Stop deportations of Roma (Gypsies) from Kosovo
Asmet Elezovski and Karin Waringo | 16.06.2005 16:27 | Anti-racism | Culture | Migration
This initiative has been started to react against the deportations of Roma from Kosovo and the non-consideration of Roma and other minorities in the context of the discussions surrounding the future status of the Kosovo.
Roma Camp
As you may know the German federal government has just signed a new agreement with the international civil administration of Kosovo, a so-called Agreed Note, providing the basis for the forced repatriation of 300 Askhali and Egyptians during the first month.
From August on this number may increase to up to 500 people. With regards to the UNHCR Position on the Continued Needs for International Protection of People belonging to ethnic Minorities from Kosovo Roma have not yet been included in this agreement, but will be subject of a separate agreement at a later stage. However, already now up to 20 Roma who have been sentenced to imprisonment of at least two years for a criminal offence can be forcibly deported back to Kosovo. From August onwards, this number will be increased to 30 people.
The deportations from Germany may affect up to 50,000 people.
The situation in Germany is not unique. As we are aware several countries have put pressure on the UNHCR to lift the de facto banon deportations of people belonging to ethnic minorities from Kosovo. The Montenegrin government has signed a protocol with the Provisional Institution of Self-Government (PISG) in Kosovo on the return of Roma IDPs from Kosovo currently hosted in Montenegro. The Macedonian government is expected to follow the same move. On 1 June, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Macedonia, Aco Janevski, declared at a press conference "We do not intend to expel Kosovo refugees, but it is normal to exercise pressure regarding their return in the country of their origin, taking into consideration the interest of Macedonian citizens."
Since 2003, governments of the host countries have started to consider the situation in Kosovo as safe and forcibly deported Roma, Askali and "Egyptians" [Gypsies] back to Kosovo despite the ongoing securiity threats and the unsustainable living conditions especially for people belonging to the smaller minorities. The current reinforced move can be seen as the result of the pending negotiations on the final status of the province. Indeed, the PISG is currently very eager to demonstrate compliance with the so-called Kosovo standards, of which fulfillment is the condition for the opening of the negotiations. The government of the host countries of the Kosovo refugees and IDPs are making use of this eagerness to forcibly return people to Kosovo regardless what their future in Kosovo will be.
At the same time there are already high-level talks about the future of the Kosovo province. These talks include representatives of the international community such as the Contact Group or the EU, representatives of the PISG, the Serbian authorities and representatives of the local Serb communities. Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians as well as other smaller ethnic minorities from Kosovo are not represented in these talks. As you may have noticed they are also regularly ignored when High-Level representatives of the international community talk about the future of Kosovo.
If the non-inclusion and ignoring of Roma and other minorities continues and they are not included in the talks on the future status of the province the situation which happened in Bosnia-Hercegovina is likely to be repeated. In Bosnia-Herzegovina Roma were not invited to take part in the Dayton Process which set the basis for the future of the Bosnian state, with the result that Roma as well as the other smaller minorities have not been granted the status of a constituent people of Bosnia-Herzegovina reserved to the three largest communities. As a result, the Bosnian Roma are today excluded from the highest political posts by virtue of the constitution.
Roma have been granted particular rights as a minority only in 2003, almost eight years after the end of the war, much of which still have to be implemented. It is thus important to avoid a repetition of the same in Bosnia and to ask for the inclusion of representatives of the Roma and the other smaller ethnic minorities in the negotiations on the future of Kosovo at all levels.
The call is just the beginning of a larger campaign whose success will depend on the support it receives from organisations and activists. Please forward the attached message to all your contacts and sent it back to
stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk
Kind regards,
Asmet Elezovski
Karin Waringo
Photo: Eleanor Beardsley
The Zitcovak camp, near Mitrovica, Kosovo, is a shantytown of tin shacks and dirt alleys inhabited by more than 200 Roma, most of them children.
From August on this number may increase to up to 500 people. With regards to the UNHCR Position on the Continued Needs for International Protection of People belonging to ethnic Minorities from Kosovo Roma have not yet been included in this agreement, but will be subject of a separate agreement at a later stage. However, already now up to 20 Roma who have been sentenced to imprisonment of at least two years for a criminal offence can be forcibly deported back to Kosovo. From August onwards, this number will be increased to 30 people.
The deportations from Germany may affect up to 50,000 people.
The situation in Germany is not unique. As we are aware several countries have put pressure on the UNHCR to lift the de facto banon deportations of people belonging to ethnic minorities from Kosovo. The Montenegrin government has signed a protocol with the Provisional Institution of Self-Government (PISG) in Kosovo on the return of Roma IDPs from Kosovo currently hosted in Montenegro. The Macedonian government is expected to follow the same move. On 1 June, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Macedonia, Aco Janevski, declared at a press conference "We do not intend to expel Kosovo refugees, but it is normal to exercise pressure regarding their return in the country of their origin, taking into consideration the interest of Macedonian citizens."
Since 2003, governments of the host countries have started to consider the situation in Kosovo as safe and forcibly deported Roma, Askali and "Egyptians" [Gypsies] back to Kosovo despite the ongoing securiity threats and the unsustainable living conditions especially for people belonging to the smaller minorities. The current reinforced move can be seen as the result of the pending negotiations on the final status of the province. Indeed, the PISG is currently very eager to demonstrate compliance with the so-called Kosovo standards, of which fulfillment is the condition for the opening of the negotiations. The government of the host countries of the Kosovo refugees and IDPs are making use of this eagerness to forcibly return people to Kosovo regardless what their future in Kosovo will be.
At the same time there are already high-level talks about the future of the Kosovo province. These talks include representatives of the international community such as the Contact Group or the EU, representatives of the PISG, the Serbian authorities and representatives of the local Serb communities. Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians as well as other smaller ethnic minorities from Kosovo are not represented in these talks. As you may have noticed they are also regularly ignored when High-Level representatives of the international community talk about the future of Kosovo.
If the non-inclusion and ignoring of Roma and other minorities continues and they are not included in the talks on the future status of the province the situation which happened in Bosnia-Hercegovina is likely to be repeated. In Bosnia-Herzegovina Roma were not invited to take part in the Dayton Process which set the basis for the future of the Bosnian state, with the result that Roma as well as the other smaller minorities have not been granted the status of a constituent people of Bosnia-Herzegovina reserved to the three largest communities. As a result, the Bosnian Roma are today excluded from the highest political posts by virtue of the constitution.
Roma have been granted particular rights as a minority only in 2003, almost eight years after the end of the war, much of which still have to be implemented. It is thus important to avoid a repetition of the same in Bosnia and to ask for the inclusion of representatives of the Roma and the other smaller ethnic minorities in the negotiations on the future of Kosovo at all levels.
The call is just the beginning of a larger campaign whose success will depend on the support it receives from organisations and activists. Please forward the attached message to all your contacts and sent it back to
stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk Kind regards,
Asmet Elezovski
Karin Waringo
Photo: Eleanor Beardsley
The Zitcovak camp, near Mitrovica, Kosovo, is a shantytown of tin shacks and dirt alleys inhabited by more than 200 Roma, most of them children.
Asmet Elezovski and Karin Waringo
e-mail:
stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk
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Sign in online against deportations of Roma to Kosovo!
19.06.2005 19:38
Stop deportations
e-mail:
stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk
Situation of Kosovo Roma addressed during visit of UN Envoy
26.06.2005 06:28
Brussels/Pristina, 25 June 2005: The rights and concerns of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians need to be considered in the ongoing discussions about the future of Kosovo. This was the message, Bashkim Ibishi, member of the Kosovo Roma and Ashkali Forum, addressed to the participants of a meeting with UN Special Envoy on the Rights of the Displaced People, Walter Kälin, last Wednesday in Pristina. After previous visits to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia Kälin visited Kosovo to assess the situation of IDPs.
In his intervention, Bashkim Ibishi reminded that the situation in Kosovo continues to be volatile and that the living conditions for people belonging to Kosovo’s smaller ethnic communities are hardly sustainable. He also expressed the fear that the current standard review aimed to assess whether Kosovo is actually fulfilling the conditions for an opening of the negotiations on its future final status might be high jacked by other political interests.
As especially worrying Ibishi described the situation of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians who between the eagerness on the side of some members of the ethnic Albanian majority to be exempted from any further trial of the conditions in Kosovo especially with regards to the guarantee of minority rights and the refusal of the Serbian minority to cooperate in political decision-making are caught between two fires. He expressed the concern that the situation might even deteriorate for the Roma if the international community was to leave Kosovo.
Bekim Syla from the Roma and Ashkali Documentation Center and also member of the Kosovo and Ashkali Forum addressed the issue of the forced repatriation of Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians to Kosovo. He explained that the Kosovo Provisional Self-Government’s willing in into the return of refugees, was the easiest way for it to show the public that Kosovo is actually fulfilling the international standards for the opening of the negotiations on its future status.
Syla condemned the recent agreement signed between the UNMIK and the German Federal Government on the forced repatriation of Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians to Kosovo which he called an open experiment with un-defended communities. He reminded that since 2003, the year when it signed the first Memorandum of Understanding with Germany, the UNMIK had not been able to convince the PISG to take over its responsibility for the returning refugees who as a result became a burden to their communities.
By the end of his visit the UN Envoy expressed his concern that there is no clear responsibility for IDPs assigned to the UN Mission in Kosovo or the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government there, saying that this lack of attention was particularly applicable for the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian IDPs.
The Kosovo Roma and Ashkali Forum has launched an online petition against the deportations of Roma, Ashkali and Kosovo Egyptians to Kosovo and for the inclusion of the Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians and other small minorities in the status talks. This petition can be signed in electronically at:
For further information please contact:
Bekim Syla
Roma & Ashkali Documentation Center
Tel: +381 (0) 38 246 299 and/or +377 (0) 44 360 901
The Kosovo Roma Forum can be contacted via
stop deportations
e-mail:
stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk