Playing politics with refugees in Macedonia
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Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 11:09:22 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: Playing politics with refugees in Macedonia
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Greek Helsinki Monitor <[email protected]>
Playing politics with refugees in Macedonia
* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *
News Service: 097/99
AI INDEX: EUR 70/71/99
May 19 1999
Kosovo
Playing politics with refugees in Macedonia
Refugee protection, a non-political and humanitarian act, has become
politicized in the Kosovo conflict, states an Amnesty International
field report released today at a London press briefing.
The authorities in Macedonia are effectively holding to ransom those
refugees waiting on its borders to enter, while NATOs continuing
involvement in some refugee camps -- as a party involved in the
conflict -- contradicts the fundamental principles of refugee
protection, Amnesty International said today.
The Amnesty International research report, while acknowledging the
difficulties posed by the refugee influx, criticizes the Macedonian
government for playing politics with refugees.
Frequent closures of the border by the Macedonian authorities seem to
be used to prompt quicker action in evacuating refugees. This is an
unacceptable intrusion of politics in the humanitarian response to
refugees in crisis, Amnesty International said.
At the beginning of the crisis, Macedonian authorities posed many
obstacles for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). They refused the agency access to refugees stranded on the
border with the country, and made agreements with other countries on
the evacuation of refugees without UNHCR involvement. Macedonia has
also obstructed the UNHCR in entering some camps, violating the rights
of refugees and undermining the UN agencys protective role.
Even now, the Macedonian authorities engage in closure of the border,
despite repeated UNHCR protests. The authorities claim that allowing
refugees to remain in Macedonia would destablize the country. Amnesty
International finds it unacceptable that the emphasis is being put on
speedy evacuation rather than refugees rights.
The rush by the international community to evacuate refugees as soon
as possible from Macedonia tacitly accepts this faulty logic, Amnesty
International said.
NATOs involvement in the refugee camps also poses problems of
impartiality. Initially, it was planned that NATO-constructed refugee
camps would be administered by UNHCR, with NATO providing only
logistical support as requested.
Yet UNHCR was apparently ill-prepared for the refugee influx, and NATO
stepped in to accomplish an urgent and vital job. However, NATOs
continuing role in the protection of refugees from Kosovo raises
significant questions about the civilian character and non-political
nature of the camps; and indeed, of refugee protection itself.
Politics also plays a role in determining where refugees end up. In
the current response to the forced mass displacement from Kosovo a new
solution has been created - that is - humanitarian evacuation from
Macedonia to other countries. The evacuation programme is based on
international solidarity and responsibility sharing, with some 39
countries agreeing to receive refugees from Macedonia. Yet many
countries have not taken their share of responsibility for hosting
refugees.
Providing protection for refugees, and searching for a durable
solution for their plight, is not the responsibility of one country
alone; but the responsibility of the entire international community ,
Amnesty International said.
The rights of refugees, once evacuated, have also become a political
question. Amnesty International appealed to those countries hosting
refugees evacuated from Macedonia to make sure that they are afforded
all their rights as refugees, and make sure that they receive
effective and durable protection against being forcibly returned to
Kosovo.
The human rights organization expressed concern that refugees could
not make a truly informed decision about whether they wished to be
evacuated to a host country unless they had full information about the
rights they would receive. It appeared to the field research team that
refugees had been given inadequate information about their rights as
refugees in the host countries, and the treatment they would receive
there.
In its interviews with refugees, Amnesty International heard repeated
tales of Macedonian police intimidation, including reports of
harassment and abuse. For example, in Brazda, a 41-year-old refugee
man said he witnessed a police officer roughly pushing aside a small
child in early April. When he confronted the officer, the refugee said
that he was clubbed unconscious and hospitalized. He and his family
were subsequently evacuated to another European country.
In its recommendations, Amnesty International urges that:
-- Macedonia should abide by its international obligations and
refrain from closing its borders. It should cooperate fully with
UNHCR, and make sure that police operating in the refugee camps do so
in a non-intimidatory manner.
-- Immediate attention be given to ensuring that the responsibility
to protect refugees is shared in a truly equitable manner. This
mechanism should include developing criteria for assessing when a
country of first asylum faced with a large scale influx may be
destabilised. Countries other than those in the region should make a
greater contribution to sheltering those seeking asylum.
-- Adequate financial assistance be provided to Macedonia, to assist
the country in dealing with the refugee influx.
-- The international community respects the UNHCRs supervisory role
and ensures that the organization is given adequate resources to carry
out its mandate in an effective manner.
Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street,
WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
Past and current Amnesty news services can be found at
<http://www.amnesty.org/news/>. Contact [email protected] if you
need to get in touch with the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International.
--
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