The Supervisor notes with satisfaction that the RS police in Brcko are making practical arrangements to issue RS ID cards to returnees. The Supervisor regrets that these arrangements were delayed following the Supervisor’s Order on Identity Cards for Returnees to Brcko of August 12 and the subsequent agreement with RS Prime Minister Gojko Klickovic on September 3. This delay caused unnecessary confusion among Serb DPs resident in the area and those RS officials who concluded, inaccurately, that returnees were not willing to place themselves under RS authority.
On July 25 the Federation authorities annnounced that they would encourage returnees to Brcko to accept RS ID cards, with an OHR laminated insert and cover. The RS police, however, refused to issue RS ID cards in the village and on the day of return as stipulated by the Supervisor. The Order of August 12 allowed for the validity of Federation identity cards with an OHR laminated insert for returnees who are approved for return by either the current Returns Commission or the earlier International Housing Commission.
Returnees to the Brcko municipality in the territory of the Republika Srpska must be in possession of a valid identity card, which gives them the same rights and obligations as other inhabitants of the municipality. When the RS police commence issuance, all returnees who had been registered and issued with an OHR laminate must apply for an RS ID Card. Those returnees can keep the OHR laminate and plastic envelope for use with the RS ID Card as they wish. Any other returnees who have been approved by the International Housing Commission and notified to the Return Commission by the Rahic Brcko or Ravne Brcko authorities, must also obtain RS ID cards.
Contact:: OHR North,
Public Affairs Razvigor Bazala,
Spokesperson
tel: (076) 205 666
fax: (076) 205 560