610 displaced persons have returned to Kosmet this year, which is only 9% of the total number and significantly less than in 2009, Serbian Assistant Minister for Kosmet Branislav Ristić said.

At the 7th Annual Conference of the Union of Refugees and Displaced Persons, he stressed the number of returnees to Kosmet had been significantly dropping in the past years.

The number is compatible with the situation there, which is illustrated by the fact that, since 1999, more than 7,000 attacks on returnees have been recorded, that some 1,000 Serbs have been killed and 841 persons have been kidnapped, he said.

The major problem is how to secure sustainable return, as people are not able to earn a living in most cases, but they live on social security and have been left to themselves

. The opinion of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the uncertain situation in Kosovo and the cases of the destruction of the property of displaced Serbs as well have led to the drop of the number of returnees, Ristic emphasized.