KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #12
MACEDONIA MUST KEEP BORDER OPEN TO REFUGEES
International Community Should Continue With Aid

(New York, April 1, 1999, 12:00pm EST) — Human Rights Watch today called on Macedonia to keep its borders open and to provide safe refuge to all those fleeing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

Human Rights Watch has received credible reports that a train carrying as many as 1,000 ethnic Albanian refugees to Macedonia was sent back to Kosovo by Macedonian authorities on March 30. Human Rights Watch researchers on the ground report long delays and obstacles for refugees crossing into Macedonia from Kosovo.

"It is simply unconscionable to send refugees home when they are fleeing Yugoslav government atrocities in Kosovo," said Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. "It is also a violation of Macedonia's obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Macedonia must keep its borders open to those fleeing Kosovo, and provide refugees with swift and safe asylum."

Under the 1951 Refugee Convention, Macedonia has an obligation not to return any refugee to a country where his or her life or freedom may be threatened (on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion). Kosovar Albanian refugees denied entry into Macedonia are at serious risk of persecution in Kosovo, and a failure to provide them refuge is a violation of the fundamental principle of non-refoulement.

The Macedonian government closed its border to all citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from March 22 to March 23, before the NATO bombing began. Since then, 14,000 refugees from Kosovo have entered the country, bringing the total number of refugees in Macedonia to over 30,000.

Human Rights Watch recognizes the legitimate concerns of the Macedonian government about the de-stabilizing effect such large numbers of refugees could have on inter-ethnic relations within Macedonia. But such concerns do not justify closing the border to those fleeing legitimate persecution. Instead, Human Rights Watch called on the international community to provide the necessary financial aid and practical assistance to help the Macedonian government cope with this crisis.

"If not handled properly, the refugee flow into Macedonia could tilt that country's fragile ethnic balance," said Kenneth Roth. "The international community must provide Macedonia with the necessary aid and assistance to meet the needs of the thousands of refugees crossing its borders."


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #11

(March 31, 1999, 1:25pm, EST)— Human Rights Watch has confirmed that there are currently two hundred dead bodies at the morgue in Pristina. It is not known who the victims are, when they died, or how.

Human Rights Watch has also confirmed that, on the night of March 28, the house of Rexhep Qosja -- ethnic Albanian academic, head of the Albanian Democratic Movement, and member of the Albanian delegation at Rambouillet -- was burned down.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #10

(March 30, 1999, 6:15pm EST—Human Rights Watch has learned that Serbian officials today visited the offices of Radio B92 in Belgrade and took all the names and addresses of its journalists.

Radio B92 is Serbia's largest and most important independent radio station. On the night of March 24, Serbian authorities confiscated the station's Belgrade transmitter and B92's editor, Veran Matic, was held in police custody for eight hours. The station continues to broadcast via satellite. Its programs remain one of few alternatives to the state-run media.

Since October 1998, when a restrictive Serbian Law on Public Information came into force, the government has systematically shut down or fined out of existence most of Serbia's privately owned media. Foreign broadcasts of the BBC, VOA, RFE/RL and Deutsche Welle have been banned.

Newspapers, radio and television stations under the control of Milosevic, especially Radio Television Serbia (RTS), present distorted information about the Kosovo conflict and the role of the international community. In recent weeks the state media has waged a virulent anti-American campaign, likening U.S. President Bill Clinton to Adolf Hitler and NATO airstrikes to World War II-era Nazi aggression.

Related Information


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #9

(March 30, 1999, 4:20pm EST)—Refugees reported to Human Rights Watch researchers today that Serbian special police and Yugoslav military units are systematically expelling ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, including the cities of Pec and Prizren, in a well-orchestrated and centrally organized campaign to rid the region of the majority of its population. The stories of refugees interviewed by Human Rights Watch staff in Albania and Macedonia revealed a consistent pattern in the conduct of the expulsions and their timing, underscoring the fact that the Yugoslav government evidently made a decision over the weekend to "cleanse" the region of ethnic Albanians.

Scores of refugees interviewed today described their expulsion from their homes by Serbian forces. Refugees from the major Kosovo cities of Pec (population approximately 100,000) and Prizren (population approximately 80,000) reported that there was widespread shooting in and around the cities from Thursday, March 25 to Saturday, March 27, during which time many shops were burned or bombed. Starting either on Saturday or Sunday, refugees reported that their homes were raided by Serbian special police and/or Yugoslav Army units who moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, ordering people to leave their homes and forcing them into columns that were then accompanied to the border. Refugees repeatedly told how soldiers and police threatened that anyone who did not leave within four hours would be killed.

Those who carried out the raids were either Serbian special police dressed in blue camouflage uniforms with either black ski masks or black grease paint on their faces or Yugoslav Army units dressed in green uniforms with either red or white bandanas. One person interviewed by Human Rights Watch also described Serbs in civilian clothes and another spoke of Serbs in all-black who participated in the raids.

All ethnic Albanian residents of Pec, a city in western Kosovo, reported that they were forced to gather in the central square where local trucks and private buses had been commandeered by the police to transport them out of the city. None of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch were allowed to take their own vehicles. It appears that a large convoy departed Pec at approximately 11 a.m. accompanied by Yugoslav forces who then stopped them about one hour from the border with Albania and forced them to walk the rest of the way.

Several of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that individuals had been pulled out of the convoy and killed, and one person interviewed reported that soldiers stopped the bus he was on and took between 10 and 15 men off the bus. He reported having subsequently heard shooting, but had not actually seen anyone shot. He added, "As we drove past, I saw blood on the road." Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm these reports or find individuals who had been eyewitnesses to the reported killings.

Similarly, refugees who were forced to flee the town of Prizren, in southwestern Kosovo, reported that they were rounded up on Sunday morning and forced to leave their homes. In contrast to the expulsion in Pec, no vehicles were provided to transport the residents from the town. Instead, they departed in their own cars, tractors, or on foot to the Albanian border.



Baton Haxhiu

©Human Rights Watch

KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #8

(March 29, 1999, 5:40pm EST)—NATO today reported that five prominent ethnic Albanians have been "executed" in Pristina, including a member of the ethnic Albanian delegation to the Rambouillet peace talks, Fehmi Agani.

Another of the five was the editor-in-chief of Koha Ditore, Baton Haxhiu (pictured right). Human Rights Watch worked closely with Mr. Haxhiu during the past four years. He was a committed and outspoken critic of Yugoslav government abuses against ethnic Albanians, and of the international community's inaction in the face of these abuses over the past decade. He was also a vocal proponent of international military action in Kosovo, even wearing a T-shirt that said, mockingly: "Nato Air - Just Do It" over a Nike swoosh. He was the father of a six-year-old boy.

Human Rights Watch has not yet been able to independently verify the credible reports of his death.

Copies of the photograph of Mr. Haxhiu are available through Saba press photos at 212-477-7722.

Koha Ditore was the largest and most influential Albanian-language newspaper in Kosovo. On March 22, the newspaper and Mr. Haxhiu were convicted for publishing information that "incited hatred between nationalities," according to article 67 of Serbia's controversial Law on Public Information. (For more information about Mr. Haxhiu's conviction, please see our press release of March 22 on the website). The paper was fined 420,000 dinars (US$26,800) and Haxhiu personally was fined 110,000 dinars (US$7,200). On March 24, the Serbian police shot and killed the guard at the Koha Ditore newspaper office in Pristina, and then ransacked the office. Its publisher, Veton Surroi -- a signatory of the Rambouillet Accords -- is in hiding, as are some of the paper's staff.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #7

(March 29, 1999, 4:45pm EST)—Human Rights Watch's contacts in Pristina report that Serbian security forces with tanks are today expelling inhabitants of the Dragodan neighborhood of the city, where the American Center, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and many humanitarian organizations are based. Serbs forces have set parts of the neighborhood on fire.

Also, over the weekend many buses full of ethnic Serbs departed Pristina headed north in the direction of Belgrade. Ethnic Albanians seeking to flee Pristina were not allowed onto any buses.

Human Rights Watch has received numerous and credible reports of forced expulsions in the western city of Pec. Last Thursday, Serbian security forces ordered a large column of civilians to leave the city on the road north towards Montenegro. On Friday many civilians were leaving the city voluntarily in the same direction. According to UNHCR, in the last 48 hours, 12,000 ethnic Albanians, mostly from Pec, have sought refuge in Montenegro.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #6

(March 29, 1999 2:15pm EST)—On March 28, Serbian Minister of Justice Dragoljub Jankovic proposed that the federal Yugoslav government reinstate the death penalty for crimes of particular gravity. The Yugoslav constitution prohibits the death penalty, but this prohibition can be waived in times of national emergency or state of war.

Human Rights Watch is concerned that the death penalty proposal will be adopted in an effort to threaten and intimidate Serbs opposed to the conflict in Kosovo or unwilling to perform military service. There are some confirmed reports of forced conscription into the Yugoslav Army.

In similar efforts to mute domestic criticism of the government, the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities have systematically closed or silenced many independent media outlets throughout Yugoslavia, most recently "TV Soko" from Soko Banja, a Serbian town of 24,000. Strict censorship rules are in effect.

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Kosovo Human Rights Flash is an information bulletin from Human Rights Watch. It includes human rights updates on the situation in Yugoslavia generally and in Kosovo specifically. For further information contact Fred Abrahams at (212) 216-1270 or abrahaf@hrw.org

KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #5

(March 26, 1999, 4:30pm EST)— The largest domestic humanitarian organization in Kosovo has informed Human Rights Watch that its Pristina warehouse was burned down last night by unknown individuals, believed to be the Serbian police. The Mother Theresa Society (MTS), in a Pristina meeting today, decided to suspend its Pristina-based operations.

MTS staff described the humanitarian situation outside Pristina as "desperate." They expressed concern about dwindling food supplies inside the Kosovo capital.

The Pristina warehouse contained food and medicine that MTS, in cooperation with many of the largest international humanitarian organizations, had been providing to internally displaced persons in Kosovo.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #4

(March 26, 1999, 12:30pm EST)—The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), the most reliable domestic human rights monitoring group in Yugoslavia, reported today that the bodies of Bajram Kelmendi, an Albanian human rights lawyer, and his two sons, Kastriot and Kushtrim have been found dead. The three men were shot dead at a gas station between Pristina and Kosovo Polje, southwest of the capital. According to the HLC, a police investigation is under way.

Mr. Kelmendi and his sons were taken from their home early in the morning of March 25 by the Serbian police, who beat Mr. Kelmendi in front of his family (see HRW flash #1). The police refused to give Kelmendi's wife, Nekibe, also a human rights lawyer, information on their whereabouts, telling her to "ask NATO."

Mr. Kelmendi was an active human rights lawyer who had defended many political prisoners in Kosovo over the past decade. He had recently defended the Albanian-language newspaper Koha Ditore, which was closed by the police two days ago.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #3

(March 26, 1999, 11:30am EST)—Today, at 4:00 p.m. local Yugoslav time, a Dutch journalist with Net 5 Television, Nynke Laporte, and her Hungarian cameraman, Lajos Galanos, were released from a Novi Sad prison, where they had been held since yesterday afternoon on charges of spying. They are currently (5:00 local time) being deported out of the country through the Hungarian border.

Police arrested Ms. Laporte and Mr. Galanos yesterday in Novi Sad, where they were trying to film damage from Nato air raids. A crowd of civilians harassed the journalists and beat Mr. Galanos, although not seriously. They spent the night in a 5 degree Celsius cell in T-shirts before being released this morning, with help from the Greek embassy in Belgrade.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #2

(March 25, 1999, 5:00pm EST) —Human Rights Watch has confirmed that the Pristina office of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) -- one of the main political parties in Kosovo -- was burned down last night by unknown individuals. The building also houses the office of the Kosova Information Center (KIC), the news service of the LDK.

Also last night, the Serbian police shot and killed the guard at the Koha Ditore newspaper office in Pristina, and then ransacked the office. Koha Ditore is the largest Albanian-language daily in Kosovo. Its publisher, Veton Surroi -- a signatory of the Rambouillet Accords -- is in hiding, as are some of the paper's staff.


KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #1

(March 25, 1999, 12:00pm EST)—Human Rights Watch has confirmed that a prominent ethnic Albanian human rights lawyer in Pristina, Bajram Kelmendi, was arrested last night after midnight together with his two sons, Kastriot and Kustrim. When his family asked the police in Pristina about his whereabouts, they were told to "ask NATO." Mr. Kelmendi is an active lawyer who had defended many political prisoners in Kosovo over the past decade. There are serious concerns about his safety.