[ALBSA-Info] Fwd: [balkans] New Report: Human Rights in Kosovo

[Agron Alibali]

 Florian Bieber <bieberf at gmx.net> wrote:From Florian Bieber Fri Oct 18 06:36:14 2002
To: balkans at yahoogroups.com
From: Florian Bieber 
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 15:36:14 +0200
Subject: [balkans] New Report: Human Rights in Kosovo

The report by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Mr. Alvaro Gil-Robles, entitled 

"Kosovo : the human rights situation and the fate of persons displaced from
their homes".

is available at:

http://www.commissioner.coe.int/new/dyn/docs.asp?L=2&S=1

The report was prepared in response to a request by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe to examine these issues in the context of
the adhesion of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the Council of Europe.

It contains considerable criticism of the performance of the international
presence in certain areas.

The following summary, except where italicised, is not for quotation and
does not engage the responsibility of the Commissioner for Human Rights :

1. The Human Rights situation in Kosovo :

The report highlights a number of special powers enjoyed by the
international community, which pose serious problems from a human rights
perspective. 

These include 

- the immunity from prosecution of international personnel (page 11)

- the powers of the Special Representative to the Secretary General of the
United Nations for Kosovo to overrule formal judicial decisions, including
orders for the release of detained individuals (page 19)

- the ability of NATO forces (KFOR) to detain individuals for indefinite
periods without any judicial control. (page 21)

Other problems, such inadequate policing (page 12) as the failure to
address the issue of missing persons (page 15) from all communities and to
bring to justice those who committed ethnic crimes in the early days of the
international mandate are also criticised (page 14).

It is the Commissioner's contention that such powers and failings, whilst
perhaps comprehensible in the immediate aftermath of a fraught ethnic
conflict, can no longer be justified three years into the international
administration of the region. "Moreover, UNMIK [has] placed considerable
emphasis on the obligations of local institutions [it has itself created]
to respect international human rights standards. It cannot, in the long
run, as the situation continues to stabilise, be a salutary example to
budding democratic institutions, to continue to be answerable to an
ultimate executive authority, which does not itself adhere to these norms."
(page 4) 

II. The situation of persons displaced from Kosovo

Whilst the majority of the 850,000 Kosovan Albanians who fled Kosovo prior
to the entry of NATO groundtroops have since returned, only a few thousand
of the 230,000 predominantly Serbian IDPs in Serbia and Montenegro, have
been able to do the same (page 30).

Though UNMIK has been slow to address this issue, it has, over the last
year, officially become one of its priorities. Whilst the antagonistic
attitudes of all communities and the ongoing security concerns are, in
themselves, sufficient to limit the return of Serbian and Roma IDPs and
refugees significantly, additional obstacles resulting from UNMIK policies
and omissions remain. These include :

- the failure to provide reconstruction assistance to Serbian and Roma
returnees, despite the widespread availability of such assistance to
returning Albanians (page 37).

- the failure to provide adequate funding to the UN run Housing and
Property Directorate, to resolve disputes involving in excess of 15,000
properties claimed by Roma and Serbian Kosovans (page 27).

- the insistence, in contravention of the right to freely choose one's
place of residence within one's country, on the return of Serbian and Roma
Kosovans to the very house they previously occupied (page 35).

The prospects for large-scale return in the immediate future are, under
such circumstances, greatly reduced.

It is also noted that the Serbian and Montenegrin authorities must more
actively assist the integration of IDPs that do not wish to return to
Kosovo (page 41).

For information relating to the report please contact:

Mr. John Dalhuisen 
Private Secretary to the Commissioner for Human Rights
00 33 (0)3 88 41 23 13
john.dalhuisen at coe.int

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