Rights Displaced

Two Human Rights Watch researchers travelled to Kosovo in late November 2009 to document the current situation for displaced Roma, focusing on the plight of the recent forced returnees from Western Europe. Following the field research, Human Rights Watch also conducted in-person or phone interviews with a total of four national and nine international officials from different Kosovo and international bodies.

Human Rights Watch believes the current approach of the Kosovo government and Western European governments regarding forced returns of RAE (Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians) is short-sighted, and puts the rights of RAE and the stability of Kosovo at risk. While the number of forced returns has so far been relatively small, the readmission agreements between Kosovo’s government and Western European countries currently being negotiated or already concluded, and the absence of screening by the Kosovo government prior to forced returns, create a real risk of human rights abuse and escalating crisis for deportees, their families and the broader RAE community, already Kosovo’s most marginalized and vulnerable population.

RAE who are deported to Kosovo face numerous obstacles to their basic human rights, including lack of access to personal documents; statelessness; problems repossessing their property or obtaining housing; difficulties accessing education, health, employment and social welfare; and separation from family members. Some deportees leave behind spouses and children, especially if they are married to foreign nationals and have different nationalities to their children, which interfere with their right to family life. Many also lack identity documents, which are crucial for numerous activities including registering as a citizen and voting, and can in some cases lead to de-facto statelessness. Many child deportees are also unable to fully participate in school because they cannot speak enough Albanian or Serbian, and struggle with different curricula and to have their foreign education certificates recognized.

The European Union must prioritize ensuring that Kosovo is not only stable and peaceful, but respects the rights of its inhabitants. To effect removals in a manner consistent with that objective, EU and other governments in Western Europe should focus their efforts on creating conditions for sustainable return of RAE to Kosovo and on committing resources and political will to improving RAE rights inside Kosovo, rather than engaging in deportations in the absence of such conditions.

As an urgent first step, all EU and Western European governments should commit themselves to a moratorium on forced returns to Kosovo pending an improvement of reception conditions. Any returns should be carried out in accordance with UNHCR guidelines.

In attachment, the document is available in English in full and in summary in Albanian (under the first EN icon), French and German.