VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

AIM Pristina, 2 July, 1997

You can do anything with a bayonet, except sit on it. This would be the shortest description of "results" of the Vidovdan celebration of Slobodan Milosevic in Kosovo. Everything that could be achieved by force, Milosevic has achieved. He abolished the autonomy of Kosovo, excluded the Albanians from economic, political, cultural and public life in general, and introduced a system of intimidation, violence and making life miserable. The authorities in Kosovo have not been formally constituted. Decisions are most frequently made by decrees from Belgrade, by the model of theories of Belgrade University professor Ratko Markovic, according to which no decision can be reached and implemented if not approved by the Serbs.

Decisions and caprices in Kosovo are all carried out with a finger on the trigger of uniformed persons, but also armed Serbs without uniforms. That is why it is no coincidence that in this situation of undeclared war, according to data of the Pristina Committee for Human Rights, from the beginning of 1989 until the middle of this year, 186 Albanians were killed or died under torture. Only in six months of this year, there were 25 victims. Out of more than 200 victims since 1980, 28 were children.

Data on campaigns of persecution, arrests and court proceedings are equally frightening. According to various Albanian sources, from 1981 to this day, nearly four thousand Albanians have been convicted in political trials. The average sentence is seven years in prison. Only in the former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), over one thousand soldiers - Albanians were sentenced, and 63 young Albanians were returned home by the JNA in coffins, mostly with the explanation that they had committed suicide. In the period between 1981 and 1990, over 10 thousand Albanians were punished for offenses. It is assumed that the number of persons punished for offenses in the past seven years has not been reduced.

At the same time, tens thousand Albanians have been arrested, taken into custody or interrogation, and just during the first six-seven years of the last decade, according to the data of the police, several hundred thousand Albanians have undergone the so-called police treatment. The wounded, tortured, badly beaten in police stations or public places counted by tens thousand are the inevitable accompanying phenomenon of the black Kosovo chronicle.

It is impossible not to mention 237 Albanian asylum seekers from the spring and summer 1989, who have for several weeks and months passed through all the circles of hell. Deeply moving descriptions of torture arrested Albanians have been subjected to during investigation are a special chapter in the Kosovo black chronicle.

The picture of the cruel Kosovo reality would be incomplete without tens of victims and wounded on the Serb side, mostly members of the police. Their number especially increased last year. The Serb side accuses Albanian terrorism for the killings of Serb policemen and civilians, but not a single case has actually been clarified or resolved in court.

There is not a single Albanian who has not been seriously affected by introduction of Milosevic's "legal state" in Kosovo, after formal reduction of the autonomy of Kosovo in spring 1989 and its formal abolition in mid 1990. In the name of good inter-ethnic relations, protection of self-administrative rights and social property, Belgrade authorities, that is, the Serbian Assembly, introduced emergency measures in all economic organizations, state and other services, including even the purely humanitarian ones, such as municipal organizations of the Red Cross. These measures resulted in discharge of between 120 and 140 thousand Albanian workers, among whom are several hundred physicians and other health workers, several thousand experts of other professions, about four thousand policemen and office workers of the services of internal affairs and the entire Albanian teaching cadre. A portion of the Albanian elementary school children, almost all secondary school and university students were thrown out by force from school and university buildings. This is the sixth school year which the Albanian pupils and students have completed in about 1,500 to 2,000 privately-owned buildings, quite unsuitable for the teaching process.

Milosevic's regime has in a very short time destroyed the economic foundations of survival of hundreds thousand Kosovo Albanians. Because of that and systematic repression, it is believed that between 350 and 450 thousand Albanians have left Kosovo. However, this is not a one way road, and the number of those who occasionally or forever return to their homeland is not at all small.

By Milosevic's logic all this could perhaps be classified in the "black" of his political accomplishments. It should not be neglected that in his policy Milosevic had support of almost all the relevant Serb political forces, so it cannot be said that everything "accomplished" is solely the "merit" of Milosevic and the SPS.

Among the accomplishments of this policy is full employment of the Serb population. Only very choosy persons or those who simply do not want to work do not have fulltime jobs. In the period between 1990 and 1992, comparatively high salaries and occasional aid of the Serbian trade union, ensured high standard of living for the Serb population. This was a high privilege, or in other words, result of discrimination on ethnic grounds. But, it lasted for a very short time and completely disappeared in 1993, the year of enormous inflation.

Destruction of the economy, which was in several cases in Kosovo done on purpose by transferring the modern and expensive industrial equipment to Serbia, in the end although not equally, affected the entire population of Kosovo. The Serbs are still formally working and enjoying certain privileges in labour relations, but even all that cannot ensure a decent living to them. They probably do not have any more illusions about promised Swedish or Swiss standard from the time of Milosevic's exultation and Vidovdan celebrations.

In the intention to change the ethnic composition of the population of Kosovo in favour of the Serbs, Belgrade has brought from Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina about 20-30 thousand unfortunate people who are still living in collective centres. For a long time they were, and some of them still are, carefully "guarded so they would not run away", although a number of them have nevertheless found a way to flee from Kosovo. Several thousand entrepreneurs, health, administration, political, military, and police workers and experts were brought to Kosovo. But, hardly any of them were willing to stay permanently and bring their families. Kosovo was interesting for them in the period between 1990 and 1992 when thanks to administrative tricks about "service" in Kosovo, it was easy to earn a few times more than for the same job in Serbia.

This is probably everything that could be booked in the "black" according to this diverted logic of Milosevic's policy in Kosovo. It could be said that everything was accomplished with a "bayonet". But, what about sitting on it?

Despite everything, political will of the Albanians not to accept Serbia as their state, does not seem to be broken. Time will come when it will become evident how wrong the Serbs were when Milosevic in the end of 1989 contemptuously and arrogantly refused to take the offered hand of the Albanians. By participating in the elections, despite the nightmare they had been going through during that whole year, the Albanians nevertheless expressed readiness for a compromise with the Serbs and Serbia. But Serbia wanted their full submissiveness. And this they could not accept. Left with no other choice they chose the historical split with Serbia. They began with development of their own parallel institutions, and the Serbian politics seems to be doing its best to convince the Albanians that life within the borders of Serbia is their greatest misfortune.

The whole political Serbia supported and still supports this policy. During the past years, they have all promised if they came to power that they would build several hundred thousand housing units and almost overnight bring several hundred thousand Serbs to Kosovo. And all they did was bring unfortunate refugees and clerks against their will. At the same time, everybody talked about banishment of several hundred thousand Albanians who were allegedly foreign citizens.

When he set out on his conquest of absolute power, on 27 April 1987, to the gathered Serbs in Kosovo Polje, Milosevic said among other, the following: "You should remain here because of your ancestors and your descendants. You would disgrace your ancestors, and disappoint your descendants. But, I do not suggest to you to suffer by staying here and endure the situation you are not satisfied with. On the contrary". However, departure of the Serbs has never stopped, which the Serbian authorities refuse to talk about. Connoisseurs assess that despite mass emigration of the Albanians, the percentage of participation of the Serbs in the ethnic composition of the population of Kosovio is constantly dropping and at the moment they participate with only seven to eight per cent in the total. Connoisseurs assess that without refugees and clerks with their families, there is not more than 150 and 160 thousand Serbs in Kosovo.

"Nobody is allowed to beat the people", said Milosevic in Kosovo, having the Serbs in mind, of course. While he was introducing self-willed administration he persistently spoke about well-being and safety of the Serbs and all the citizens, about the rule of law. After ten years of his rule, Serbia and Kosovo are living in poverty, and the economy is going to rack and ruin. The entire social organism is sunk in crime, and nobody is safe. For a long time in Kosovo it is impossible to know what is the law, and what self-will of the authorities and crime. Certain privileges of the Serbs in the administration and public services cannot remove the feeling of uncertainty created and confirmed every day. The Serbs have presumably finally become aware that constant persecution of the Albanians and depriving them of their rights can by no means bring safety to them. On the contrary.

AIM Pristina

Fehim REXHEPI