Kosovo Albanian NGOs unhappy with the return of Kosovo Roma refugees
Kosovo Albanian NGOs criticized the start of return of Kosovo Roma refugees from Germany.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Several dozen refugees that arrived in Germany prior to, during and after the 1999 conflict have been returned to Kosovo.
Most of the refugees are Roma who have been living in Germany without having their status regulated, according to Albanian language media in Pristina, though there are people of other ethnicities in the group as well.
With this reparation, the return of Kosovo resident from various European countries has officially begun, according to the agreement signed between the Kosovo government and European Union.
There are an estimated 50,000 Roma from Kosovo living in Western European countries, most in Germany. They are all expected to return by the end of 2010.
Pristina-based human rights organizations point out that the return process "could increase social problems in Kosovo" and that the social situation in Kosovo "does not offer any guarantees of this process succeeding".
The pace of the return will "only increase the already high levels of poverty, unemployment and crime in Kosovo", they say.
