The new report made by Minority Rights Group International (MRG)
gives a bare picture about worsening situation of minority rights in today’s
Kosovo. Instead to return to their homes
after ethnic cleansing implemented by Kosovo Albanians after Nato intervention
1999 minorities are beginning to leave Kosovo, because they face exclusion and
discrimination. This negative
process is happening in international protectorate where EU is implementing one
of its biggest civil crisis management operations and once again demonstrates
the huge gap between high flown ideas, aims, programmes and statements made in
After nearly ten years of international administration – the
longest and most expensive since the creation of the UN – Kosovo remains one of
the most segregated places in Europe, with thousands of displaced persons still
in camps, and many ‘ethnically pure’ towns and villages. The great failing of
international rule in Kosovo over the last eight years has been that instead of
breaking down segregation it has made it worse. Kosovo has become ever more
divided into Albanian and Serb areas, with all other groups – Bosniaks,Croats,
Gorani, Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians and Turks - being marginalized.
No international protection IMRG report notes, that since Kosovo’s declaration of independence on 17 February 2008, there has
been a vacuum in effective international protection for minorities in Kosovo. A
lack of certainty over the status of the territory has limited the practical
application of international human rights law. There is a danger that the new
international organizations operating in Kosovo, including the European Union
Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) and the International Civilian Representative
(ICR), will compound the failure of the United Nations’ No political will A lack of political
will among majority Albanians and poor investment in protection mechanisms have
resulted in minority rights being eroded or compromised in the
post-independence period. Smaller minority communities have yet to see
resolution or redress for oppression and human rights violations since the late
1990s, such as attacks and occupation of the homes of Bosniaks, Croats and
Gorani, and an inability to exercise their language rights in public for fear
of harassment. Many smaller minorities, such as Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians,
who were displaced from their homes, have faced severe difficulties in
returning. Smaller minorities also
suffer from lack of access to information or to tertiary education in their own
languages, and discrimination due to association with the former Serb majority.
This, combined with tough economic conditions, means that some members of
minority communities, including Bosniaks and Turks, are starting to leave the
new Kosovo altogether. Organisational mess Far from addressing Kosovo’s deep-seated problems, in the period since the declaration of
independence, the actions of the new Kosovo authorities and the international
community have instead created uncertainty and confusion, with increasingly
complex, multi-layered executive governance structures in Kosovo. As a result
there are currently numerous international and domestic actors with
interrelated yet conflicting mandates operating in Kosovo. Since independence,
the international community has been preoccupied with resolving legal and
institutional complications surrounding the status of their international
missions. Yet structures put in place have also perpetuated international
actors’ lack of legal accountability and complicated minorities’ access to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and to
other international legal remedies against Kosovo authorities. They have also
made engagement with and formulation of policy toward Kosovo’s smaller minority communities a low priority. Given the
history, the European Union (EU) and other international actors should instead
accord a central role to promoting the rights of minorities in Kosovo,
including by improving the critical assessment of Kosovo’s record on minority protection as part of the EU accession
process. More also in my article "EULEX, UN and mess-up in Kosovo" Reversing needed MRG warns that unless this trend is reversed, it will see the
steady migration of minority groups who have lived in Kosovo for hundreds of
years, such as Bosniaks and Turks, and who have other states to migrate to. A
decade after the conflict people from minority communities still languish in
displaced camps in dire conditions near Mitrovica. For Ashkali, Egyptian and
Roma, who have no other countries to escape to, these trends are likely to lead
to engrained poverty and further marginalization for generations to come, the
report says. One description about Roma
case in Mitrovica can be read from my earlier article "UN death camps, EU money, local negligence" Lack of accountability Lack of accountability persisted for past human rights
violations by UNMIK personnel against people in Kosovo. In October the EU
agreed that Bottom line To avoid further
ethnic cleansing and grave human rights abuses, it is particularly important to
examine how to address this recognized deficiency when protecting minority
rights. From my point of view especially
EU - as biggest donor and as implementing its biggest civil operation in Kosovo
– should revise its practice with civil crisis management operations. The key elements according my opinion are
Minority Rights Group International (MRG) is a 

March 24th was held the 10th anniversary of Nato bombings against Serbia.While remembering this intervention I would like to highlight some basic issues before, during and after bombings 1999:
directed
toward "interruption of violent attacks being carried out by the
Serbian Army and special police forces and the reduction of their
capabilities".Nato planes destroyed 4 % of its military
targets during bombing – partly because for avoiding own casualties
they cowardly launched missiles so high that could not make difference
between wooden decoys and real weapons.Instead of military targets the main damage was made against civilian targets.
Nato destroyed e.g. an embassy (China), a prison (Istok), three column
of Albanian refugees (81 dead March 13th and 75 April 14th), radio-tv
station (Belgrade, 16 civilians dead), a passenger train (Grdelica
bridge, 14 dead), also a number of infrastructure, commercial
buildings, schools, health institutions, media houses, cultural
monuments were damaged or destroyed.Some 2.500 people (mostly civilians) were dead, material civil infrastructure damage is estimated to be some 30 billion dollars.
and DU (depleted uranium) bombs can be seen as war crimes or at least violations of international law and the Geneva Conventions in particular.



On
the behalf of UN Martti Ahtisaari - unofficial lackey of U.S.State
Department and Nato - held ten rounds of pseudo talks with Pristina and
Belgrade during 2006. Ahtisaari published his biased report which soon
found itself in garbage bin and UN started new negotiation round. This
time facilitators were better balanced in sc. Troika including
representatives of U.S., Russia and EU. This time real alternatives for
future status were on table such as Åland and Hong Kong models,
partition, confederation, new autonomy model. Albanian side did not
see necessary to negotiate anything because U.S. had already promised
independence for them so also this round lead to stalemate. (More about
negotiation events
The EU would build a “unified” positionby
creating a framework which would allow for Kosovo’s independence, but
decisions on recognition would be subject to national decisions,
procedures and frameworks, meaning that EU members would not be obliged
to recognize it.
From frozen conflict to frozen independence 
