060503
(Hysni
Recica)
The latest report by Amnesty
International paints a bleak picture of the human rights situation of
minorities in Kosovo. Entitled
“Prisoners in our own homes”, the report says Serbs and other ethnic
minorities remain at serious risk despite almost 4 years of peace and the
presence of UN and NATO peacekeepers.
The organization charges that many
ethnically motivated crimes, which occurred in the immediate aftermath of the war
and since, have not been solved, creating a climate of impunity.
The Amnesty report talks of
discrimination in both health care and employment – this it says has led to an
increase in mortality rates while joblessness amongst Serbs and Romas runs at
around 90 percent.
Amnesty acknowledges that progress
has been made, especially with regards to security conditions for minorities,
but stresses that much more needs to be done if Serb and other IDPs are to
return to Kosovo.
Sian Jones, Amnesty International
Team Researcher
Sian Jones: Of course
the situation in some places has got very much better, and we have seen in the
year we have been researching this report, we certainly have seen improvement
over that year, we have also seen considerable improvements for example
comparing the situation with this time in 2000. But the situation still exists
where there is denial of freedom of movement and there is also discrimination
against minorities in terms of access to employment, access to education, and
access to health services.
Jones adds that Kosovo
Albanians living in areas of Kosovo in which they are the minority population
are under similar strains – they too are denied freedom of movement and suffer
from similar security concerns.
Sian Jones: Although
within for example the Albanian community may feel this does not reflect their
experience, certainly it would reflect the experience of ethnic Albanians who
are living in the northern part of Kosovo, Zubin Potok, northern Mitrovica,
where they experience the same denial of freedom of movement, the same fear of
attacks, and the same for example access to education in those areas.
Local authorities in Kosovo have
dismissed concerns raised by the Amnesty report as based on erroneous information.
The office of Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi called it a quasi copy of the
recent United Nations report on Kosovo. And according to his advisor, Ramadan
Avdiu, it does not reflect the situation on the ground. Neither UNMIK nor local institutions are
responsible for the lack of Serb integration, he says, it is the Serbs
themselves.
Ramadan Avdiu: The
report for example does not mention that the worst situation when it comes to
the freedom of movement is in the northern part of Kosovo, where practically
Albanians cannot pass the Ibar river, if they do they put themselves at risk,
while for Serbs there is no danger to come be that from Northern Mitrovica or
from other parts in Gracanica or in Prishtina. This is not stated in the
report, but it is stated that there is a lack of the freedom of movement for
Serbs.
Nenad Radosavlijevic,
advisor to UNMIK chief Michael Steiner on returns and minorities acknowledges
the problems faced by Kosovan Albanians in areas where they are in a minority.
But he welcomes the Amnesty report calling it both accurate and timely.
Nenad Radosavlijevic: I think up to now we’ve never
had a report going into the practical details reflecting the reality on the
ground. I’d say that other reports maybe dealt with global estimate, but this
time they went through details and it is good. Concerning the problems faced by
Albanians in north Mitrovica, I’d say that partially they are justified, we
have to recognize that Albanians in North Mitrovica do not live as they should,
but at the same time they live much better than Serbs in the towns as well as
in rural areas throughout Kosovo
Amnesty International is
calling for more stringent implementation of Kosovo’s constitutional framework,
which it says contains many of the international standards that guarantee human
rights. It is also calling for proper
resources for UNMIK police and local authorities to ensure thorough
investigation of ethnically motivated abuses. Sian Jones.
Sian Jones: What I would
ask the prime minister and leading politicians in Kosovo to do is to make sure
that every time an incident occurs when minorities are attacked, that they
would actually publicly denounce those human right abuses and that they would
really push for this climate of impunity to stop. UNMIK would set up good
witness protection services and a dedicated unit of police to resolve these
ethnically motivated crimes, so that they could be resolved.
Sian Jones on the line from
Amnesty’s London office ending this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for
listening.