Stop the repatriation of Roma to Kosovo, says Council of Europe
DAN ALEXE 24.09.2010 @ 09:00 CET The Migration Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) has urged European governments - particularly Berlin - to suspend planned returns of Roma to Kosovo "until they can be shown to be safe and sustainable." Approving a report on "Roma asylum seekers in Europe," the Committee on Tuesday (22 September) said the forcibly returned Roma faced "an unsustainable social situation with little chance of reintegration, as well as serious threats to their personal security." Some Roma in a park in central Brussels <http://waz.euobserver.com/onm/media/file3/2a9ce45eb69f.png> - an estimated 100,000 Roma left Kosovo after the 1999 conflict (Photo: Augustin Palokaj) The Pace panel argued that Kosovo does not have the resources to successfully re-integrate these people, and noted that up to three-quarters of the Roma already forcibly returned to Kosovo had moved on or gone back to the deporting countries. An estimated 100,000 Roma left Kosovo after the 1999 conflict, most of them alleging persecution from the majority Albanian population. For the last decade, tens of thousands of these Roma have been living in other parts of Europe, either with some form of temporary protection or simply "tolerated," but several countries are now preparing to return sizeable numbers. Many countries (including Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Norway) have signed a "readmission agreement" with Kosovo. In the case of Germany, the government foresees the repatriation of 2,500 persons a year. However, these agreements have no specific provision concerning the Roma. The Council of Europe panel points out in the non-binding resolution that half of the Kosovo Roma threatened with expulsion from Germany are under 18 years old. In August, the Council of Europe already declared its "deep concern about the treatment of Roma migrants in France." Last week, the International Federation for Human Rights also announced that it would pursue Belgium over mistreatment of Roma before the Council of Europe. Since 2004 four countries - Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and France - have been condemned by the Council of Europe over lack of facilities for Roma. The difference is that those from Romania and Bulgaria are EU citizens while those from Kosovo came illegally. The methods of the expulsion vary from country to country. In France illegal gypsy camps have been dismantled openly, with large media coverage, while in Belgium the police act with as little visibility as possible. In the case of one camp in the middle of a Brussels park which was visited by WAZ.EUobserver reporters on 10 September, the mostly Kosovar and Bosnian Roma asylum-seekers had reportedly been told by police exactly when the camp would be evacuated in order to give some of the refugees time to move. The camp was then discreetly dismantled by Belgian police that very night. http://waz.euobserver.com/887/30880 _______________________________________________ News mailing list n...@antic.org-snn http://lists.antic.org/mailman/listinfo/news
