HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS URGES PUTTING HUMAN RIGHTS AT HEART OF INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS IN KOSOVO

30 June 1999


Human Rights must be at the heart of international efforts if the different communities of Kosovo are to have a chance of living together again, High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said today in Pristina.

"Coming to Kosovo and confirming with the staff of my Office here the harrowing stories I heard from refugees and internally-displaced persons in Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro just brings home how important it is to ensure that there is no impunity for the crimes that have been committed here", the High Commissioner said.

Mrs. Robinson, speaking at the end of a day-long visit to the province, said she welcomed the return to the province of so many of the Kosovar Albanians who had been driven out by ethnic cleansing, although they still bore the scars left by the atrocities committed by Yugoslav authorities.

"The situation is still far from satisfactory", said the High Commissioner, adding that many Kosovar Albanian families still had no news of missing relatives, many of whom had disappeared as Yugoslav forces left Kosovo. She pledged the full support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in addressing this and other outstanding problems.

Mrs. Robinson also expressed concern that some Serb civilians were being driven out of their homes in Kosovo, and that the Roma were being targeted for their supposed support of the policy of ethnic cleansing carried out by Yugoslav police, military and paramilitary forces.

"The people of Kosovo must work together to break the cycle of violence", she said. "Albanians, Serbs, Roma and other communities of Kosovo must set an example of tolerance for people all over the world to follow".

In Kosovo, Mrs Robinson met with the acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Sergio Vieira de Mello and with KFOR Commander General Sir Michael Jackson. She also discussed cooperation in the elaboration of long-range strategies for the protection and promotion of human rights in Kosovo by the OHCHR and other international agencies with human rights mandates already in the province, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Council of Europe and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The High Commissioner also met with the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, representatives of the Center for Protection of Women and Children, a Serbian Orthodox clergyman and, during a visit to a site of a mass killing at Matigan, with representatives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The High Commissioner visited a camp for Roma in Kosovo Polje, just outside of Pristina. The approximately 4000 Roma in the camp say they are fleeing persecution.

OHCHR human rights monitors are back in Pristina to continue the work of the office they had established in the city before 24 March.