ANTI-RACISM COMMITTEE TAKES UP REPORT OF YUGOSLAVIA

HR/CERD/98/17
11 March 1998


Expert Suggests Committee Should Call for Immediate End of Armed Persecution of Albanians in Kosovo

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination began examination this afternoon of a report from Yugoslavia on the measures adopted in the country to implement the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Introducing the report, Mr. Redzep Hodza, Assistant Federal Minister of Justice for Yugoslavia, said the country succeeded - in spite of international isolation, war, the gravest sanctions and whilst supporting 700,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina - to preserve its internal stability and the unchanged multi-ethnic character of its society. Moreover, constitutional and legislative provisions provided the 25 minority groups in Yugoslavia, which accounted for some 30 per cent of the total population, special minority rights in conformity with international instruments in this field.

As part of 150 States parties to the Convention, Yugoslavia, is required to submit periodic reports to the Committee.

Leading the debate on the report of Yugoslavia, Mr. Yuri Rechetov, Committee member from the Russian Federation, welcomed the renewed dialogue with the delegation. The country was at this moment the centre of international attention and was going through extremely difficult times with its Autonomous Province Kosovo, he said.

Mr. Rechetov noted that in past concluding observations, the Committee had strongly emphasized the need for urgent measures in respect of the situation in Kosovo in order to prevent persisting ethnic problems from escalating into violence and armed conflict. The Good Offices Mission sent to Yugoslavia in 1993 had also suggested that a number of specific steps be taken with a view to normalizing the situation in Kosovo.

Continuing the discussion on the situation in the country, other Committee members said that it was regrettable that past concluding observations on Kosovo had not been taken into account by the Government.

One expert expressed alarm at the continuing military operations taking place in the province, irrespective of their aim, and suggested the Committee appeal for the immediate cessation of all armed persecution of Albanians in Kosovo.

The following experts participated in the proceedings this afternoon: Theodoor Van Boven (Netherlands); Ion Diaconu (Romania); Ivan Garvalov (Bulgaria); Yuri A. Rechetov (Russian Federation); and Luis Valencia Rodriguez (Ecuador).

The panel of experts will reconvene at 10 a.m., Thursday, 12 March, to hear the response of the Yugoslav delegation. Also tomorrow, from 5.20 p.m. to 6 p.m., the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, will meet with committee members to discuss issues relating to the implementation of the Convention.

Report of Yugoslavia

The fourteenth periodic report of Yugoslavia (document CERD/C/299/Add.17) notes the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has undertaken, by virtue of Yugoslavia's uninterrupted personality as set out in its Constitution of 27 April 1992, to honour all its obligations under the instruments to which it is a party. According to the latest census (1991), Yugoslavia's population numbers 10,304,026 and consists of, among others, 6.5 million Serbs, 1.7 million Albanians and over 500,000 Montenegrins.

According to the report, any incitement and instigation of national, racial, or religious inequality, as well as incitement and fanning of national, racial, or religious hatred and intolerance, is unconstitutional and punishable. The Constitution also provides and guarantees particular rights and freedoms to national minorities including: the right to preserve, develop and express ethnic, cultural, linguistic and other specificities; the right to use national symbols; the freedom to use one's own language and script in criminal proceedings; the right to education in one's own native language, and the right to set up educational and cultural organizations or associations.

The Federal Criminal Code, article 141, prescribes the criminal act of genocide, the report notes. This act is committed when a person carries out certain actions deliberately and according to a plan against persons belonging to a national, ethnic, racial or religious group with a view to its total destruction. It is punishable by 5 to 20 years imprisonment.

According to its 1990 Constitution, the Republic of Serbia is made up of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, the report notes. Each province has its Statute, adopted by the Assembly with the previous consent of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. The ethnic Albanian secessionist leaders from Kosovo and Metohija discontinued every dialogue, not only with institutions envisaged by the Constitution but also with other national minorities, which resulted in problems and conflicts, the report contends.
The report notes the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in contrast to the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, is an example of a markedly multi-ethnic community. The four largest communities in Vojvodina feel that guarantees for the stability of the status of the ethnic groups are to be found in the Constitution and laws and the promotion of democratic relations. The document concludes that members of national minorities in Yugoslavia, except for almost all members of the Albanian national minority in Kosovo and Metohija, exercise their right to political organization in compliance with the Constitution and law.

The constitutional right to education of members of national minorities in their mother language has been spelled out in a number of laws and other regulations, the document states. The Albanians in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, however, refuse, solely out of political considerations, to accept the uniform educational system applied throughout the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The differences in the curricula are not great, with four subjects being controversial: language, history, geography and music. Moreover, the Albanian separatists keep insisting that the final school certificates and diplomas be issued by the unlawful bodies of the non-existent and unrecognized ‘Republic of Kosovo'.

Introduction of Report

REDZEP HODZA, Assistant Federal Minister of Justice of Yugoslavia, said Yugoslavia always attached particular importance to the respect of the Convention and appraised as objective and positive the report of the Good Offices Mission of the Committee that visited Yugoslavia in 1993. The period covered by the periodic report saw changes of far-reaching consequences in terms of population, social, economic, political and welfare developments, which negatively affected the ability of the State to carry out its obligations under the international conventions to which it was a party.

Mr. Hodza said Yugoslavia succeeded, in spite of extremely unfavourable circumstances and under the conditions of international isolation, war, the gravest sanctions and whilst supporting 700,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to preserve its internal stability, the unchanged multi-ethnic and multi-cultural character of its society and had provided for the basic needs of all its citizens.

Concurrently, Mr. Hodza said Yugoslavia succeeded in preserving all the prerequisites for the upgrading and reforming of the legal system, civil society, the rule of law, and the consistent respect for human rights and rights of national minorities in keeping with its international obligations.

The members of the 25 minorities in Yugoslavia, who accounted for some 30 per cent of the total population, enjoyed special minority rights in conformity with international instruments in this field, Mr. Hodza. Members of the national minorities were entitled to political organization and political representation. All national minorities, with the exception of the Albanian minority in Kosovo and Metohija, made use of that right, participated in the social and political affairs of the country. They were represented in the Government bodies at local and federal levels and endeavoured to help the overall socio-economic development of the country.

Discussion of Report

Leading the debate on the report of Yugoslavia, Committee member YURI RECHETOV welcomed the renewed dialogue with the delegation. The country was at this moment the centre of international attention and was going through extremely difficult times with its Autonomous Province Kosovo. Yugoslavia was the only country which received a Good Offices Mission which had and still could have a positive influence on the human rights situation in the country.

Mr. Rechetov referred to the concluding observations and recommendations the Committee adopted when considering the situation in the country in 1993. The Committee had stated that it did not encourage unilateral trends towards separatism or secession. It noted that separatism could best be discouraged by the active promotion and protection of minority rights and inter-ethnic tolerance. The Committee had strongly emphasized the need for urgent measures in respect of the situation in Kosovo in order to prevent persisting ethnic problems there from escalating into violence and armed conflict. Moreover, it had urged Yugoslavia to undertake all measures at its disposal with a view to bringing to an end the massive, gross and systematic human rights violations.

The purpose of the Good Offices Mission sent to Yugoslavia in 1993 was to help promote a dialogue between the Albanians in Kosovo and the Government for the peaceful solution of issues concerning the respect for human rights in Kosovo, in particular the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination. The Mission had no difficulty in establishing contacts and expressed appreciation for the close cooperation of all authorities and individuals. The Mission felt that there was a need for its continuation.

Mr. Rechetov said the Mission suggested that a number of specific steps, particularly in the fields of education and health care, be taken with a view to normalizing the situation in Kosovo. Following consideration of the interim report of the Good Offices Mission, the Chairman addressed a letter to the Minster of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia expressing the Committee's appreciation to the Government for the cooperation received and proposing, among other things, that a number of specific steps be taken with a view to normalizing the situation in Kosovo.

Regarding the periodic report, Mr. Rechetov said many of the points raised could have been supplemented by additional information. He asked for information to be presented on specific cases of application of the Convention before courts of law. Clarifications on the terms used to identify the different minorities in the 1991 census were needed. Did the term Muslim refer to Bosnian Muslims?

Mr. Rechetov asked for examples of cases where a decision or individual act adopted by judicial, administrative and other State agencies discharging public duties violated the principle of freedom and equality of citizens. More information was also required on compensation afforded to victims of racial discrimination for damages caused by an official, a State agency, or a State organization. Cases where organizations inciting national, racial, or religious hatred were banned were requested.
Regarding the rights and freedoms granted to minorities, Mr. Rechetov asked for additional details on the situation of non-citizens. Referring to reports that the Autonomous Province of Kosovo could not display its symbols and use national languages in the work place, he asked for details of the effective implementation of these rights and freedoms. Were federal laws published in the script and languages of national minorities, he asked.

Mr. Rechetov said there was no specific information on the actual practice of judicial or administrative bodies. Examples of prosecutions of violations of the criminal code, prohibiting acts of discrimination, and the incitement of national, racial or religious hatred were requested. He asked in particular for cases where the police were responsible for violations of constitutional or criminal provisions. More information was also needed on effective protection and remedies.

With respect to the Autonomous Province of Kosovo, Mr. Rechetov noted no evolution or real progress. He asked for confirmation as to whether representatives of the Albanian community had not submitted an education curriculum for study.

A number of experts pointed to the Committee's past concluding observations and recommendations regarding the situation in Kosovo and said that it was regrettable these had not been taken into account. One member pointed to the statement made by the Government of the Republic of Serbia to the Committee, dated 10 March 1998, which said that the measures carried out recently in Kosovo were solely directed at eliminating the terrorist core and were carried out respecting regulations and security of other citizens and their property. Were children and women part of the terrorist core, he asked, noting that much of the fighting took place in houses and court yards. In this statement, the Government invited an expert group from the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Kosovo and Metohija, and in cooperation with the Yugoslav Red Cross, to verify the rumours circulated by the media. If such an investigation took place, the expert noted it would be useful for members of the Committee to be present and inspect the bodies to ascertain in what conditions the deaths took place.

Another expert expressed alarm at the continuing military operations taking place in the country irrespective of their aim. Such activity could only lead to other violent action being undertaken, he said. The Committee was not competent to denounce the political problems at the root of the situation, however, such activity seriously impeded the application of the Convention in that part of the country. He suggested the Committee appeal for the immediate cessation of all armed persecution of Albanians in Kosovo. Another expert supported the suggestion.

One Committee member said a report of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights referred to cases of arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment by the police. More efforts should be made to suppress police abuse and investigate police behaviour. Other experts requested additional information on the use of minority languages in Kosovo. They asked, in particular, the reasons why the agreement signed in 1996 on the use of the Albanian language in schools and the return of Albanian children to school was not implemented.

An expert noted that the Government consistently refused to surrender persons responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Moreover, records referred only to the prosecution of one person by tribunals in the country.

Committee members also asked for clarifications on, among other things, measures taken to support the families that suffered from the fighting that recently took place; the existence of a Turkish minority in the country; access by minorities to the civil service, executive and parliamentary bodies; claims placed by Roma in Montenegro that they were victims of racial discrimination, and measures taken to encourage the dissemination of the Convention and to promote tolerance and understanding among ethnic groups.