MINELRES: ERRC: Legal Action Challenging Forced Expulsions to Kosovo

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Original sender: European Roma Rights Center <errc@errc.org>


European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Legal Action against Macedonia at the
European Court of Human Rights Challenges Forced Expulsion of Kosovar
Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptians to Kosovo
27 November 2003

On 27 November 2003, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) filed a 
pre-application letter with the European Court of Human Rights in 
Strasbourg against Macedonia, one of a number of European countries 
currently exerting intense pressure or actively moving to expel forcibly 
Kosovo Romani, Egyptian and Ashkali refugees to Kosovo or to Serbia and 
Montenegro. On the occasion of the filing, ERRC Legal Director Branimir 
Plese said: "We look to the European Court to act now to make clear that
in the current circumstances, forcible expulsions of Roma and others
regarded as 'Gypsies' in Kosovo are far beyond the pale of legality."

Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptians suffered a campaign of ethnic cleansing by 
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo beginning in 1999, resulting in the
displacement within or expulsion from Kosovo of tens of thousands of
persons, as well as "disappearances" (of persons now presumed dead),
gang rape, and mass destruction or confiscation of property. Today,
Kosovo remains an extremely unsafe place for persons regarded as
"Gypsies". Indeed, in recent months intergovernmental authorities
involved in the governance of Kosovo have registered a dramatic rise in
racially motivated attacks against minorities in Kosovo, including a
number of killings. Arson, grenade and other attacks on building
projects aimed at minority return are reportedly very frequent - and are
so commonplace that they are not even listed as "serious crimes" by some
intergovernmental monitoring agencies. To date, according to UNMIK and
OSCE officials, no prosecutions of perpetrators of racially motivated
crimes against Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptians have ever taken place,
either in connection with the events of 1999 or for any of the extremely
serious incidents taking place subsequently. Despite the extremity of
the situation in Kosovo, driven by xenophobic publics, the governments
of a number of European states have undertaken forced expulsions of
Roma, Ashkalia and/or Egyptians to Kosovo in recent months, and others
have stated their intention to begin doing so soon.

In the instant case, Mr Dzavit Berisa and his wife Mrs Bajlie Haljiti
are Kosovar Egyptians, and although their mother tongue is Albanian,
they were regarded by ethnic Albanians as having collaborated with the
Yugoslav regime, a stigma which Roma, Egyptians, Ashkaelia and other
persons regarded as "Gypsies" in Kosovo have had to bear. Mr Berisa was
an activist for the Egyptian community of Kosovo and, since 1994, he has
been a member of the Egyptian Association of Kosovo.

The Berisa family left their hometown of Obilic due to threats from
their Albanian neighbours, who promised to kill them if they did not
leave the village within 24 hours. Mr. Berisa and his wife fled Kosovo
to Macedonia, where they arrived on September 20, 1999, and where they
were granted humanitarian status.

On April 4, 2001, Mr. Berisa was offered a job as an interpreter for the
KFOR military units in Kosovo. He agreed to join a voluntary
repatriation program to Kosovo and his wife followed him five months
later. For approximately one year, Mr. Berisa faced serious
discrimination at the work place until he was fired by his ethnic
Albanian supervisor on racial grounds. On May 20, 2002, Mr. Berisa was
violently assaulted by Albanian extremists. Finally, after receiving
subsequent additional threats, including telephone threats and stones
thrown at his house, on June 1, 2002, he fled Kosovo with his wife for
the second time and joined other members of their family, who were by
then living in Macedonia.

On June 19, 2002, they applied for asylum with the Section for Aliens
and Immigration Issues of the Macedonian Ministry of Interior. Their
appeals were rejected repeatedly by Macedonian asylum authorities and
ultimately by the Macedonian Supreme Court. On May 29, 2003, they were
notified that they must leave Macedonia within 30 days or face forcible
expulsion.

On September 15, 2003, Mr Berisa and his wife were detained in the
street and taken to the police station in the town of Bitola, southern
Macedonia. They were not allowed to call their lawyer and at around 6
p.m., after they had been sentenced for illegally trying to cross the
border, they were put in a car and forcibly expelled from Macedonia. As
a result of this expulsion the Berisa family was exposed to violence in
Kosovo and the failure to be protected from violence, as well as to
inadequate housing, medical care and employment opportunities, along
with abject poverty and severe discrimination.

In view of the obvious inability of the Macedonian legal system to hear
and decide fairly in asylum cases involving Roma, Ashkaelia and/or
Egyptians, and to protect the Beriaa family from the serious violation
of refoulement - expulsion to face persecution in one's country of
origin, the ERRC has decided to turn to the European Court of Human
Rights on their behalf and request that international justice be served
and their clients afforded adequate and comprehensive redress. The
submission asserts violations of Article 3 (freedom from inhuman and/or
degrading treatment), Article 6 (right to a fair trial), Article 4 of
Protocol 4 (prohibition of collective expulsion of aliens) and Article
13 (right to an effective domestic remedy) taken together with Article 3
and Article 4 Protocol 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

For further details on ERRC action in the case, please contact Ms. Ioana
Banu, staff attorney at the European Roma Rights Center, at:
Ioana@errc.org 

Further information on the human rights situation of Roma is available
on 
the ERRC internet web site at: www.errc.org

_____________________________________________

The European Roma Rights Center is an international public interest law 
organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal
defence in cases of human rights abuse. For more information about the
European Roma Rights Center, visit the ERRC on the web at 
http://www.errc.org.

European Roma Rights Center
1386 Budapest 62
P.O. Box 906/93
Hungary

Phone: +36 1 4132200
Fax: +36 1 4132201
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