KOSOVO KOSOVO VALENTINA AND FATIME, 11 AND 10, KOSOVO Valentina and Fatime watch their eight year-old brother go to school every morning. Unlike their brother, who was born in a hospital, Valentina and Fatime were not registered at birth, making them legally ‘invisible’ and excluding them from education, health care, and other social services. Valentina, Fatime, their brother, and mother, Hyrije, live in a small, cramped house in Ferizaj/ Uroševac. Hyrije is working to raise the children on her own since their father left the family. They are in a precarious economic situation, made exponentially worse by the girls’ exclusion from the legal and social systems. UNHCR has been working with its local partner NGO, CRPK, to register birth facts for Valentina and Fatime. UNHCR and CRPK have brought the girls’ situation to the attention of all relevant authorities, assisted with the necessary paperwork for late birth registration, and have led the legal and administrative processes through the courts. Despite the diligence of the two agencies, the case has been being processed for over four years. That’s four years of waiting, not being able to go to school. Cases like Valentina and Fatime serve as important reminders of the human face behind paperwork, court cases, and administrative lag times. “My daughters were born and grew up here, but they have no rights.” Memorandum of Understanding on late birth registration of displaced persons from Kosovo in Montenegro, which has resolved many cases of those who have been displaced and at risk of statelessness. By the end of April 2018, some 1,200 persons in Montenegro were registered and assisted by the mobile teams of the Kosovo Interior Ministry with over 3,000 documents (birth extracts, ID cards and passports), while some 150 persons are still waiting for their cases to be resolved. In June 2017, government representatives from Priština and Podgorica had agreed on a number of concrete steps to resolve these outstanding cases. Elmedin, 5, in many ways, is like any other little boy. He spends his days playing outside with his cousins at the family home in Ferizaj/Uroševac. Elmedin, who is being raised by his father, uncles, and grandparents, however, is legally ‘invisible.’ Though he was born in a hospital, his mother died shortly after his birth, and he was only issued a release form containing his mother’s information, rather than a birth certificate. His father’s efforts to register Elmedin’s birth were repeatedly denied. With no birth certificate, Elmedin could not access any health or social services and faced a high likelihood of a lifetime exclusion. Elmedin’s prospects for the future increased greatly two years ago, when Civil Rights Programme Kosovo (CRPK), UNHCR’s local implementing partner, identified his case. CRPK put together and presented Elmedin’s case to the court, which ultimately ruled in Elmedin’s favour. Now, the little boy with the big smile not only has access to critical medical and social services, but also no longer faces a life of educational, economic, and social exclusion. 16 • ENDING STATELESSNESS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE Hyrije, mother of Valentina and Fatime, 11 and 10, Kosovo ENDING STATELESSNESS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE • 17