Letter to Serbian NGOs

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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 21 May 1999 20:12:17 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Letter to Serbian NGOs

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
<[email protected]>

Letter to Serbian NGOs


Letter to Serbian non-governmental organizations regarding the Appeal
of 6 April by Belgrade NGOs from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and
the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Oslo, Vienna 18
May 1999

Dear friends and colleagues,

As human rights organizations devoted to the protection of civil
society, and after having cooperated with some of you for many years,
the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the International Helsinki
Federation for Human Rights take your Appeal of 6 April with utmost
seriousness. The Executive Committee of the IHF, which met in New York
on 8.-9. May, discussed your Appeal at length. It should be mentioned
that the protection of human rights defenders and civic activists in
Serbia are one of our main messages to decision makers and media in
Europe, and that we have initiated support campaigns and letters for
Serbian independents and intellectuals.
 
However, we are deeply disturbed that the Appeal of 6 April -- and
subsequent open letters and appeals from intellectuals in Belgrade --
reflects a view of the Kosovo crisis to which we cannot subscribe, and
we feel a need to clarify our position on these issues. The Kosovo
Albanians who have arrived in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro have
been extensively interviewed by members of various Helsinki
committees, as well as by news media. Their stories confirm beyond any
reasonable doubt that they were driven from their homes by Serbian
police and paramilitary forces; that seemingly thousands have been
systematically killed, maimed, raped and robbed. This is ethnic
cleansing on a horrific scale. Neither the NATO bombing campaign nor
military actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army are responsible for the
�unprecedented exodus� which you describe. Based on the extensive
information we have collected about the catastrophe in Kosovo, we
consider it intellectualy and morally unsound to equate these
campaigns.

We respect your lonely and courageous struggle for democratization in
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a struggle we have supported for
years. But unfortunately -- and we would very much like to be mistaken
in this -- it seems to us that hardly any of your fellow citizens have
supported a just settlement to the Kosovo issue, and that the crisis
has been caught in a downward spiral of radicalization for many years.
Thus when you say that �NATO military intervention has undermined all
results we have achieved,�one must ask if these results were of such a
scope and significance to bring hope that the plight of Kosovo could
be relieved by peaceful means.

As the Rambouillet negotiations came to a close, it seemed clear to us
that there was no such hope of a political settlement. The regime
scorned international -- and domestic -- pressure aimed at a peaceful
solution, and went ahead with the preparations for the campaign which
is currently unfolding in Kosovo. Faced with preparations for grave
crimes, how should one respond? That was the dilemma faced by the
international community in March, and in our view you also should
recognize -- even though you do not support it -- that, in principle,
the NATO intervention was not an arbitrary act of aggression.

We are in sympathy with your extremely difficult situation, but we
cannot agree with the conclusions you have drawn as to who bears
primary responsibility for improving it. It is our view that your
appeal should properly be addressed to the FRY and Serbian authorities
which bear the responsibility for systematic and grave crimes of war
and crimes against humanity in Kosovo, and for the dangers you, as
members of the civil sector in Serbia, are currently facing.

We express our solidarity with you. Also, we acknowledge the
sacrifices you must make, and the dilemmas and paradoxes you are faced
with as victims of a government whose policies you cannot support, and
bearing the costs attached to efforts to make that government act in
accordance with civilized standards. It is our hope and aim that the
enormous responsibility the NATO states have taken on by initiating
the military intervention, will entail a far more whole-hearted
support of the civil sector in the Serbian society, which more than
ever, is crucial to Serbia�s restoration into Europe. Unless the
western states recognize the need for this kind of policy, it will be
difficult to describe the current NATO actions as a humanitarian
intervention.

We will soon face new challenges. This letter is meant to open a
dialogue on what we can do together to preserve the independent forces
in the Serbian society in order that they may resurface after the war.
We would very much welcome your recommendations as to how we, from the
outside, should address the new situation and how we can continue to
support you in your current plight.

Bjorn Engesland
Secretary General
The Norwegian Helsinki Committee

Aaron Rhodes 
Executive Director 
on behalf of the 
Executive Committee of the IHF:
Ludmilla Alexeyeva
Ulrich Fischer
Stein-Ivar Aarsaether
Sonja Biserko
Holly Cartner
Bjorn Emgesland
Krassimir Kanev
Andrzej Rzeplinski


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