Concerns in Europe January June 2001
Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Pdf görüntüsü
|
- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Minorities
- Return of refugees
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 resolved. Associations of both ethnic Albanian and Serb families of the “disappeared” and abducted complained at the slow progress made by UNMIK in resolving cases. Indeed in March some families took matters into their own hands and, according to UNMIK reports, began to conduct their own unlawful exhumations in the Mitrovica region. In May, a mass grave was discovered in Batajnica near Belgrade in Serbia, believed to contain the bodies of Kosovo Albanian victims originally found in a refrigerator truck in April 1999 in the Danube, and subsequently buried in Batajnica by Serbian police forces or the Yugoslav army (VJ). Exhumations in Batajnica began on 31 May, and by the end of June at least 36 bodies of civilians, including children, had been exhumed. Another grave, reported to contain 25 to 30 bodies, was discovered on 15 June in the village of Petrovo Selo in eastern Serbia. Serbian Interior Minister Dušan Mihajlovi , estimated that 1,000 bodies of suspected ethnic Albanian victims of the war in Kosovo could be buried in several mass graves in the FRY, while the Humanitarian Law Centre, Belgrade, estimated that at least 800 bodies of Kosovo Albanians had been transported to Serbia - in refrigerated trucks - by Serbian police forces and the VJ between 24 March to 12 June 1999. The bodies are believed to have been removed from their initial burial sites around villages and cities in Kosovo. Following reports of the exhumations in Serbia - which dashed many Albanian hopes that their “disappeared” relatives were still alive - at least 3,000 ethnic Albanians, lead by former prisoner of conscience Flora Brovina, held a demonstration at UNMIK’s headquarters in Pristina on 15 June. They protested what they perceived as the lack of progress made by the international community in resolving the fate of the “disappeared”, demanding that UNMIK and the international community put pressure on Belgrade to fully investigate the fate of the “disappeared”, and work to secure the release of the remaining ethnic Albanian prisoners held in Serbian jail (see FRY entry). Around 100 protesters temporarily blocked traffic outside the UNMIK headquarters, demanding to see SRSG Hans Haekkerup.
The security of members of minority groups in Kosovo failed to improve in the first half of the year, and only limited freedom of movement was available to them as the majority remain unable to travel without the protection provided by KFOR troops. Violent crimes against minorities continued to remain disproportionately high. According to UN CIVPOL, 13 Serbs, three Roma and seven other members of minority groups were murdered in ethnically motivated attacks, between January and the end of April; 23 ethnic Albanians were murdered in the same period. In their joint report published in March 2001, UNHCR and OSCE reported ethnically motivated attacks including a stabbing, shootings and hand grenade attacks on Serb and Roma individuals and families, the destruction by fire or by mortar and grenade attack of abandoned Serb and Roma houses, and an attack on a Serbian Orthodox Church. Ethnically motivated attacks in this period, particularly from February onwards, appeared to be more organized and targeted than in the previous period. Other minorities subject to ethnically motivated attacks included non-Albanian Muslims: on 11 January four members of a Muslim family in Prizren were murdered; following the incident, an estimated 1,000 people, mostly non-Albanian Muslims, fled Prizren and the Gora area of southwestern Kosovo into the Muslim town of Novi Pazar, in Serbia. AI was concerned at the virtual impunity for the perpetrators of these attacks, and observed that - in addition to security concerns - the lack of a victim and witness protection program contributed to the lack of thorough investigations into attacks perpetrated against minority communities. On 13 February a regular twice-weekly KFOR- escorted convoy of buses between Strpce (Shterpce) and Serbia was attacked by sniper fire, as a result of which the driver was killed and a number of passengers injured. This was followed, on 16 February, by an attack on the Niš Express buses near Podujevo, carrying Kosovo Serb passengers from Serbia back to Kosovo. Despite advance warning to KFOR, who conducted a search of the route in advance of the convoy and provided a heavily armed escort for the Serb passengers, the leading bus was destroyed by a remote-controlled bomb, which resulted in the death of 10, and the injury of up to 40, Serb
passengers. Following this attack,
demonstrations and roadblocks occurred in almost every Serb enclave in Kosovo, often resulting in further incidents of ethnically motivated violence. The divided town of Mitrovica continued to be a focus of both inter-ethnic and anti-UNMIK tensions. On 29 January, Gazmend Ibrahimi, a 15-year old boy, was killed by a hand-grenade following clashes between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Bosnjacka Mahala (Little Bosnia), an ethnically mixed district of Mitrovica. Five Kosovo Serbs and one Slavic Muslim working for the Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe (OSCE) were dragged from their vehicle - which was then set alight - and, following an assault on one of the men, were rescued by KFOR troops. On 30 January KFOR troops themselves came under attack when they set up cordons to prevent ethnic Albanians crossing the bridges into the northern part of the town during a demonstration which followed the funeral of Gazmend Ibrahimi. Both tear gas and stun grenades were used to control the demonstration which resulted in the injury of over 40 civilians, including a Reuters photographer who allegedly suffered burns and hearing loss from a stun grenade, and up to 22 KFOR troops. On 1 February British troops were brought in to reinforce French KFOR troops, and were reported to have used plastic bullets to disperse the demonstrators. During April and May a series of demonstrations by the Serb community in Mitrovica took place
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001 97
Amnesty International September 2001 AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
following the introduction by UNMIK of a customs duty on goods imported from Serbia. Road-blocks were erected by Serbian demonstrators on the roads leading to the administrative borders between Kosovo and Serbia. AI is concerned at the use of excessive use of force by KFOR troops - including the use of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, stun grenades and tear- gas - in controlling the demonstrations. The organization was particularly concerned at reports of injuries sustained by civilians - and of the reported death on 19 April of 62-year old Nikoleta Vukojicic in the village of Zubin Potok following the use of tear gas. Reports suggest that the cause of death was either respiratory failure or possibly a heart attack.
forcible returns of refugees to Kosovo from countries in the European Union, and recommended that not only members of minority groups - for whom the continuing lack of security prevented any possibility of sustainable return - but also certain members of the ethnic Albanian community should be granted durable protection. These included ethnic Albanians perceived to have been loyal to the previous Serbian government, moderate politicians and those who had refused to join the KLA or had deserted from the armed opposition group. At the beginning of the year more than 222,800 displaced persons from Kosovo remained in Serbia and Montenegro; in May, the Joint Committee on the Returns of Kosovo Serbs produced a document -
for a slow and incremental return of small numbers of people to mainly rural areas, where conditions for stainable return - security, housing and freedom of movement - were deemed to be adequate. No returns due to be organized under this programme had taken place by the end of June 2001.
I N D E X
W O M E N I N E U R O P E
Human rights violations against women occur regularly in Europe but are only infrequently given the attention they deserve. The following are a selection of the cases and incidents investigated by Amnesty International. They are not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the organization ’s concerns, but are a reflection of the range of violations suffered by women in Europe
Azerbaijan
Arrests post elections, The case of Gulhar Pashayeva ............................................ 10
Alleged failure to protect women demonstrators .................................................. 11 Optional Protocol to CEDAW ...................................................................... 12
Belgium
Death during forcible deportation - the case of Semira Adamu .................................... 17
France
New reports of ill-treatment at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle ........................................ 30
Germany
Abusive restraints, Update
...................................................................... 37
Italy
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
Amnesty International September 2001 Alleged human rights violations by law enforcement officers ..................................... 44
Kazakstan Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention ........................................... 47
Death in suspicious circumstances ............................................................... 48 Kyrgyzstan Harassment of Human Rights Defenders, Coalition of NGOs for Democracy and Civil Society ......... 49
Russian Federation The case of Olga Kitova. Ill-treatment and persecution of an independent journalist ............. 60 The case of Galina Starovoitova ................................................................. 61 Reported rape of a lesbian by the police ........................................................ 61 Alleged ill-treatment of a woman by the police in the Republic of Kalmykia ...................... 62 The case of Anna Politkovskaya .................................................................. 63
Spain Costa Rican woman alleges police ill-treatment .................................................. 68
Turkey Torture still widespread ........................................................................ 76
Impunity for suspected torturers ................................................................ 77 Uzbekistan
Arbitrary arrest of Rahima Akhmadalieva and her daughter Odina Mahsudova ........................ 88 Arbitrary arrest of Shovruk Ruzimuradov
89 Forcible confinement in psychiatric hospital .................................................... 89
C H I L D R E N I N E U R O P E
It is a sad fact that in Europe, as in all parts of the world, being a child is not of itself protection against gross violations of human rights. Children in Europe regularly face violations including torture and ill-treatment, unlawful detention, and arbitrary killing. Often children and juveniles are especially vulnerable to human rights violations, and at the same time they are heavily dependent on adults to protect them and to enable them to find redress for human rights violations.The following are a selection of the cases and incidents investigated by Amnesty International. They are not intended to be an exhaustive summary of Amnesty International ’s concerns, but are a reflection of the range of violations suffered by children and juveniles in Europe.
Albania
Torture and ill-treatment of minors .............................................................. 2
France
New reports of ill-treatment at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle ........................................ 30
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001 99
Amnesty International September 2001 AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
Greece New cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment ....................................................................................... 38
Hungary The reported ill-treatment of Kálmán F. ................................................................................................... 40
Italy Alleged human rights violations by law enforcement officers ................................................ 44
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment in detention ........................................................................... 47
New reports of police Ill-treatment and unlawful use of firearms ................... 58
Torture still widespread ............................................................................................................................. 76
England and Wales, Child Soldiers ................................................................................................................................ 85
Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro, Identity-based Violations .................................................................................................. 94 Yüklə 1,36 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
|