STATEMENT BY MARY ROBINSON, THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ON THE SITUATION IN KOSOVO

HR/98/36
9 June 1998


I am deeply disturbed by continuing violence in the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During this past month, more than 130 persons have been killed in violent incidents mostly in the area around Decani and Djakovica. It is reported that 37 people were killed in the last four days of May alone. Intense armed clashed have forced tens of thousands of people to leave their homes. Most have sought shelter nearby in other parts of Yugoslavia, where they are being cared for by relatives, international organizations, and domestic organizations for refugees whose resources have already been overtaxed. Others have fled to Albania.

The OHCHR in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia reports a grave and worsening human rights and humanitarian situation. Although my staff has been able to obtain some firsthand reports from persons who fled the violence, OHCHR notes that the areas most severely affected by the armed clasheS have been inaccessible for weeks to international agencies. This weekend, Yugoslav officials announced assurances that humanitarian agencies would be permitted into the affected areas. However, those agencies report that they are still being turned back by police.

OHCHR has received reports of arbitrary killings, shelling of villages by police forces, and attacks on police and military by armed Albanian groups. Conflict has spread to the Serbian-Albanian border and, this week, Yugoslav government sources for the first time cited clashes with armed groups that the Government said had entered the FRY from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. I am concerned that this violence is taking place in a region where approximately 47 per cent of the population is under the age of eighteen.

There is a daily increase in reports of human rights violations including: arbitrary arrest and abduction, and persons reported missing. After the abduction three weeks ago of several Serbian police officers by groups of armed Albanians, OHCHR learned that Serbian police reportedly prevailed upon Kosovo Albanian community leaders to act as intermediaries for the release of their comrades. When the mediation proved inconclusive, police waited two weeks and arrested the Albanian civilians, holding them without charge and later charging them with anti-state activity. I am concerned that Serbian authorities have not responded to inquiries by my office regarding the fate and whereabouts of persons allegedly held by Serbian police, nor have they responded to inquiries into current information on the fate and whereabouts of the Serbian police officers reported as abducted.

I welcome the new framework of dialogue to address the issues in Kosovo but, sadly, there have been no positive results as yet. I urgently call on the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, as well as leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community, to curb the spiral of violence and to spare the population from more suffering. The human rights crisis in Kosovo, while currently in the headlines, has been building over many years. Its causes and its consequences must be addressed simultaneously and, in order to address them, free and unimpeded access to information is essential. To serve that purpose, I once again call upon the Government of FRY to permit OHCHR to establish a constant presence in Pristina.