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Additional Reports
Gracanica's protectors: Swedish troops, Jan. 2002
Complete reports on the minority condition in Kosovo:
- Abuses against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo Human Rights Watch: 1999.
- UNHCR Kosovar Roma report 2003
- UNHCR Kosovo minorities report May- Dec 2002
- United States State Department Human Rights Report on Yugoslavia 2001
- Amnesty International Kosovo Minorities report 2002
- Humanitarian Law Center- Kosovo Roma- Targets of Abuse and Violence
Reports on the Roma Condition in Europe:
- UNDP Roma Report- Avoiding the Dependency Trap
- World Bank- Roma in an expanding Europe
- World Bank- Poverty & Ethnicity- Roma
- Denied a Future: Roma Education in Europe (Save the Children)- Part 1
- Denied a Future: Roma Education in Europe (Save the Children)- Part 2
- Denied a Future: Roma Education in Europe (Save the Children)- Part 3
- Denied a Future: Roma Education in Europe (Save the Children)- Part 4
Excerpts on the Roma condition, from the United States State Department�s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia- Country Report on Human Rights Practices. March 4, 2002
Report excerpts listed below, specific to Kosovar/ Serbian/Montenegrin Roma:
- Excerpts on the Roma condition, from the United States State Department�s Federal Republic of Yugoslavia- Country Report on Human Rights Practices. March 4, 2002
- Excerpts on the Roma condition from Prisoners in our Own Homes: Amnesty Internationals Concerns for the Human Rights of Minorities in Kosovo/Kosova. 29 April, 2003.
- Excerpts on the Roma condition in Kosovo from the March- June 1999 overview of abuses against Kosovar Minorities, Human Rights Watch.
- Excerpts detailing abuses against Roma immediately following the end of the 1999 war, from the Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade.
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www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001 On
Police Abuses in On
May 7, in Ravno Selo, police arrested two Roma men and beat them
with clubs in an attempt to force them to confess to stealing. The In
one instance, in May the County Court in There
were incidents of official discrimination against the Romani
population, and skinheads and police occasionally violently attacked
Roma (see Section 1.c.). There also was societal violence against
Roma. The Societal
discrimination against Roma was widespread. For example, in Sabac,
in western |
 |
There
were reports by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
that Roma women and children also were trafficked to
On
Kosovar Roma IDP conditions in Serbia Proper:
There are an estimated 40,000 to 45,000 displaced Roma living in the
country. Roma faced a dilemma during the Kosovo conflict, as many Kosovo
Roma were perceived as Serb collaborators. Living conditions for Roma in
On
the Roma condition in Kosovo:
Of the more
than 200,000 members of ethnic communities (including approximately
170,000 Serbs and 25,000 Roma) displaced after June 1999, few returned to
Kosovo due to security concerns, although international agencies and NGO's
initiated some small-scale organized returns projects. Violence, including
rape and domestic violence, and discrimination against women remained
serious problems. Religious tension and violence persisted, but at
significantly diminished levels.
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On
April 29, a 12-year-old Romani boy was reported abducted in Uro�evac/Ferizaj;
no update was available at year's end. Approximately
100,000 Serbs, 30,000 Roma, and 67,000 other minorities remained in Kosovo.
Most of the Serbs and about 25,000 Roma who fled when Yugoslav forces
withdrew did not return, except in individual cases, due to fears of
ethnic violence and a to lack of economic opportunity, housing, and other
basic services. |
Although
the number of murders and reported attacks on other minorities decreased,
there were numerous incidents of violence against Roma and Ashkalija,
including murder, disappearance, and beatings. For example, in an August 7
grenade attack in Stimlje/ Shtime on a Romani family, five persons were
injured; reportedly the family recently had returned from refuge in
Although
there were some efforts to resettle Roma, Ashkalija and Egyptians in their
prior homes, security concerns persisted (see Section 2.d.). For example,
in November 2000, four displaced Ashkalija were killed after they returned
to their
The
Roma were particularly targeted for attacks on life and property in 1999
� including killings and repeated cases of abduction � allegedly
carried out by members of the KLA, who claimed that the Roma had
participated in the mass violations of human rights against Albanians
committed by Serb forces. Although Amnesty International has received
reports that some Roma did take part in looting, and � often under
duress � in the transport and burial of Albanian bodies killed by the
Serb forces, Roma also appear to have been targeted because they had often
worked in Serb-owned industries or as agricultural laborers for Serb
employers.
Throughout Kosovo, Roma continue to face violent attacks and
discrimination, and now often live alongside Serbs in enclaves like
Gracanica/ Ulpjana - where they are marginalized by the Serb community -
or in mono-ethnic enclaves protected by KFOR. Roma also face institutional
discrimination in access to basic social and economic rights, and often
survive on money from family members abroad or short-term manual work,
small-scale agriculture and rubbish collection. Many of those who fled
their homes in 1999 are displaced in Kosovo, while an estimated 45,000 are
displaced in
During
2000, some 254 individuals were reported murdered, 26 per cent of whom
were Serbs and 19 per cent from other minority groups. In 2001, of 136
individuals killed 92 (68 per cent) were ethnic Albanians, 30 (22 per
cent) Serbs, six (4.5 per cent) Roma, one Bosniak and seven persons of
unknown or other ethnicity. For 2002, UNMIK reported a total of 68
murders, in which 60 (88 per cent) of the victims were Albanian, six were
Serbs and two were of other minority ethnicities.
Amnesty International considers that the lack of progress in investigating
such cases fuels the fear of repeated violence within minority
communities, as does the failure of the authorities to accurately monitor
investigations and the outcomes of such proceedings which have taken
place. In February 2002, for example, UNMIK Police were unable to provide
Amnesty International with any figures on the number of recorded crimes
� believed to be ethnically motivated - which had resulted in the
identification and arrest of a suspect, the indictment of any suspect, and
the outcome of any criminal proceedings in such cases. Only relatively few
reports of successful prosecutions, reported in the media or in UNMIK
Police Press Briefings, provide concrete evidence that criminal
proceedings have been completed.
In
April 2002, the house of an Ashkalija family who had returned to Vucitrn/
Vushtrri was targeted in a grenade attack; in June a Roma house in
Opterusa/ Opterush� was set alight in a revenge attack after the head of
the family had shot an Albanian in self-defense � the family fled, and
their house was subsequently burned. On
In August 2002, the house of a Roma returnee was set alight after the
Albanian who had been occupying the house was evicted, and in September
two attacks on Roma houses in Gjilan/ Gnjilane took place, causing minor
damage and, on 11 September injuring one person, Ferka Avdullahu, whose
family had returned to Gjilan/ Gnjilane on 5 September 2002. In September
too, an Ashkalija from Uro�evac/ Ferizaj was assaulted in Obilic/ Obiliq
� reportedly in revenge for acts that had taken place during the war.
Three displaced Ashkalija and one Serb who had been fishing in a nearby
river were also beaten by security guards at the KEK power plant near
Obilic/ Obiliq for no apparent reason on 14 September.
Ramadan Halilaj, Xhevdet �ufaj and Vehbi Maliqi are all Roma men in their early
20s who lived in the
In June 1999, while Ramadan Halilaj and his family were eating lunch, six
uniformed men, wearing KLA insignia and armed with automatic weapons, came
to Ramadan Halilaj's house. According to Afrim Halilaj, Ramadan Halilaj
and his five children, his three brothers - including Afrim Halilaj �
and his father were present. The armed men took Ramadan Halilaj away for
questioning, saying that he would return later. Ramadan Halilaj has not
been seen since. His brother has no idea why he was taken, but thinks that
it may be because he was the eldest brother.
Two days later, another group of uniformed men came to the house,
threatened the family and ordered them to leave within half an hour. They
demanded that the family hand over the arms which they claimed had been
supplied to them by the Serbs; Afrim Halilaj claims that they had no such
weapons. The men beat Afrim Halilaj's cousin, Xhevdet �ufaj, breaking his
right arm. Afrim Halilaj believes that Xhevdet �ufaj may have been
singled out because he had worked for Serbs as a herdsman.
As soon as the men left, the family gathered together and the 20 men,
women and children headed towards
Soon after, they heard the sound of shots, but were too frightened to go
and investigate. Afrim Halilaj believes that these armed men � one of
whom he recognized � had followed them from their home.
Afrim Halilaj has not been able to find out what happened to Ramadan
Halilaj, Xhevdet �ufaj and Vehbi Maliqi. Amnesty International is not
aware than any investigation has been opened into their case.
In
Gjilan/Gnjilane and Orahovac/Rahovec, Roma and Ashkalija women told
Amnesty International delegates that they were repeatedly subjected to
verbal abuse � "Go back to Serbia", "Madjup" � if
they ventured into the Albanian part of the town. Women reported being
spat at, of men miming that their throats would be cut, and various other,
often gendered forms of abuse, directed at them by groups of young
Albanian men aged 15 to 25. Other forms of harassment reported to Amnesty
International included, for example, Albanians emptying their rubbish into
an area near a Serb flat in Pri�tina/Prishtin�; the shooting of a dog
belonging to a Serb family in Prizren; swastikas spray-painted onto the
walls of Roma houses in Gjilan/Gnjilane.
S., a 27-year old Roma business-woman living in Rahovec/Orahovac, is a
founder member of a Romani women's group in the Kosova Women's Network (KWN),
involved in the identification and development of income generation
initiatives for Romani women who have been denied access to their pre-war
employment. She lives with her older sister, C., and grandmother in the
mahala, and they are able to survive relatively well on money
sent by four brothers and a sister working abroad. The sisters told
Amnesty International how members of the Albanian community had responded
in 2001, when 14 Romani women went � for the first time since the end of
the war � down into Rahovec to the Dom Kulturi for a performance
connected with a Kosovo-wide campaign against violence against women.
"The [Albanian] women [in the Dom Kulturi] said, Oh no! It is
those who massacred us! They are here! We said, if we had massacred you,
then you wouldn't be here. We have just come to see the play." After
the performance insults were thrown again. According to the sisters, the
women who insulted them were not people they had known in the town before.
Since then C. has seldom visited the town, afraid that Albanians will
"throw words" again, although S. reported that freedom of
movement for their community had improved since 2001. "It is much
easier if we go to Gjakov� or Prizren, then no-one looks at us," C.
added. S. confirmed that freedom of movement was much better for Roma in
Prizren, where she was able to sell bed-linen, made by the Roma women's
group.
A
Roma woman informed Amnesty International that when she had taken her
daughter to the hospital in Gjilan/Gnjilane, the doctors had only spoken
to her in Albanian, which she had not understood, and had failed to
provide her daughter with any treatment. She refused to attend the
hospital again. Another interviewee reported that she had only been able
to receive treatment at the same hospital after KFOR troops escorting her
had threatened the doctor at gun-point to provide treatment.
H.B. is a 58-year-old Ashkalija male, forcibly evicted from his home in
Obilic/q in June 1999, who now lives at the Plemetina collective centre,
located in the shadow of the Korporata Energjetike e Kosov�s (KEK)
electricity power station. Some 7,000-10,000 personnel were formerly
employed at KEK, the majority of whom were Serbs and Roma. H.B. had worked
at KEK for 28 years until
Other Serbs and Roma formerly employed by KEK have lodged appeals against
their dismissal, several of which have been taken up by the Norwegian
Refugee Council (NRC). On
To date, the Norwegian Refugee Council � a small international NGO �
is the only organization to have actively advocated in employment cases on
behalf of minority communities. Throughout Kosovo, few former employees
have been returned to their former positions: in Gjilan/Gnjilane, Roma
community leaders submitted a list of employees to each of the companies
which had formerly employed them, asking for restitution to their former
jobs. No replies were ever received, and as far as Amnesty International
is aware, no further actions were taken by the Roma community leaders.
Despite
the human rights violations and abuses suffered by Roma and Ashkalija
living in
Despite
a number of successful returns, many spontaneous returns have been
frustrated, or prevented, by continuing attacks. In Gjilan/Gnjilane in
March 2002, Amnesty International delegates met a man whose brother's
family had planned to return to two houses within the Roma mahala.
He was salvaging what he could from the wreckage of one of the properties,
both of which had been burned a few weeks after his brother had announced
his intention to return, despite 24-hour KFOR patrols and floodlighting of
the area introduced after two other houses had been burned following the
house-holders' expressed intentions to return.
When Amnesty International met L.M. � a 50-year-old Roma woman � she
had returned to Gjilan/Gnjilane three months previously, and by March 2002
was almost at the point of leaving again. In her 50s, with five adult
children who also wished to return, L.M. had lived in Gjilan/Gnjilane for
29 years before she had "left her city with a broken heart" in
March 1999. After the bombing, she returned, believing that, as an
Albanian-speaking Roma, "I would be free", but within a few
months, "because of all the problems" she left again, moving to
Bujanovac in southern
Along
with domiciled Roma, the displaced Roma and Ashkalija community suffer
from frequent ill-treatment and harassment by Serbian police, including
repeated evictions from their temporary settlements, and suffer from
racist attacks by non-state actors, who are very rarely brought to
justice. They also face both practical problems and active discrimination
when seeking IDP registration or acquiring legal identity cards, without
which they are unable to gain access to health and social welfare
services. Even where they gain access they then face routine
discrimination. Roma children are also discriminated against in gaining
access to education in both
The return of Roma to overcrowded enclaves in Kosovo, where the majority
of returnees live with relatives, and where communities are already
dependent on an overstretched social welfare system, would place
unbearable strain on public services unable to cope with existing demands,
and where, without freedom of movement, Roma are unable to resume their
pre-war occupations.
The
province's Serb and Roma minorities- who many ethnic Albanians
collectively regarded as active or complicit in atrocities by government
forces-were immediately targeted for revenge. Thousands had already
departed with the government's forces. Those who remained were forced to
leave the province or concentrated in enclaves after widespread and
systematic arson of Serb and Roma homes, beatings, detentions, and
murders. As of July 2001, an estimated 1,000 Kosovo Serbs and Roma were
missing and unaccounted for.1
The
willingness of almost all Kosovar Albanians to remain silent about such
attacks, either from fear of speaking out or because of a belief in the
collective guilt of Serbs and Roma, has created a permissive environment
for violence against minorities. Human Rights Watch interviews with
Kosovar Albanians from all walks of life suggest a widespread acceptance
of the view that wartime atrocities now mean that Serbs have forfeited the
right to remain in Kosovo and to retain their property and goods,
irrespective of their involvement in abuses. On the other hand, many of
the same respondents privately expressed their revulsion at the violence
perpetrated against minorities.
Generally
unidentified groups of armed ethnic Albanians have carried out abductions
of Serbs and Roma throughout Kosovo since early June 1999. In some cases,
these forces have detained, questioned, beaten, and then released those
abducted. However, according to the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC), as of April 2001, approximately more than 500 of those
abducted remain unaccounted for.
The
rape of women from minorities has also been reported since June 1999. Roma
women have suffered in particular. The
The
OSCE recorded the rape of a Roma woman in Prizren in October 1999 by
several Albanian men.24 One of the perpetrators, who was subsequently
arrested by KFOR, had allegedly raped another Roma woman in the area. The
February Task Force on Minorities report also documented the rape of a
pregnant Ashkalija woman in Uro�evac in November 1999, and the rape and
attempted rape of several Roma women that same month in the Djakovica
area.25
Two
Roma teenage boys aged seventeen and eighteen and a forty-eight-year-old
Roma woman were also found shot dead in Pec on the same day.
According
to information collected by the HLC, 63 Serbs and Roma disappeared in
Djakovica within a period of two and a half months.
Fourteen were released by the KLA after being questioned for a few
hours or several days, two were able to escape, the remains of four taken
from their homes were found, and the fate of 41 is unknown.
Tafaj
(first name unknown), (F, under 18), Roma, from Djakovica - held in the
KLA prison at the Pa�trik Hotel from where she was taken to an unknown
destination on
A
witness who was also held at the hotel stated that the Roma girl was taken
away by a KLA man known by the nickname "D�ifa" (Xhifa). A Roma
woman, Afijete Zeciri (Afijete Zeqiri), 10 Roma men and an Albanian man
were among those imprisoned at the hotel. Four of the Roma men were shot
while the remaining six were released.
Source:
HLC, witness statement
T.F.
(M, 27), Rom, from Djakovica - abducted before
Friends
of T.F. saw when a group of KLA members stopped him in the town center and
took him away to an unknown destination.
Source:
The Current Situation of Roma in Kosovo, KOSOVO DAILY NEWS,
Gunga,
Arif (M, 27), Rom, from Djakovica - detained for two days at the KLA
headquarters in the Pa�trik Hotel in Djakovica, questioned and beaten.
Gunga was questioned about Roma crimes against Albanians and cooperation
with Serb forces. He was beaten and sustained serious injuries to his head
and body. He fled Kosovo after the incident to
Source:
HLC, witness statement
B.S.
(M, 21), Rom, from Velika Slatina, Kosovo Polje Municipality - abducted on
20 June, held in a KLA prison at an unknown location for 10 days and
released. B.S. recounted that he was in Pri�tina on 20 June with another
Roma man, helping to move a Serb woman to Lipljan. As they were loading
the truck, B.S. noticed a young man in KLA uniform watching them from a
window in the same building. The KLA man came down and said to B.S.,
"You, come with me. I see you're a good worker. I only need some
information." B.S. refused, the KLA man left and shortly afterwards
came back with an automatic gun. At that moment, an armored personnel
carrier pulled up beside them, 16 KLA members surrounded B.S., forced him
into the personnel carrier and drove him away. One hour later, they
stopped outside a building with the number 25 and led B.S. into apartment
number 3. A KLA man of about 40 asked B.S. if he had been in the Serbian
army and he replied he had only dug trenches as a civilian. Five minutes
later, KLA men led him out of the apartment, pulled a bag over his head,
put him in a car and drove away. B.S. recalls that there were seven KLA
members in the car with him and that the drive was a long one.
"When
they got me out of the car, I saw we were in front of some building, like
an abandoned army barracks. Two women of about 30 in KLA uniforms were
waiting. The KLA took me into a room and started beating me. There were 10
of them. One punched me in the back; others kicked me and hit me with
their hands. They beat me day and night, taking turns. I was alone in the
room. There were always about 10 of them. I never left the room. I don't
remember sleeping or eating anything. For nine days I was beaten. On the
tenth day, they brought a Serb into the room, about 30 he was. He was all
bloody from being beaten, his hands and feet were tied and he had a wide
piece of tape stuck over his mouth. They took us both to the basement.
There was a bread oven down there. They put the man in the oven and he
screamed when they turned it on. Eight Albanians and I stood there while
he burned, in front of our eyes. He screamed for a long time. He burned
for two hours. They took me back upstairs where a woman in KLA uniform was
waiting. I recognized her, her name is Aferdita and she's from Drenica.
There were another two women with her. They stripped me, put me naked on a
bed with wheels, stuck some wires to my body and covered me with a
lid-like glass thing. Then they turned on the electricity. The jolts
bounced me off the bed several time and then I blacked out. When I came to
again, Aferdita dressed me and said, 'We're going to KFOR.' They drove me
there."
Before
leaving him outside the KFOR building, Aferdita threatened to kill B.S. if
she saw him again and said he had to move out of Kosovo. After he made a
statement, KFOR members drove him to Caglavica, a Serb village near Pri�tina.
B.S. does not know the location where he was handed over to KFOR and
remembers only it was
B.K.,
a Gracanica Serb who had hired B.S. and T.S. (M, 21) described the
abduction to the HLC:
"We
had the moving of a Serb woman to Bujanovac scheduled at
Source:
HLC, witness statements
Z.P.
(M, 19), Rom, from Kosovo Polje - abducted on
Source:
Roma from Kosovo Testify, KOSOVO DAILY NEWS,
�.K.
(M), Rom, from Pri�tina (
Source:
HLC, witness statement
F.F.
(M, 23), Rom - abducted by the KLA on
Source:
Abuses against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo, HRW, August 1999
Caca,
Abdulah (M, 50); his son Caca, Abedin (26), Roma, from Prizren (
Mrs.
Caca then went to the KLA headquarters in the Culhan (Qulhan) neighborhood
of Prizren where she spoke with a KLA commander called Ba�a (Basha). He
told her he had no knowledge of her husband and son and that the KLA was
not responsible for their abduction. Ba�a added that KLA uniforms were
often abused, that the abductors might have been Serbs or criminals from
neighboring
After
some time, Mrs. Caca went to the KLA headquarters again. This time she
spoke with one Osman, who also said the KLA had no reason to abduct her
husband and son. Osman explained to her that the manner of their abduction
differed from that of the KLA who, he said, would have also torched the
Caca house and taken her as well. In the event she received a ransom
demand, he said she should immediately report this to the KLA headquarters
and refrain from handing over the money.
Mrs.
Caca reported the disappearance of her husband and son to KFOR and the
International Red Cross.
Source:
HLC, witness statement
Bens,
Afrim (M), Rom, from Prizren - abducted by the KLA after
Source:
HLC, witness statement
G.S.
(M, 22), Rom, from Prizren - abducted on
The
next morning, a KLA man came with a list containing the names of 10 to 15
local Roma, including G.S., and demanded that he point out those who were
"Serbian spies." When G.S. said he knew none of the names, the
beating continued. He was then made to clean up the building and, when he
finished about
Source:
Roma from Kosovo Testify, ERRC,
B.T.
(M, 21), Roma, from Prizren - abducted by the KLA in morning of
Source:
Roma from Kosovo Testify, ERRC,
M.T.
(M, 24), Rom, from Prizren (Terzi Mahala (Mahalla e Terzive)
neighborhood)) - abducted by the KLA on
M.T.
recounted that KLA members came to his home on 27 June and ordered him to
go with them because their commander wanted to see him. When he refused,
one of the men put his pistol to the head of M.T.'s wife and said he would
shoot her unless he agreed to go with them. Before leaving with M.T., they
told his wife her children's throats would be slit if she told anyone
about her husband being taken.
M.T.
was taken to the basement of the school for deaf-mute children where
another Rom, P.L. was being beaten and questioned about his son. The KLA
gave P.L. three hours to come back with his son and let him go. Then they
began to beat M.T. and question him about weapons in his neighborhood, if
he had killed any Albanians or raped Albanian women. They demanded that he
write down the names of Roma who had looted Albanian houses and asked if
he knew where the Roma leader Luan Koka was. Before being released about
Source:
Roma from Kosovo Testify, ERRC,
M.L.
(M, 19), Rom, from Prizren (Du�anovo neighborhood) - abducted by the KLA
on
Source:
Roma from Kosovo Testify, ERRC,
Z.G.
(18), Rom, from Uro�evac (25 Maja St.) - abducted in late June 1999, held
in the house of a KLA member for one day and set free by an elderly
Albanian woman. Z.G. stated that he was in an Uro�evac cafe with his
brother when six KLA members came up to them: Becar, Feta and four known
locally as "Kozanci." All were in uniform and armed with pistols
and knives. Z.G.'s brother was able to get away while Z.G. was taken to
Becar's house. He described what happened there:
"They
demanded that I give them the names of people I had killed, what I stole
and everything else I did. I said I hadn't been mixed up in anything like
that. They tied me to a chair and hit me with baseball bats. First they
hit me on my right ankle, then in the stomach. They demanded the names of
Serbs and Roma who did such things. I didn't know what to do so I gave
them the names of people who lived abroad or had already moved out. Then
they left. An old Albanian woman came, untied the ropes and said, 'Son, I
know you're feeling poorly. You saved my son so run now- and good luck to
you.' I ran to the Serb cemetery and from there to the railway station
where the Serbs were staying."
Z.G.
fled Kosovo to
Source:
HLC, witness statement
According
to information collected by the HLC, 63 Serbs and Roma disappeared in
Djakovica within a period of two and a half months.
Fourteen were released by the KLA after being questioned for a few
hours or several days, two were able to escape, the remains of four taken
from their homes were found, and the fate of 41 is unknown.