Human Rights Watch denounces Roma deportations to Kosovo
AUGUSTIN PALOKAJ 28.10.2010 @ 10:46 CET Human Rights Watch (HRW) is the latest international organisation to call for a halt to what it describes as the forced deportation of Roma back to Kosovo. In a report to be made public on Thursday (28 October), HRW argues that on returning to Kosovo, members of ethnic minorities (the report refers to Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians or RAE) face discrimination, lack of proper healthcare, difficulties in integrating into society and a lack of education for their children. The international NGO is asking all western European countries to stop sending Roma back to Kosovo until they can ensure that conditions for their integration there have improved. Its report suggests that over the last ten years around 50,000 Roma have been forced to return to Kosovo against their will. The organisation has also expressed concern about the planned repatriation of some 12,000 Roma from Germany, including failed asylum seekers and those who have been living for years in Germany with a temporary residence permit called a 'Duldung.' But it praised a recent decree by the interior ministry of Nordrhine-Westphalia, Germany's biggest and most populous state, which currently hosts 38 percent of Kosovo's RAE living in Germany. The decree recognises the need for special protection of RAE from Kosovo, proscribes careful individual screenings and recommends avoiding the deportation of children attending schools or vocational training courses. The HRW report considers this "a positive move" and an example for other German states and western European countries to follow. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Council of Europe have also recently asked Germany and other countries not to deport Roma from Kosovo. However, reports from the former Serbian republic, by NGOs and returnees themselves, show just how difficult integration is. Many of the people deported are children who were born and brought up in Germany and are cannot speak any of Kosovo's official languages, such as the majority Albanian or minority Serbian. Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovo's minister for internal affairs, told WAZ.EUobserver that his country was making every effort to provide the highest possible standards for re-admission, housing and integration of returnees. This includes paid-for temporary shelter in hotels. But Mr Rexhepi acknowledged that "one cannot expect to receive the same health assistance in Kosovo that one can get in Germany or Western Europe." He said Kosovo's re-admission agreements with Germany and other western European countries cover the return of all Kosovar citizens and do not target any particular ethnic group. Almost 80 percent of people returning to Kosovo from Germany this year were Albanians. The minister dismissed some of the findings from the HRW report, such as criticism of the difficulties for returning Roma of obtaining proper Kosovan ID cards. The country only accepts those whose identity and Kosovar origins can be proved, he said, although this could happen through neighbours' or relatives' testimony. Mr Rexhepi also cast doubt on figures of rejected Kosovan asylum seekers, arguing that many of those entering the EU falsely claimed to be of Kosovar origin in the hope of increasing their chances of asylum. Co-operation with Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and other European countries on issues of organised return was completely satisfactory, he added. Before returning any particular group of rejected asylum seekers, Germany would inform the government in Pristina, wait for the results of identity and origin checks and only then send them back, the minister said. He said that, until now, there had been no massive returns from western Europe and that Kosovo would stick to its obligations under the readmission agreements with EU countries. http://waz.euobserver.com/887/31143
_______________________________________________ News mailing list News@antic.org http://lists.antic.org/mailman/listinfo/news
