Theater director from Zarqa.

Khaled al-Maslamani High Committee for the Right of Return, Jordan. Theater director, Zarqa.

Amjad Taha al-Awda-UK, IT trainer, Essex, UK.

Muhammad Kaiyal Association for the Defense of the Rights of the Internally Displaced (ADRID), journalist, Judaida, Galilee.

Dr. Mahmoud Issa is an independent researchers based in Denmark. He is active in Palestine right of return committees and Palestinian community organizations in Denmark and other parts of Europe. His family originates from the 1948 depopulated village Lubya in the Galilee. His family was forced to flee to Lebanon. Dr. Issa is the author of an extensive oral history research project about Lubya and is involved in the preparation of an ethnographic exhibition on pre-1948 Palestinian village life to be opened in Denmark.