CIAO DATE: 04/04

Kosovo/a Standing Technical Working Group, Fourth Meeting: Review of Activities

Introduction

The Standing Technical Working Group resumed its activities after the summer break with an extended meeting lasting two days (29/30 September 2001). The fourth meeting of the STWG sought to revisit some of the Group's activities over the previous half year and to discuss the future direction of the initiative in light of the upcoming Assembly Elections. Deviating from standard procedure, ECMI brought together senior members of UNMIK, the OSCE and the JIAS departments and members of the Group to partake in a critical evaluation of the implementation agencies' performance thus far. Each of the sessions in the programme aimed to assess policy developments in an issue area the Group had previously identified as in need of further attention (civil registration, health policy and judicial administration). The objective of each session was primarily to reconsider the Recommendations that the STWG had generated through its preparatory meetings, plenary sessions and training workshops, and which had subsequently been submitted to the relevant offices of the implementing authorities.

The proceedings took the form of an extended questions and answers session. A social element was also foreseen to allow the participants to socialize with other members of the Group and to involve members of the international implementation agencies in informal discussion outside the framework of the meeting. Provision was also made in the final session of the meeting for participants to review their own accomplishments over the first phase of the project. Moreover, a forum was offered for discussing how the Group's effectiveness could be enhanced in view of the imminent changes that were likely to occur in the political landscape of Kosovo/a. As with previous meetings of the STWG, the fourth meeting took place in the KTC room, UN Government Building, Pristina, and brought together over thirty participants fully reflective of all sections of Kosovo/a civil society.

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