REL: Almost identical human rights issues

The start of the first trial at the Kosovo Special Court in The Hague and the first sentence handed down in Kosovo for wartime rape are two highlights of Human Rights Watch at the top of its annual human rights report – the Kosovo section. .

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organization, released its 2021 report on Thursday, which summarizes human rights conditions in more than 100 countries and territories.

In the section on Kosovo, the organization recalls that the Specialized Chambers for Kosovo launched the first war crimes trial in September.

The report mentions the defendant Salih Mustafa, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who is accused of murder, torture, cruel treatment and arbitrary detention during the 1999 war in Kosovo.

The report also mentions the sentence of the former Serbian police officer, Zoran Vukotic, for wartime sexual violence.

The sentence of ten years in prison was imposed by the Basic Court of Prishtina, while Human Rights Watch describes it as “historic”.

“In March, Kosovo Police arrested a Kosovo Albanian, with Serbian citizenship, on suspicion of war crimes against the civilian population, during an operation by Serbian forces in 1999, when 147 civilians were killed,” the report said.

Also in March, the report states, the Basic Court in Prishtina sentenced two former police officers, Zlatan Krstic and Destan Shabanaj, for their involvement in an attack in 1999, in which four members of an ethnic Albanian family were killed.

They were sentenced to fourteen and a half years, respectively seven years in prison.

Regarding the accountability of international institutions, the report of Human Rights Watch says that “there has been no progress” in financially compensating members of the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, who are said to have been poisoned in some camps for displaced persons, set up by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

These camps are also mentioned in last year’s report of Human Rights Watch.

In that report, the organization said the United Nations had neither paid compensation to the victims nor apologized.

“Discrimination against Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo remains a problem,” the report said on Thursday.

In the section on minorities, the report also mentions the case of the murder of a Serbian politician in Kosovo, Oliver Ivanovic.

“The persecution of six defendants accused of killing Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic in 2018 has continued in the Basic Court in Pristina, with the indictment confirmed in May. “The trial began in July after delays in 2020,” the report said.

In the section on women’s rights, Human Rights Watch states that “survivors of domestic violence have continued to face obstacles in obtaining protection” and “inadequate state response.”

Similar estimates for this category were made last year.

In a report released in 2021, Human Rights Watch stressed that domestic violence remains a problem in Kosovo and that “there is little prosecution” for it.

In a new report, Human Rights Watch says that “a 2018 mechanism set up to help provide financial compensation for some 20,000 survivors of sexual violence in war has continued to have limited achievements.”

The same conclusion was made in the report of a year ago.

In the section on asylum seekers and displaced persons, Human Rights Watch reports that “during the first nine months of 2021, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees recorded 261 voluntary returns of members of ethnic minorities in Kosovo from the countries of others”.

The figure is higher compared to the same period of 2020, when 245 such returns were recorded.

Human Rights Watch also dwells on sexual orientation and gender identity and recalls that the Center for Equality and Freedom of the Gay Community (LGBT) in Kosovo expressed concern in October about alleged “inadequate investigations” of “threats and hate speech.” against LGBT people and activists, especially on social media.

Hate speech on social media against the LGBT community was mentioned as a problem last year as well.

According to the new report, journalists have also continued to be the target of attacks, threats and intimidation, while perpetrators have rarely been held accountable.

“In the period January-September, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo has registered 18 cases of threats, intimidation and violence against journalists and the media. At least nine cases have been under investigation at the time of writing [të raportit]”But investigations and prosecutions have been slow,” writes Human Rights Watch.

Last year, Human Rights Watch cited 18 cases of threats and violence against journalists and the media.

The new report also mentions, as it is said, the increase of tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, as the Kosovo authorities “have ordered the vehicles to remove the license plates of Serbia when they enter Kosovo”.

“The parties are said to have reached a compromise at the end of September, mediated by EU Special Representative Miroslav Lajcak,” the report said.

He notes that the European Commission’s Progress Report, published in October, called for Kosovo to do more to effectively guarantee the rights of minorities, including Roma, Ashkali and displaced persons, as well as to ensure gender equality. in practice./REL

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