The situation of the minorities in Kosovo remains alarming

Göttingen
In particular the humanitarian situation of the Roma, Ashkali and "Egyptians” is catastrophic. In 1999 more than 14,000 of 19,000 houses of the minorities were destroyed. To date only about 200 have been rebuilt. Many people are living in refugee camps, where they receive neither social support nor medical treatment. There is in addition the permanent fear of racist attacks and the daily discrimination of the minorities. Riots in March 2004, in the course of which an Ashkali estate was completely burned down under the eyes of the KFOR and the inhabitants driven out, showed the consequences with which these minorities are faced if they are left in the lurch by the international peace-keeping forces. The present negotiations on the status of Kosovo leave the non-Albanian nationalities in permanent danger. For after these have ended the international community and the UN will withdraw and leave the minorities to their fate. In 1999 the Roma Mahala in South Mitrovica, in which some 8,000 Roma lived, was destroyed. Today some of those driven out live in refugee camps in North Mitrovica, which were built in 1999 on refuse heaps consisting of mining deposits contaminated with lead. 37 persons have so far died, mostly it seems as a result of lead poisoning. About half of the 560 refugees in the camps under UN administration have now been moved into the "Camp Osterode”, the former barracks of the French KFOR. This place is also contaminated. Some of the refugees did not want to stay there, but their old accommodation had already been knocked down in order to prevent their returning. About 24,000 Roma, Ashkali and "Egyptians” fled to Germany on account of the Kosovo conflict. Severely traumatised - because of being persecuted and driven out – they are waiting to be deported. About 10,000 persons, particularly Ashkali and Kosovo-Egyptians, are to be deported. At the beginning of the year 2005 the first families were deported back to Kosovo. Among the children are children who were born in Germany, who have lived here ten to twenty years, who have mostly never lived in Kosovo and who hardly speak the language of their parents. Their repatriation is placing them in the same position as the internally displaced persons: discriminated by the Albanian administration, with no social security or medical treatment, with no possibility of entering educational establishments and in constant fear of attacks by Albanian extremists. The families which have been deported were taken into the refugee camps and have already fallen ill with lead poisoning. The Annual General Meeting of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) calls on the representatives of the international community and the international UNMIK administration in Kosovo to ensure that:

* The Roma and Ashkali community can participate in the negotiations on the status of Kosovo

* Roma and Ashkali are given permission to remain in Germany. The return of the Roma minorities to Kosovo is only acceptable if there is no danger to life and limb and under dignified conditions. Roma and Ashkali from neighbouring countries must not be put under pressure to return to Kosovo.