Amnesty International Report on Kosovo 2010

KOSOVO

In accordance with a 2008 UN plan, UNMIK retained a role in relations between Serbia and Kosovo. Some of its responsibilities were taken over by an EU-led police and justice mission (EULEX). A Constitutional Court was established to review legislation and receive complaints of human rights violations by the Kosovo authorities. In June the Kosovo Assembly appointed an Ombudsperson.

In September, 22 members of the NGO Self- Determination! (Vetevendosje!) were arrested for damaging EULEX vehicles during a demonstration against a protocol on co-operation between the Serbian Ministry of Interior and EULEX police.

The ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo won local elections in November which were marred by violence. Despite provisions for the decentralization of municipalities, Kosovo Serbs largely boycotted the elections and failed to win municipalities where they formed a majority.

Justice system: war crimes

EULEX and the Ministry of Justice established mixed judicial panels and an Office of Special Prosecutors, which included local prosecutors, to address war crimes and other serious crimes. In March Gani Gashi was convicted of the murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm of ethnic Albanians in 1998 and sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment.

In September, four Kosovo Serbs were arrested in Novo Brdo/Novobrdo on suspicion of war crimes including the inhumane treatment, unlawful arrest and detention of Kosovo Albanians in 1999. In October, in a retrial of the Llapi Group ordered by the Supreme Court, Latif Gashi, Nazif Mehmeti and Rrustem Mustafa-Remi were convicted of the torture and inhumane treatment of civilian detainees at Llapashtica/Lapastica in 1998-9. They were sentenced to between three and six years' imprisonment. The Albanian member of the judicial panel made public his disagreement with the verdict. Enforced disappearances and abductions

More than 1,800 families in Kosovo and Serbia still did not know the fate of family members at the end of the year. EULEX had in December 2008 taken responsibility for the Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF). By December 101 mortal remains had been exhumed and 83 returned to their families; 400 previously unidentified remains were sent to the International Commission for Missing Persons for identification through DNA analysis. Investigations were opened in a few cases.

Families of the disappeared held repeated demonstrations calling for the return of missing relatives. Amendments to the 2006 Law on Civilian Victims of War providing compensation to relatives of the disappeared had not been introduced by the end of the year.

Torture and other ill-treatment

In January the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported on its March 2007 visit to places of detention in Kosovo then under UNMIK's control. It reported the denial of detention rights and ill-treatment by Kosovo Police Service officers, and criticized conditions in most psychiatric and social welfare institutions. The Committee also described illtreatment in several prisons by the elite Intervention Unit, including the beating of juvenile males at Lipjan/Lipljan Correctional Centre.

Impunity

In March the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG), citing security reasons, refused to allow a public hearing before the UNMIK Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) relating to UNMIK's failure to bring to justice members of the Romanian Formed Police Unit. An internal investigation had found them responsible for the death of two men, Mon Balaj and Arab Xheladini, on 10 February 2007 and for the serious injury of two others through the improper use of rubber bullets. Although the HRAP decided a public hearing would take place in June, the SRSG said in May he would not attend the hearing "under the procedure envisaged by the panel". In October an Administrative Directive was adopted which potentially rendered the case inadmissible.

Inter-ethnic crimes

In September the UN Secretary-General reported on the growing number of security-related incidents affecting minority communities. Inter-ethnic tensions between Kosovo Serbs and ethnic Albanians and attacks continued, especially in Serb-dominated north Mitrovica. In July and August Roma were attacked and threatened in Gjilan/Gnjilane and Ferizaj/Urosevac respectively.

In March the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in June 2008 of Kosovo Albanian Florim Ejupi for the bombing in February 2001 of the Nis- Ekspress bus near Podujevo in which 11 Serbs were killed and at least 40 injured. A new investigation opened in May. In April Kosovo Albanian returnees to Kroi i Vitakut/Brdjani in north Mitrovica were prevented from rebuilding their houses by Kosovo Serbs. For 10 days EULEX police and troops of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) used tear gas and stun grenades against protesters, one of whom was injured. In mid- May Serbs also were allowed to rebuild their houses, and a barbed wire fence was erected between the construction sites, patrolled by EULEX police. In mid-August and September violence again broke out.

Discrimination - Roma

Discrimination against Roma remained pervasive, including in access to education, health care and employment. Few enjoyed the right to adequate housing. The majority remained without personal documents that would enable them to register their residency and status.

The action plan to implement a Strategy for the Integration of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians had yet to be implemented. An estimated 75 per cent of Romani women were illiterate and had little access to protection from domestic violence. In October NGOs alleged discrimination against Roma applicants for "multi-ethnic" apartments in the predominantly Serbian village of Llapje Sell・Laplje Selo. In June the HRAP declared partially admissible a case brought against UNMIK by 143 displaced Romani, Ashkali and Egyptian residents of UNMIKadministered camps in northern Mitrovica. The residents alleged they had suffered lead poisoning and other health problems from the Treca/Trepča smelter and mining complex.

Forcible returns

Several EU member states and Switzerland negotiated bilateral agreements with Kosovo on the forcible return of minorities, including Roma. Kosovo Serbs were forcibly returned from Luxembourg in November. A return and reintegration strategy agreed by the Kosovo authorities and UNMIK in 2007 was not adequately resourced or implemented by government and municipal authorities.

In November UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, in considering needs for international protection, stated that Serbs, Roma and Albanians in a minority situation continued to face persecution or serious harm through cumulative discriminatory acts. During 2009, according to UNHCR, 2,962 individuals were forcibly returned to Kosovo from other European countries, including 2,492 ethnic Albanians and 470 members of minority communities. There were 193 individuals - 47 Serbs, 127 Roma and 19 Albanians (returned to a minority situation) - from communities UNHCR considered to be in need of continued international protection.

Violence against women

The OMPF reported on 400 cases of sexual assaults in Kosovo between 2003 and 2008, in which only 10 per cent of suspects were forensically examined. Over a third of victims were under the age of 16. A 2009 survey found that the majority of sexual assaults were not reported to the authorities.

Amnesty International visits/reports Amnesty International delegates visited Serbia and Kosovo in February.

_ Serbia: Burying the past - 10 years of impunity for enforced

disappearances in Kosovo (EUR 70/007/2009)

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_ Serbia: Human rights defenders at risk (EUR 70/014/2009)

_ Concerns in the Balkans: Serbia, including Kosovo, January-June 2009

(EUR 70/016/2009)

_ Serbia: Briefing to the Human Rights Committee (EUR 70/015/2009)