Population Registration and Identification in Kosovo: Operational Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In late September 1999 IFES sent a team of consultants to Kosovo to do an assessment which would result in the preparation of an operational plan for the establishment of a Civil Registry by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). A time constraint was imposed on the registration exercise by the expressed intent of UNMIK to conduct elections in "early spring 2000". As the team began defining the infrastructure required for a continuous Civil Registry there was a growing awareness that the time frame available was inadequate for creation of a full-blown civil registry system. As a result of this awareness the UNMIK Civil Registration branch modified the scope of the registry project. The goals of the "scaled down" registration exercise are to provide an ID card to all Kosovars aged 16 and above, to create a registration database which will be the basis for creating a voters list, and to use this as the first step toward creation of a civil registry.

In order to provide useful assistance toward the accomplishment of this goal the IFES team, with the consent of USAlD, modified the scope of its project to the creation of an operation plan for this ID card/population registration project. During this transition, the IFES team has attempted to remain faithful to a central objective of identifying the basic requirements that the registration exercise must meet in order to provide a basis for the production of a voter list.

The registration project, even with its scaled down goals, faces significant legal, operational and technological challenges.