MINELRES: ERRC: Kosovo Roma in Denmark Threatened with Expulsion

[European Roma Rights Center]

European Roma Rights Center Press Release:

DANISH AUTHORITIES PRESSURE KOSOVO ROMA TO RETURN

On March 13, 2002, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) sent a letter
to Danish Prime Minister Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen to express concern at
measures recently undertaken to put pressure on Roma from Kosovo to
leave Denmark. The ERRC letter additionally expresses concern at the
threatened expulsion from Denmark of Roma from Serbia and Montenegro. A 
copy of the ERRC letter was also sent to Danish Minister of Refugees,
Immigration and Integration Affairs Mr Bertel Haarder. The full text of
the ERRC letter follows:

Honourable Prime Minister Rasmussen,

It has been reported to the ERRC that on March 10, 2002, a number of
Roma from Kosovo presently in Denmark have been ordered to report to the
Sandholm Prison and Probation Service immigration detention
establishment in North Zealand, as a preliminary measure prior to their
"voluntary repatriation" to Kosovo. Such persons have been instructed in
writing that they "must leave Denmark". We note from reviewing documents
provided to such persons that they are offered goods such as money and
medical assistance if they leave Denmark "voluntarily", with the
information that such goods will not be made available to persons who
are forcibly expelled from Denmark. In addition, we understand that a
number of Romani individuals from the rest of Serbia and Montenegro have
already been ordered to the Sandholm center and may be forcibly returned
to Serbia and Montenegro.

The ERRC has no objection to the concepts of "voluntary return" or
"voluntary repatriation" per se. However, we are concerned that in
Europe today, a large number of the returns of Roma coming to our
attention -- returns frequently classified as "voluntary" -- are
voluntary in name only and may in fact be abusive returns violating
international law including Article 3 of the European Convention on
Human Rights (ban on cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment), Article 4 of Protocol 4 to the European Convention on Human
Rights (ban on the collective expulsion of aliens), and/or Article 33(1)
of the International Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (ban
on expulsion or return of refugees -- "refoulement"), as well as similar
provisions under, for example, the International Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Persons perceived to be "Gypsies" in Kosovo, including members of three
groups -- Roma, Ashkaelia and Egyptians -- were ethnically cleansed from
Kosovo following the June 1999 cessation of NATO bombing of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo,
and the large-scale return of predominantly ethnic Albanian refugees to
the province. In November 2000, four Ashkaelia men were killed less than
24 hours after returning to their homes in the framework of a "voluntary
return" program. Today, despite close to four years of international
administration of Kosovo, the situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo
-- particularly of Roma, Ashkaelia and Egyptians -- remains precarious
and a very high number of municipalities are unsafe for return. As
recently as January 2003, the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees has stated: "Members of non-ethnic Albanian minorities
originating from Kosovo continue to face security threats, which place
their lives and fundamental freedoms at risk. [...] Significantly,
security threats can be severe (grenade attacks, arson attacks, physical
assault) among the Roma, the Egyptians and, in many cases, the Ashkaelia
throughout Kosovo."* Those areas in which a bare minimum of protection
of minorities has been secured continue today to be characterised by
such high degrees of anti-Gypsy sentiment -- resulting in crippling
degrees of racial discrimination -- that a person returned to the
province would stand almost no chance of enjoying a life with dignity.**
Indeed, tens of thousands of displaced Roma, Ashkaelia and Egyptians
currently live in conditions of utter destitution and extreme poverty in
the rest of Serbia and Montenegro, frequently squatting in extremely
substandard conditions under bridges or elsewhere in the open --
apparently because such arrangements are preferable to a return to
Kosovo. Due to the very serious human rights situation for Roma,
Ashkaelia and Egyptians in Kosovo, the ERRC -- with a number of other
international agencies -- advocates that at present no members of these
groups should be returned to Kosovo. Pressure to participate in
"voluntary return" or "voluntary repatriation" programs, under present
conditions, amounts to cruel and arguably illegal treatment of persons
who may have suffered trauma as a result of treatment in Kosovo.

As to the situation of Roma in Serbia and Montenegro, extensive
documentation by the ERRC and partner organisations in Serbia and
Montenegro indicates that Roma in Serbia and Montenegro face very
serious human rights concerns including but not limited to:
- Physical abuse of Roma by police officers and other members of the
public authority
- Violence by racist "skinheads" and other non-state actors
- Discrimination and racial segregation in the school system
- Forced eviction, threats of forced eviction, and other violations of
the right to adequate housing, including extremely substandard housing
and failure to provide services
- Discrimination in access to health care services
- Discrimination in access to employment
- Discrimination in the allocation of social assistance
- Discrimination in access to public places
- Threats to the exercise of fundamental rights caused by a lack of
personal documents/statelessness among Roma in Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro presently host tens of thousands of displaced Roma
from Kosovo, persons whom in most cases are entirely excluded from
access to state services necessary for the realization of fundamental
rights. Expulsion of Roma to Serbia and Montenegro may contravene
international law, notably the provisions cited above.

We urge your office to ensure that all persons belonging to the Roma,
Ashkaelia and Egyptian minorities of Kosovo presently in Denmark be
provided with surrogate international protection in Denmark, as well as
to cease immediately measures aimed at putting pressure on Roma,
Ashkaelia and Egyptians to leave Denmark. In the present circumstances,
all members of these three groups from Kosovo should be provided with
surrogate international protection. In addition, we urge your government
not to expel Roma from Serbia and Montenegro, as doing so may also
result in violations of the fundamental human rights of the persons
concerned. We respectfully request to be informed of measures undertaken
by your government in relation to the concerns detailed above.

Sincerely,

Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director


Notes:

* United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, "Update on the
Situation of Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptian, Bosniak and Gorani in Kosovo",
UNHCR Kosovo, January 2003, p. 3.

** The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has noted that
"[...] in certain circumstances [...] discrimination will amount to
persecution. This would be so if measures of discrimination lead to
consequences of a substantially prejudicial nature for the person
concerned, e.g. serious restrictions on his right to earn his
livelihood, his right to practice his religion, or his access to
normally available educational facilities." (See Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Handbook on Procedures and
Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and
the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, reedited, Geneva,
1992).

Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact:

To: Prime Minister Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Christiansborg
Prins Jorgens Gard 11
1218 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Fax: +45 33 11 16 65
E-mail: stm@stm.dk

Cc: Minister of Refugees, Immigration and Integration Affairs Mr Bertel
Haarder
Holbergsgade 6
1057 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Fax: 45 33 11 12 39
E-mail: inm@inm.dk

_____________________________________________

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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