Remnants of ethnic cleansing policies within Balkan States continue to perpetuate refugee woes in Serbia.

International Refugee Day is today, June 20th and once again Serbia tops the chart of having the highest refugees within Europe. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees 2007 Global Report states that there are approximately 97’000 refugees who continue to live in Serbia, for many more than 10 years after war forced them to leave their homes. But while some mainstream media reports on the colossal numbers of refugees around the world, very little analysis is provided to readers in order to understand the structural issues at play, which allow the problems to persist.

A highly politicized arrest of a Croatian Serb on the border of Serbia and Croatia this past week brought to the open long term systematic policies which continue to block the return of refugees.

Saša Cvetojević, a 34 year old who left Zagreb at 17 in 1991 because, as there was a civil war going on, he fell into the tough situation, along with hundreds of thousands of others, of being targeted due to his Serb ethnicity. Similar stories can be easily found on all sides in the ten-year conflict. Cvetojević and his family fled to Paraćin, Serbia. His family’s apartment was seized due to a discriminatory law. This past week he returned to Croatia to obtain paperwork to be able to return to Zagreb. On the way back into Serbia, he was arrested by Croatian border police, who brought...

Tomorrow, June 14th, marks the 4th annual international World Blood Donor day, reminding the world of the invaluable role that voluntary blood donors play in helping save human life. But while the demand for blood is universal, access and supply regrettably, are not, often forcing those that need blood to seek some out through the illegal black markets that exist.

Bulgaria operates a voluntary donor system, where donors do not get any payment for this blood. Across Bulgaria five blood centers are in charge of collecting and distributing blood for the country's 217 state hospitals. Once a year, hospitals order a 12th month supply of blood. Yet hospitals regularly run out before its time to place the next order. When this happens, hospitals are expected to buy stock from the blood centers. Yet often those individuals who need the blood are told that the hospital's budget has been spent, and the hospitals cannot pay for the purchase, creating a vacuum- because without the necessary blood, people will die, thereby allowing for an illegal market for blood to flourish.

Ivo, a doctor who only gave his first name, from the Blood clinic in downtown Sofia, spoke with me behind the building.

“Well basically the black market system goes like that. If you need blood for yourself or for somebody else, your relative or whoever, you want to donate, the hospital expects you to donate blood, other than that, the hospital will charge you a particular amount, I think it is 150$...

The HIV/AIDS epidemic across Ukraine has become a threat to Europe and the rest of the world, according to the audit the United Nation Program on AIDS released in early May. Some experts have pointed to the Ukrainian government, which they say is failing to slow the infection rate -- the highest in Europe.

The alarm bells have been ringing for years, but the severity of the HIV/AIDS outbreak within Ukraine has now reached a crisis point. Mismanagement of HIV/AIDS funds and the widespread corruption by various levels of government has caused large international donors to pull their funding from the country, and allowed rampant growth of the disease. In April 2006 the World Bank cancelled their $60 million project funding, and in 2004 Global Fund withdrew the $25 million grant they gave to the Ukraine government, and instead transferred the management to AIDS Alliance Ukraine.

Injection drug use, mother-to-child transmission and unprotected sex are the main means of transmisitting the disease in the country, and the most difficult challenges the country must face in order to combat HIV and AIDs.

Ukraine has despotic criminal penalties for possession of very small amounts of drugs. Although crime rates are rapidly decreasing in Ukraine, the level of incarceration of drug users remains high. At least 20% of people in detention are there on drug-related charges. The threat of arrest accelerates HIV infection rates by driving those most vulnerable to HIV infection away from HIV prevention services and by increasing incarceration rates for...

Three months after the unilateral declaration of independence by the leaders of Kosovo, the areas dominated by ethnic minorities continue to oppose the status. The newly elected government of Serbia has not changed its stance towards what they view as their small province, insisting that it must remain within Serbia.

The potential for violence continues to be a strong possibility. I recently went to Staro Gracko, a Serb enclave, within Kosovo, and neighboring villages to interview people, and heard different fears the people in minority groups have.

The safety and basic rights of minorities in Kosovo have been an issue since the war in the province in 1999. In April 2007, a bus carrying Kosovo Serbs was stoned in Rudnik. A similar incident took place in August 2007, when a train was stoned in Lipljan. Human Rights Watch noted 200 registered cases of ethnically motivated crimes including robbery, assault and intimidation.

Kosovo’s population lives in clearly divided enclaves: It is 92% Albanian- up from 88% in 1999. The Serbian minority is now 5%, with the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities together composing 3% - half of their pre war totals. Each ethnic group is divided in their own enclave communities throughout the province.

Since Kosovo’s leaders declared independence in February, many people living in the minority communities are scared. Some are making plans to leave, while others are determined to stay.

Zoran Cirkovic is one of the elected leaders of Staro Gracko village, a Serb enclave 20 minutes from Pristina....

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development their annual general meeting in Kiev, Ukraine yesterday, Monday 19th. They discussed how skyrocketing food prices and the overall instability of the global economy are impacting the 28 countries where they invest.

Owned by 61 countries and two institutions, Since 1991 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment, OR EBRD, has worked to transition post-socialist or communist countries across Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe as well as Central Asia into vibrant market economies.

At the banks annual meeting EBRD President of the bank since 2000 Jean Lamierre gave praise to the regions potential and said with the help of the bank, the region could boast food production, in response to rising global food prices. He said the bank plays a key role in the future of the region, among other things in his departure speech: “A new middle class is emerging. And with that, more ambition for economic and political freedom. Prospects are positive. But of course there must be a note of caution. Financial markets around the world have been turbulent for months now. Once again, difficult times are a reminder of the need for the EBRD as a committed investor, with high standards, even during turbulence."

During the two day meeting, the bank has been announcing various grants and loans to fund projects. One is the 135 million euro grant, which will go to contractors in order to cleaning up Chernobyl, the 1986 worlds worst civilian nuclear power disaster in...