KOSOVO
FOCUS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Crisis in KosovoKosovo is the place where the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia began nine years ago. Now the crisis has come full circle.
In 1989, the Serbian government revoked Kosovo's status as an autonomous region. Since then, Kosovo has been a police state ruled by Serbia with severe repression against ethnic Albanians, who make up approximately 90 percent of the region's two million people. Human Rights Watch and others have documented serious human rights violations, including police violence, political trials, and restrictions on education, always under the leadership of Yugoslav President Slobodon Milosevic.
Since February 1998, abuses in Kosovo have taken on a new dimension. After ten years of peaceful resistance by ethnic Albanians, an new insurgency - the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) - has taken up arms to fight for independence. The response of the Serbian police and Yugoslav Army has been brutal and indiscriminate, resulting in serious violations of international humanitarian law, including attacks on civilians and summary executions. At the same time, the KLA is increasingly responsible for violations, such as detentions of ethnic Serb civilians.
At least 20,000 refugees have fled Kosovo and an estimated 80,000 people are internally displaced. The conflict threatens to spread to neighboring states, especially Albania and Macedonia, which has a large ethnic Albanian population.
Human Rights Watch continues to monitor and document violations of international humanitarian law committed by all sides in the conflict.
Back to Top