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25 February 2008 – In a motion adopted last Friday by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Swiss Parliament, MPs urge the Swiss government to protect ethnic minorities in Kosovo and to safeguard the rule of law. The motion, which was introduced by the Green MP Josef Lang and adopted by 10 against 8 votes asks for a particular commitment towards Kosovo Roma.
The motion states that Kosovo’s minorities and, in particular the Roma, have been the main victims of Kosovo’s split from Serbia and points out that Roma were not even invited to take part in the status talks. Referring in particular at human and minority rights, it further says that the rule of law has been violated.
The MPs ask the Swiss government to take up a clear commitment to assure that Kosovo is multiethnic “not just by words”. Pointing out at the Swiss example they underline that multilinguism constitutes a normal aspect of multiethnicity.
They commit the Swiss government to recruit an “adequate number of minority representatives, in particular Roma” at the Swiss liaison office in Priština. In addition, they request the government to make sure that the right to “formal and practical” return is guaranteed and to engage itself for the improvement of the situation of the Kosovo refugees in the neighbouring countries.
The text of the motion is available here.
Romano Them
23 February 2008 – The Kosovo draft constitution has been made available in Romani language and can be downloaded from the website of the Constitutional Commission.
The Commission invites for comments until the end of the second phase of the public consultation on 2 March 2008.
22 February 2008 – In a press statement released today, UNICEF Germany draws the attention to difficult situation of Roma children in Kosovo. According to a recent survey, Roma children are poorer, receive a worse medical treatment, go less seldom to school, and live in more difficult housing conditions than their Albanian and Serbian peers. The statement also says that many Roma children need to work in order to contribute to the family income.
UNICEF points out at the fact that Kosovo Roma got in between the frontlines between ethnic Albanians and Serbs, and that the majority of them were driven out of Kosovo after the NATO intervention and their settlements destroyed. The organisation outlines that only a few Roma have returned to Kosovo which explains their small percentage among Kosovo’s population.
The organisation also points out at the fact that many Kosovo Roma continue to live in IDP camps within Kosovo which they are afraid to leave given the unstable security situation. 59 percent of the Kosovo Roma live below the minimum of subsistence, UNICEF says.
According to UNICEF ambassador Steffen Seibert who visited Kosovo last year, only education can create the long-time conditions for the social participation of Roma. In order to reduce prejudice and create trust, Roma children should go to school together with Albanian and Serbian children, he suggests, emphasising, though, that they need to be sure that they will not be discriminated against in school or become victims of violence.
The full text of the statement (in German) is available here.
The TV report of Steffen Seibert’s visit to Kosovo can be watched here.
21 February 2008 – In an interview with the Swiss daily Tagesanzeiger, the Swiss MP and member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dick Marty, has urged not to recognise Kosovo’s independence, before it is guaranteed that minority rights are respected.
Marty warned against the simplistic view identifying Serbs collectively as culprits and Kosovo Albanians as victims. He also said he was truly wondering what are the guarantees for Kosovo Serbs and Roma in an independent Kosovo.
Marty heavily criticised the UN civil administration in Kosovo. The situation did not improved. The UN administration failed, Marty said. He also criticised the status negotiations. “These were never negotiations, but only a show,” Marty argued, suggesting that only the EU could have lead proper negotiations.
Romano Them
The interview is available at: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/dyn/news/schweiz/843745.html
19 February 2008 – The Roma National Council as the legitimate representative of the Roma community in Serbia yesterday condemned the statements of the British ambassador to the UN, John Sawers, who said among others that the Ahtisaari plan and the unilateral declaration of independence were accepted by Roma and Turks living in Kosovo. The British ambassador also mentioned as a reason for the declaration of independence the ethnic cleansing of Albanians from Kosovo. But this “argument” is being forgotten when it is mention of Roma, for instance.
During the mandate of the international force in Kosovo, more than 85 percent of the Roma who lived in Kosovo have left their home, because of the terror of Albanian gangs and the provisional government institutions in Kosovo and Mehtojia. Until today, less than five percent have decided to return. It is exactly for these reasons that it is possible that the representative of the Roma in the Kosovo Parliament, Hadji Zuljfi, votes for such kind of shameful decisions. Hadji Zuljfi has lost all his political, social and moral credibility with the Roma long time ago, because he never stood up against the terror, the violence, the murder, and persecution his fellow Roma have been exposed to in Kosovo and Metohija for years.
The international society, the UN Security Council and the member states of the EU have to know that the Roma one of the biggest collateral damages in Kosovo and Methojia. The Roma will never give away their country, Serbia, and the Roma will never recognise an independent Kosovo. For this reason the British ambassador does not have the right to use the Roma in his false argument for the illegal decision taken by the Kosovo Assembly, the statement of the Roma National Council says. The National Council of the Roma minority in Serbia is prepared to submit all relevant information about the ethnic cleansing and the terror Roma are exposed to in Kosovo and Metohija to the UN Security Council.
Source: Rominterpres
20 February 2008 – The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammerberg, has just released his report on his visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina in June last year.
The report contains a detailed description about the situation of Kosovo refugees and recommends the Bosnian authorities to find a durable solution to their situation.
Down below are the relevant parts of the report which is available from the Commissioner’s website.
Treatment of asylum-seekers, refugees and foreigners
136. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a State party to the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. The legal framework for the institution of asylum is defined in the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum, which entered into force in October 2003. In general, legislation on asylum is in line with international standards and the minimum standards of the EU acquis. The provisions are in conformity with the international standards, including the principle of non-refoulement.
137. Most of the refugees and asylum seekers in BiH are from Kosovo and neighbouring countries. The temporary protection regime in BiH for persons from Serbia and Montenegro whose place of last permanent residence was Kosovo was established through a decision by the Council of Ministers in accordance with Article 85(1) of the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens and Asylum. In total 3,057 persons from 921 families have benefited from temporary admission status, which remained in force until 30 June 2007. A total of 447 persons lived in the three reception centres established. The Commissioner commends the BiH authorities for the generosity they have demonstrated in having provided temporary asylum to refugees from Kosovo for many years with the assistance of UNHCR.
138. On 7 June 2007, the Commissioner visited the collective accommodation centre in Sokolovac near Mostar, where mainly refugees of Roma origin from Kosovo were residing. The Commissioner observed that all the children in the Sokolovac centre were attending the local school, although reportedly many Roma refugee children have difficulties in getting access to education. The refugees in Sokolovac informed the Commissioner that their temporary status was going to expire at the end of June 2007. Understandably, they were very concerned about what was going to happen to them after that date and if they would be forced to return to Kosovo.
139. Following his visit, on 18 June 2007, the Commissioner wrote to Prime Minister Nikola Spirić to convey his concerns regarding the situation of refugees coming from Kosovo currently residing in Bosnia and Herzegovina on a temporary admission status. The Commissioner in his letter said that while he could “agree in principle that temporary admission as a measure for protection has to come to an end at some point”, he “did not agree, however, that the situation in Kosovo yet allows for return of all refugees in safety and dignity. In particular, conditions for return for Roma, Serbs and Albanians in a minority situation are not there yet.”
140. The Commissioner proposed that efforts should be turned to identification of durable solutions for the members of this group, particularly for those for whom return to Kosovo is not yet possible. He encouraged the Bosnian authorities to facilitate the acquisition of citizenship for those entitled to it and to adopt a liberal attitude towards applications from Roma in this regard. Furthermore, he suggested that those under temporary admission be informed that they have access to the procedure for the assessment of their eligibility for refugees status or granting of other forms of protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Commissioner insisted that as a minimum requirement the refugees should be granted a temporary stay.
141. The Prime Minister informed the Commissioner in the end of June 2007 that the temporary admission status had been extended for a further three months until the end of September 2007. The Commissioner has since been informed by UNHCR that most of the refugees from Kosovo have applied for asylum and are waiting for the outcome of the refugee determination process. The Commissioner reiterates his recommendations expressed in the letter of June 2007.
Recommendations
34. Find durable solutions for those refugees, who have been under the temporary protection scheme, particularly those for whom return to Kosovo is not yet possible.
20 February 2008 – In a statement released today, the German organisation Pro Asyl expresses concerns that the repatriation strategy agreed in October, between UNMIK and the Kosovo government, could spur forced repatriations of minorities to Kosovo. Almost half of the estimated 100,000 refugees from Kosovo staying in Western Europe without a legal residence status, live in Germany, Pro Asyl says in its statement.
The organisation points out at the fact that minority representatives have continued to leave Kosovo out of fear for their security, and that Roma, Ashkalija and Kosovo Egyptians have found it particular difficult to make a decent livelihood in Kosovo.
The repatriation strategy agreed between UNMIK and the Kosovo authorities could be easily misunderstood as a sign that the Kosovo institutions are ready to accept refugee returns. For the moment, it is not yet clear whether the new state is stable and prepared to protect its minorities, the organisation warns.
The organisation underlines that returnees did not receive any help to integrate in past. Problems, which have kept the refugees from returning will not be resolved in a few months. For these reasons the organisation urges the German ministers of Interior not to speed up forced repatriations to Kosovo.
The full text of the statement is available here (in German).
Romano Them
19 February 2008 – In an interview with 24heures, the Director of the Cantonal Immigration Department of Vaud, Bernard Leuna, confirmed former statements by Swiss officials according to which Switzerland will not change its policy towards asylum seekers in Kosovo.
He distinguished between the situation of ethnic Albanians who already in the past could be forcibly expelled to Kosovo on the basis of the assessment that the security situation in Kosovo has improved, and Kosovo Serbs and Roma, whose security is still not considered as guaranteed, even after Kosovo’s independence.
He denied allegations that Kosovo’s declaration of independence could lead to a new exodus. According to him the only ones who could be tempted to leave are Kosovo Serbs, and if they would do so, they would go to Serbia, he said.
Romano Them
On a forlorn road dotted with half-built houses, Ines Quono reflects on her struggle in a land so remote to most Americans it might as well be Oz.But instead of a yellow brick road, there is crumbling, mud-drenched pavement piled high with garbage.
“The only thing that works in Kosovo is the banks; we all have to borrow money to do something – anything,” says Quono, 28.
Quono is among the last Jews of Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia about half the size of New Jersey that declared independence Sunday.
Unemployment in Kosovo hovers at 50 percent and the average wage is $350 a month. “We all worry how we will get by,” says Quono, a university student, wife and mother of a toddler.
The future of Quono and her family is uncertain, as they decide whether their destiny is in Israel or in southeastern Europe, where their roots go back to the 15th-century Spanish Inquisition, when thousands of Sephardic Jews fled to the Balkans.
There are some 50 Jews left in Kosovo. Belonging to three families, or clans, they all live in the city of Prizren, a rare gem of ancient architecture amid a landscape devastated by war, poverty and Communist-era concrete.
The United Nations took over the administration of Kosovo in 1999 after a brutal conflict between Kosovo Albanians seeking independence and Serbian troops controlled by strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
Ethnic Albanians account for 90 percent of Kosovo’s population of 2.2 million. The Albanians are Muslim, but largely secular.
Corruption, criminality and a lack of foreign investment have marked life in Kosovo over the last nine years, during which final-status negotiations between a now democratic Serbia and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders failed.
On Sunday, Kosovo’s prime minister declared independence with support from the United States and most of the European Union — and with fierce opposition from Serbia, whose position is backed by Russia.
Distressed by a war they watched from the sidelines and facing an uncertain future, the Jews of Prizren are gloomy. When the war started, the other Jews in Kosovo – the 50 living in the capital city of Pristina – fled to Serbia, where they spoke the language and felt a part of the culture. But those in Prizren, where Jews speak Albanian and Turkish – there is a large Turkish population there – stayed.
Now, with Kosovo having broken away from Serbia, those like Votim Demiri, Quono’s father, who made a decent living under communism, find it hard to leave the homes they built, despite fears of growing tensions with their neighbors.
“There was not anti-Semitism in the past, but with the Saudi charities here now we are seeing a Wahabi influence for the first time,” Demiri said, referring to the fundamentalist Islamic ideology Saudi Arabian clerics have tried to export, with little success, in the Balkans. “I think the newspapers these days are not portraying Jews in such a positive light.”
The greatest concern for Jews here, however, is the concern shared by all Kosovars: feeding their families. In this regard, they are both at an advantage and a disadvantage.
They are helped by the American Joint Jewish Distribution Committee, which provides them with social services, hosts celebrations on Jewish holidays and tries to help with employment.
On the negative side, Jews are outsiders in quasi-state controlled by ethnic Albanians who mete out the few jobs there are to friends and family, said Robert Djerassi, the JDC official responsible for the organization’s activities in Kosovo.
“Ninety percent of Jews in Prizren are jobless,” he said.
Earlier this month, the JDC held a brainstorming session on job opportunities with 25 Prizren Jews aged 40 and under.
“I said, ‘If you can think of a shop or service, like giving English lessons, I find some capital to get you started,'” Djerassi told JTA.
“They tried to explain to me why it cannot happen; they are very pessimistic.”
There are also obstacles in connecting Prizren’s Jews to other Jews in the region.
“My idea is to make them part of something bigger, to bring them to events in Skopje or Belgrade. But the small children, 15 and under, they don’t speak Serbian and that’s a problem,” Djerassi said.
“Our spiritual life, like our economic life, is a disaster,” Demiri said, pointing to his rotting roof. His children, it seems, are preparing for an eventual move to Israel.
Quono’s sister, Teuta Demiri, 22, recently spent a year at a kibbutz, where she studied Hebrew. A bank teller in Prizren, Teuta is thinking about aliyah but is not confident she can find work in Israel. Her brother is studying Hebrew and also is nervous about his job prospects.
“I have been thinking for eight years whether to go or not to go to Israel,” their father, Votim Demiri said.
He shows off a 20-year-old picture of his mother talking to Simon Peres in Ashdod, Israel, where she moved after World War II while her children opted to build a socialist state in the heart of Europe. But they always knew about their Jewish roots.
Religion, however, was far from their lives.
Demiri is from a generation of Jews who fondly recall life in Yugoslavia, of which Kosovo was a part.
A former textile factory director, Demiri has been mostly out of work for the last two decades, and his prospects of employment are dim. What he does have is a beautiful, 19th-century, three-story home, albeit one he cannot afford to maintain.
For some of Prizren’s Jews, aliyah is complicated by more than employment worries.
Ulvi Zhalta, 59, looks decades older than his cousin Demiri, 62, due to such health problems as heart disease and an eye clouded by blindness.
Like nearly all Jews who stayed in Prizren after World War II, Zhalta’s mother married a non-Jew, in her case an ethnic Albanian.
“She was buried in a Muslim cemetery. There are no Jewish cemeteries here, but she was registered as a member of the Jewish community in Belgrade,” he said.
Zhalta said he applied for permission to immigrate to Israel in 2000, but has not yet received permission from the Jewish Agency for Israel. He suspects his mother’s Jewish identity is the source of the delay.
In response to queries on Zhalta’s case, an Israeli representative of the Jewish Agency said the details of individual applications are private.
“Everyone in my family wants to go to Israel,” Zhalta said as the lights went off in his cousin’s living room during one of the daily power outages that have gone on for so long in Kosovo that few can remember life without them.
Source: Jerusalem Post
18 February 2008 – In an interview with the German broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, Albert Rohan, chief advisor of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari, said, that the main purpose of the Ahtisaari plan was to protect the rights of the Kosovo Serb community, and that this plan was being implemented now.
“Everyone, including the Kosovo government, wants the Kosovo Serbs to stay in Kosovo, and the refugees to return, and if they wish so, lead a normal life in safety,” Rohan said. But he also said, that it was now up the Kosovo Serb community to understand, that it needs to cooperate with the Kosovo government and with the new EU mission.
“This decision cannot be taken away from them,” Rohan said. “They have to make use of the rights, we are offering them in our proposals. Otherwise this cannot function,” he concluded.
Romano Them
The whole text of the interview is available here.
Chachipe 