Eight years after the conflict in Kosovo around 230.000 people are still displaced. Irrespective of their ethnicity, all people in displacement suffer a huge setback in their quality of life. They often live in appalling conditions lacking basic infrastructure, access to any services, and future perspectives.
Efforts by the international community to facilitate property restitution and the sustainable return of refugees and displaced persons has been very slow. Less than 18,000 minority returns have been registered by UNHCR since 2000. Poor economic prospects and lack of security are obstacles to return, but the restitution of destroyed or occupied property is one of the most prominent and tangible.
These photographs show the hardship of displacement and through them I hope to pay a tribute to the endurance and dignity of these men, women and children.
