Serbia and Montenegro


Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community


Kosovo


Human Rights Developments
Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

Kosovo

Restrictions on freedom of movement, inter-ethnic animosity, and the legacy of a decade of repression and armed conflict impaired human rights work by local nongovernmental organizations in Kosovo. The Humanitarian Law Center largely restricted its activities to monitoring the issue of missing persons and prisoners. Reports by the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms were frequently politicized and sometimes limited to abuses against Albanians and those committed by Serbs. International human rights groups were mostly able to carry out investigations unhindered, although the highly variable security situation in Mitrovica and some minority enclaves sometimes limited or preventd access. Local organizations protested freely and often about the fate of Kosovo Albanian prisoners in Serbian jails.