MINELRES: ERRC: Ethnic Cleansing of "Gypsies" in Kosovo

[MINELRES moderator]

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


European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) Letter of Concern to Kosovo and
European Authorities over Violence against Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians
and Others Regarded as "Gypsies" in Kosovo, and Long-Term Impunity for
their Persecutors

March 31, 2004

The ERRC today sent a letter to Special Representative of the Secretary
General of the United Nations for Kosovo Mr. Harri Holkeri, Commander of
Kosovo Force Lieutenant General Holger Kammerhoff, Kosovo Prime Minister
Bajram Rexhepi, and European Commission President Romano Prodi to
express deep concern at the continued acts of ethnic cleansing
perpetrated by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo beginning with renewed force
on March 17. In the letter, the ERRC presented documentation gathered in
the course of an ERRC field mission undertaken since the beginning of
the latest wave of violence in Kosovo. The letter concludes with
recommendations to Mssrs. Holkeri, Kammerhoff, Rexhepi and Prodi.

Information on the situation of Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians and others
regarded as "Gypsies" in Kosovo is available on the Internet at: 
http://www.errc.org/publications/indices/kosovo.shtml

Photographic documentation by ERRC researchers in Kosovo in March 2004
is available on the Internet at: 
http://www.errc.org/publications/photos/kosovo_2004.shtml

The full text of the March 31 ERRC letter follows:


Your Excellencies,

The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest
law organisation which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe, is
writing to express deep concern at the grave human rights violations
against Roma and Ashkaelia in Kosovo committed on and after March 17,
2004 and currently ongoing.

The ERRC has gathered evidence that Roma and Ashkaelia have been
subjected to very serious human rights violations during the wave of
pogroms on minority communities carried out in the period March 17-21,
2004 throughout the province by ethnic Albanians. ERRC field
investigation undertaken in recent days has documented that, in addition
to the pogroms on ethnic Serb communities, several hundred Roma and
Ashkaelia have been also targeted. At least 75 houses belonging to
Romani and Ashkaeli families have been set on fire. This figure may rise
further, since it does not include instances of violence in localities
of which we have been informed but have not yet undertaken first-hand
documentation.

We appeal to you to give full attention to the human rights status of
Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians and all other persons regarded by ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo as "Gypsies", and therefore currently under extreme
threat of 
violence in Kosovo.

A summary of ERRC documentation in some localities in Kosovo in recent
days follows:

Vushtri/Vucitrn
ERRC research established that approximately 70 houses belonging to
Ashkaeli persons were set on fire by Albanian attackers (referred to
locally as "protesters") on March 18, 2004, in the town of
Vushtri/Vucitrn, 
about 10 kilometres south of Kosovska Mitrovica - the place where the
pogroms on Kosovo Serbs had begun the day before. The houses were
completely destroyed in the arson attacks.

According to eyewitnesses, on March 18, 2004, at approximately 17:00, a
crowd of 200-300 persons gathered at the St. Elias Orthodox church in
the town, which in 1999 had also been the target of assaults by ethnic
Albanians in the context of ethnic cleansing of minorities in Kosovo
following the end of the NATO military action in June 1999. At the time
of the March 18, 2004 incident, the Moroccan KFOR unit which had been
positioned to protect the site, failed to provide any protection and
allegedly left. The crowd set fire to the church and the adjacent
structures, destroyed some of the remaining church interior, including
an altar and wall paintings, and knocked down tombstones in the
graveyard located beside the church. At around the same time, a second
crowd began to gather and subsequently headed toward the Ashkaeli
neighbourhood. The group 
that had set the church on fire then joined the attackers in the
Ashkaeli area.

According to the testimony of Ashkaeli eyewitnesses, during the pogrom,
a crowd of ethnic Albanians came to the Ashkaeli neighbourhood and
started breaking into the houses. Their intention was, according to
witnesses interviewed by the ERRC, to burn the houses to the ground
while persons were still inside. The first house burnt was the house of
Xemail Balinca. Some of the attackers allegedly tried to rape a girl
from the Balinca family.  The next house broken into belonged to the
Qizmolli family. According to Mr Hamit Zymeri, an Ashkaeli eyewitness to
the pogrom, neighbours gathered in the yard of the Qizmolli house in
order to help the family, but officers of the Kosovo Police Service
(KPS) intervened. The representatives of the Ashkaeli group alleged that
some of the KPS officers acted in complicity with the attackers. Three
members of the Qizmolli family were then arrested by KPS officers.

According to the testimony to the ERRC of Station Commander Martin
Wenzel, a senior UNMIK officer, Ashkaeli persons allegedly fired at the
Albanian crowd, in an attempt to defend their homes. According to
Station Commander Wenzel, these shots were not the trigger for the
onslaught and arson that followed; the attackers had allegedly already
decided to evict, burn and destroy the neighbourhood. In his view,
"Everything was orchestrated."

According to Officer Wenzel, when the information that Ashkaeli houses
were being attacked was received, ten KPS police officers volunteered to
evacuate the Ashkaeli families and bring them to the police station.
Over 200 Ashkaeli people were assisted by KPS officers in fleeing their
homes and coming inside the building of the police station. At about
19:30, the last Ashkaeli individuals were extracted from the area under
mob siege. The houses were subsequently burned to the ground. At
approximately 2:00 AM the following morning, the evacuated Ashkaelia
were transferred to the French KFOR base at Plana. Two days later, they
were transported to the French KFOR military compound Marechal de Lattre
de Tassigny, near the village of Novo Selo.

The three members of the Qizmolli Ashkaeli family detained at the time
of the pogrom were held initially at the same police station. An AK-47
and hunting guns were seized during the arrest. The men were released
two days later, reportedly on verbal order of the local prosecutor and
they joined the other Ashkaeli people in the camp. According to the
Officer Wenzel, the three men face charges of illegal possession of
firearms. In addition, an investigation into the destruction by arson of
each of the approximately 70 houses in Vushtri/Vucitrn is currently
reportedly open. As of March 28, 2004, no one associated with the
attacking crowd had been detained in relation to the arsons and the
looting.

According to Mr Hamit Zymeri, an Ashkaeli man with whom the ERRC spoke
at the French KFOR compound in Novo Selo, the total number of persons
burned out of Vushtri/Vucitrn in the attack was 257; there were 87
children, 85 women, two of whom are pregnant, 13 children under 3 years
of age, and 18 babies under 6 months of age. According to a medical
expert from the Ashkaeli community, thirteen people have diabetes, 20
have high blood pressure, 3 have epilepsy, and one woman has hip
condition and is unable to walk.  The conditions in the camp, according
to the Ashkaeli representatives are poor: the barracks, which
accommodated eleven persons each, were damp from heavy rain and were
inadequately heated.

Gjilan/Gnjilane
At approximately 17:15-17:30 on March 17, Serbian and Romani communities
in the town of Gjilan/Gnjilane, about 35 km southwest of Pristina were
attacked by a mob of ethnic Albanians, reportedly predominantly young
people in their teens. According to Romani eyewitnesses with whom the
ERRC spoke, twenty-three houses belonging to Serbs were burnt. Also
according to Romani eyewitnesses, the attackers were also intent on
burning Romani houses. The attackers arrived at the Romani streets with
canisters of inflammable liquid. Albanian neighbours, however,
reportedly protected the Roma and did not allow the attackers to set
their houses on fire. The attackers threw stones at Romani houses
breaking windows and doors. They also insulted the Roma, calling them
Majup (a pejorative word meaning, roughly, Gypsiesin Albanian). Some of
the attackers broke into the house
of Sulejman Demiri, in the process breaking the front door and
window-panes. The house of Milaim Demiri was also attacked with stones
and some window-panes were broken. According to Mr Milaim Demiri, some
of the attackers asked Roma why they did not join the protest. Also
according to Mr Milaim Demiri, one Romani house in another
neighbourhood, Avdulla Presheva, was burnt. The house belonged to Mr
Ramadan Selimi. Roma with whom the ERRC spoke in Gjilan/Gnjilane were
afraid to accompany the ERRC to see the Romani house. They did not know
the whereabouts of Mr Selimi. According to ERRC research, the police
first appeared approximately six hours after the attack. Locals told the
ERRC that the town has a community of 350 Roma. The number of Roma used
to be between 5,000-6,000 before 1999, but most of these fled during the
campaign of ethnic cleansing of minorities in Kosovo, 1999-present.

Lipjan/Lipljan
According to eyewitnesses with whom the ERRC spoke on March 28 in the
town of Lipjan/Lipljan, about 15 km south of Pristina, three houses
belonging to Ashkaeli and Romani families were burnt to the ground on
March 17 and March 21. The ERRC spoke with Ms Selvije Kurteshi, an
Ashkaeli woman whose house was burnt down on March 21 at around 2:00 AM.
Ms Kurteshi and her family were not in their house at the time it was
set on fire; they were temporarily accommodated in the house of Ms
Kurteshis brother, located nearby. Neighbours reportedly told Ms
Kurteshi that her house was burning, but stated that they were not able
to identify the attackers. Mr Kurteshi told the ERRC that all of the
furniture in the house was destroyed in the fire. According to Ms
Kurteshi, KFOR arrived at the scene of the attack approximately one hour
after the fire. The fire was extinguished by the police, who had
reportedly been called by neighbours. The other two houses burnt in
Lipjan/Lipljan belonged to Ashkaeli persons currently refugees outside
Kosovo.  Both houses were reportedly set on fire on March 17. The
Investigator of the KPS in Lipjan/Lipljan in charge of the investigation
cases told the ERRC that investigations had been opened with respect to
the arson attacks on the three houses. He declined to provide the ERRC
with information as to whether persons had been detained or charged in
connection with the attacks.

Obiliq/Obilic
In the town of Obiliq/Obilic, east of Pristina, a number of Romani
persons with whom the ERRC spoke told the ERRC that they had fled their
homes on March 17 and sought refuge in the nearby Plemetina refugee camp
when they saw a mob of people approaching their neighbourhood. At least
three Romani families were reportedly forced to flee from their homes in
Obiliq/Obilic in advance of rioters there. The ERRC subsequently
observed that the building in Obiliq/Obilic where the Berisha family -
one of the families concerned - lived was looted and that window panes
in the building were broken and other damage to the exterior was
visible. The building had previously housed ethnic Serbs and Roma.
According to Mr Shevki Berisha and Ms Taibe Berisha, Romani victims of
the attacks, no authority came to help them when the crowd gathered
intent on attacking their house. As of March 28, no authority had been
to visit them in the Plemetina camp. They stated to the ERRC that they
did not have means to buy food and were afraid to go to Obiliq/Obilic.

In Obiliq/Obilic, the ERRC also visited a community of 19 Roma, Ashkaeli
and Egyptian families, who live in recently rebuilt houses on the
outskirts of Obiliq/Obilic. They told the ERRC that none of them had
been attacked on March 17. However, individuals in the community stated
that they feared attack and had stopped sending their children to
school. One Ashkaeli man told the ERRC, We are not free to go to
Obiliq/Obilic. All persons in the community were reportedly unemployed
at the time of the ERRC visit; they collect scrap metal to earn money
for food.

Your Excellencies,

The situation of Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians and others regarded as
"Gypsies" in Kosovo is now extremely precarious. In March 2004, Roma,
Ashkaelia and others regarded as "Gypsies" in Kosovo have again been
targeted for extreme violence as part of a campaign begun in 1999 by
ethnic Albanians to expel minorities from the province, to seize their
property and to do them serious physical harm. In the close to five
years since an international administration was established in Kosovo,
rudimentary security has never been durably established in Kosovo and
minorities have been daily unable to enjoy basic freedom from fear of
physical attack. A number of communities have lived for close to half a
decade without effective freedom of movement.

Efforts to bring the perpetrators of the orgy of ethnic violence
undertaken in the wake of the establishment of an international
authority in Kosovo have not yet even begun in earnest, much less been
able to show any form of significant impact. Arrests of suspects in
crimes committed by ethnic Albanians against civilians are met with
ethnically inspired protests by Albanians, demonstrating under the
slogan, UNMIK Stop Arresting Liberators!

The ERRC notes that on at least two occasions, governments outside
Kosovo (specifically the governments of Slovenia and Hungary) have
arrested and then subsequently released without charge high-ranking
members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, persons for whom valid
international arrest warrants have been issued in connection with ethnic
cleansing acts in Kosovo.

Further, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) stated on March 21, 2001, that her office
had opened an investigation into "activities against Serbs and other
minorities [emphasis added] in Kosovo by unidentified Albanian armed
groups from June 1999 until the present..." Asking the UN Security
Council to modify the Tribunal statute to cover such crimes, Chief
Prosecutor Del Ponte expressed her offices belief in the importance of
pursuing these allegations: 
We must ensure that the Tribunals unique chance to bring justice to the
populations of the former Yugoslavia does not pass into history as
having been flawed and biased in favour of one ethnic group against
another. Besides, if we obtain this morally justified and necessary
extension of our mandate, the Tribunal might become a deterrent factor
against the ongoing ethnic-cleansing campaign in Kosovo. As of today,
the ICTY has brought no ethnic Albanians to justice in connection with
the violent attacks on Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians, and other persons
regarded as "Gypsies" occurring as part of the campaign of ethnic
cleansing undertaken in Kosovo in the period June 1999-present.

Local courts have not, according to employees of international agencies
involved in the governance of Kosovo, proven effective to date in
bringing ethnic Albanian perpetrators of racially motivated crimes and
acts of ethnic cleansing against Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians, other
persons regarded as "Gypsies", or indeed any other minorities in Kosovo.
As such, despite the international administration of Kosovo, a climate
of near-total impunity for perpetrators of violent attacks on minorities
currently prevails in the province. To name only one example among
nearly countless racially motivated crimes occurring in Kosovo since
1999, no one has ever been brought to justice in connection with the
shooting deaths of three Ashkaeli men less than 24 hours after they
returned to their native village of Dosevac/Dashevc as part of a
voluntary return program in November 2000.

In light of the foregoing, it is perhaps no wonder that Roma and
Ashkaelia with whom the ERRC has spoken in recent days have despaired
entirely of their ability ever to live with dignity in Kosovo in the
future, and have spoken with near universal voice of their desire to
leave Kosovo. This in itself marks a significant change from previous
ERRC documentary missions in Kosovo and among Romani refugees outside
Kosovo, many of whom expressed the desire to return to their homes in
Kosovo and participate in the reconstruction of a democratic Kosovo
after Milosevic. Unless your offices act adequately in the next period,
the international community will have on its record the oversight and
administration of the ethnic cleansing of minority communities from
Kosovo.

In view of the current situation in Kosovo, the ERRC urges you to act
within the powers available to your offices to ensure that:

- Without delay, the security situation of Romani and Ashkaeli
communities throughout Kosovo is assessed and measures appropriate to
the specific situation of each community, as well as to local community
perceptions of the actual and potential risks in the given community,
are swiftly undertaken;

- Prompt and impartial investigations into all acts of violence to which
Romani, Ashkaeli and Egyptian individuals and other persons regarded as
"Gypsies" in Kosovo have been subjected are carried out; all
perpetrators of racially-motivated acts of ethnic cleansing are brought
swiftly to justice and victims or families of victims receive adequate
compensation; justice is done and seen to be done;

- The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
redoubles its efforts to bring to justice individuals guilty of the
persecution of Roma, Ashkaelia, Egyptians and other persons regarded as
"Gypsies" in Kosovo;

- All governments honor the international warrants for the arrest of a
number of persons wanted in connection with crimes of ethnic cleansing
occurring in Kosovo;

- Sustained efforts are undertaken by all authorities in Kosovo and
involved in the administration of Kosovo to ensure that no discussions
of Kosovo's final status are embarked upon until such a time as all
stakeholders achieve durable and lasting consensus in practice that
Kosovo is a multi-cultural society in which all individuals can freely
exercise in practice all of their fundamental human rights;

- Any forced returns of Kosovo Romani, Ashkaeli or Egyptian individuals
to Kosovo, or to the rest of Serbia and Montenegro are rendered
impossible and impermissible until such a time as authorities in Kosovo
are 
able to demonstrate durable and lasting security and freedom from racial
discrimination for all in all parts of the province; in particular, the
governments of Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom should be
instructed that forced returns of minority individuals to Kosovo in the
present circumstances constitute refoulement and are therefore extreme
violations of international law.


Sincerely,
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director


Persons wishing to express similar concerns are urged to contact:

Mr. Harri Holkeri
Head of Mission
Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations
for Kosovo
Main Headquarters, United Nations Mission in Kosovo
Pristina
Kosovo
Fax: +381-38-504604, ext. (5406)

Mr. Holger Kammerhoff
Lieutenant General
Commander of Kosovo Force
KFOR Main Headquarters
Pristina
Kosovo
Fax: +389 22 682752

Mr. Bajram Rexhepi
Prime Minister of Kosovo
Office of the Prime Minister
Pristina
Kosovo
Fax: +381 38 200 140 05
Fax: +381 38 211 582

Mr. Romano Prodi
European Commission President
European Commission
Rue de Geneva
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
Fax: +32 2 295 8532

Ambassasdor Pascal Fieschi
Head of Mission
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
OSCE Mission in Kosovo
Belgrade Street
38 000 Pristina
Kosovo
Fax: + 381 38 500 188

The Rt. Hon. Chris Patten
Commission for External Relations
European Commission DG External Relations
Charlemagne 11/97
Brussels
Belgium
Fax: +32 (0)2 295 78 50

Mr Geoffrey Barrett
Head of Delegation of the European Union
Paje Adamova 4
11040 - Belgrade
Serbia and Montenegro


_____________________________________________

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

_____________________________________________

SUPPORT THE ERRC!

The European Roma Rights Center is dependent upon the generosity of
individual donors for its continued existence. If you believe the ERRC
performs a service valuable to the public, please join in enabling its
future with a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are welcome; bank
transfers are preferred. Please send your contribution to:

European Roma Rights Center
Budapest Bank Rt.
99P00402686
1054 Budapest
Bathory utca 1
Hungary

For correspondence, to subscribe and unsubscribe from this list, please
use 
office@errc.org.