[Prishtina-E] Alice Mead: Today I Am Really, Really Happy...

[kosova at jps.net]

Today I Am Really, Really Happy that Everyone Made It Back to Kosova

By Alice Mead

Special to Zeri, Prishtine
March 27, 2002

I went to a hunger strike in Prishtine next to the Grand Hotel in September,
1999, at the time when it still wasn't known exactly how many prisoners were
taken.

Estimates ranged from 3,000 to 5,000. Not one official from any
international organizations came to that strike. It was obvious to me then
that the only way to negotiate for the release of the prisoners would be
through pressure from outside Kosova. Naida Dukaj, an Albanian-American
activist, and I started the Albanian Prisoner Advocacy project in October,
1999, with help from Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and some NGO's in
Washington.

People began contacting us from all over the world -- Mexico, Indonesia,
India, Sweden, France, Switzerland in support of the prisoners. Even the
NATO wives group in Brussels joined us, buttonholing NATO leaders at fancy
dinners and parties.

Our first goal, working with Natasa Kandic at HLC Belgrade, was the release
of the 40 children from Gllogovc, which took place in November, 1999.
Officials told us that without outside pressure and exposure, this wouldn't
have happened. But there were still 2,000 others we needed to help.

By November, 1999, we were joined by Wolfgang Plarre and Divi Beineke in
Germany, and Anders Wessman and Idriz Zogaj in Sweden. Our goal was to keep
the issue of the prisoners (or hostages, as they prefer to be called) in the
forefront of international politics in Serbia and Kosova. So for nearly
three years, that's what we did. We documented their arrests, detentions,
torture, false trials -- by that time many NGO's were involved as trial
observers -- and submitted our findings to the US State Department, the
Hague Tribunal, UNMIK officials, European Parliament, and the UN Security
Council.

Families continued weekly demonstrations in Kosova and met with visiting
officials whenever they could. First we tried for a broad amnesty, as
stipulated by the Geneva Conventions. But Serbs used that to release only
two hundred prisoners and thirty thousand Serb draft evaders. So we had to
start again and bring more pressure. This time we emphasized to the public
the torture, degradation, and multiple violations endured by the prisoners,
as well as the Dubrava Massacre.

By now, we had the help of Valerie Hughes of Kosova Ireland Solidarity. And
we had now a lot of help from a number of Serb NGO's in Belgrade, who helped
as trial observers and had pushed the idea of amnesty in the Parliament. We
assisted with some OTPOR releases. Divi Beineke's email action campaign,
which has 1,555 advocates, sent over 38,000 emails to over 300 Serb
officials, media, and international leaders in Europe and the USA. Our A-PAL
newsletter was sent to 2,000 political leaders, media, and NGO's.

Following the failure of amnesty as a solution, high-level international
officials told us that the prisoner issue would now be second in order after
the arrest of Milosevic and the beginning of his trial. At that point,
high-level pressure would increase.

In December, 2001, the US Congress followed through with its second attempt
to condition aid to FRY based on the release of the prisoners. Top-level
European officials, and efforts coordinated now by the UK foreign office in
London, and the political office of the EU stuck by this deadline in their
efforts to pressure Vojislav Kostunica.

They also added the stipulation that FRY couldn't enter the Council of
Europe until this was resolved. We are still working on providing assistance
to victims of torture. There has been practically no help for returning
prisoners in terms of medical care or rehabilitation from UNMIK.

However, UNMIK officials, especially since the arrival of John Christian
Cady and Elizabeth Presse last summer, deserve a lot
of recognition for persisting in the face of the egregious evasions, delays,
excuses, demands for exchanges that they continually faced from Serb
officials. Every single step of this process -- from demanding better food,
stopping the daily beatings, finding transferred prisoners, keeping the
Albanians safe during the prison riots, getting access for family members
and doctors -- has been extraordinarily time-consuming and difficult.

I have learned that policy for Kosova is most often determined outside
Kosova itself and that the citizens of Kosova have
little access to international governing bodies, justice systems, and
supranational organizations like the EU, UN, or international courts.

As for our A-PAL effort, we are still working on compensation for torture
victims as well as the return of the 800 bodies found in mass graves in
Serbia last April, 2001. We have also begun a new initiative -- advocacy for
increased civil rights for Kosova citizens.

Without this kind of scrupulous, non-stop advocacy, even the most basic
problems in Kosova are in danger of not being fairly resolved.

But for today, I am really, really happy that everyone (EVERYONE!) made it
back to Kosova and that no one (NO ONE!) was left behind. I am sorry for the
six who died and for the outrageous ransoms that families paid. But I am so
relieved and delighted that over 2,000 people including women and children,
made it home.


Alice Mead is an American author and human rights activist.