Pravda za proterane Rome sa Kosova

Pravda za proterane Rome sa Kosova

Koalicija za prava Roma Kosova (KRRC) je široka koalicija organizacija romskih izbeglica u mnogim evropskim zemljama. KRRC je angažovao dva američka advokata za ljudska prava da započnu pregovore sa vladom Kosova. Od vlade je zatraženo da odredi datum za razgovore u Briselu do sredine aprila. Pozadina pregovora: Hiljade romskih domova je zapaljeno i opljačkano, a ljudi raseljeni u etničkom čišćenju koje je usledilo nakon rata na Kosovu.

Prema grupama u egzilu, 90 odsto Roma je 1999. godine proterano sa Kosova pod pretnjom oružjem. Etničko čišćenje Roma uključivalo je mučenje, silovanje, ubistva i masovnu pljačku i uništavanje, što su međunarodne trupe koje su tamo stacionirane stajale skrštenih ruku. Do marta 2000. godine uništeno je oko 15.000 romskih domova. Nakon proterivanja 150.000 Roma sa Kosova, preostale kuće i imanja je zauzelo većinsko stanovništvo.

Danas proterani Romi i njihova deca žive raštrkani širom Evrope i nastavljaju da se suočavaju sa poteškoćama. Nekima i dalje preti deportacija. Pokušaji traženja pravde u prošlosti su propali. Sa novom vladom Kosova koja želi da se pridruži Evropskoj uniji i nekoliko bivših političara kosovskih Albanaca koji se suočavaju sa suđenjem u Hagu, sve je verovatnije rešenje za Rome, saopštio je KRRC.

Press release: Justice for expelled Roma from Kosovo

The Kosovo Roma Rights Coalition (KRRC) is a broad coalition of organisations of Roma refugees in many European countries. The KRRC has commissioned two American human rights lawyers to begin negotiations with the Kosovo government. The government has been asked to provide a date for the talks in Brussels by mid-April. Background to the negotiations: Thousands of Roma homes had been set on fire and looted and people displaced in the ethnic cleansing that followed the Kosovo war.

According to exile groups, 90 per cent of the Roma were driven out of Kosovo at gunpoint in 1999. The ethnic cleansing of the Roma included torture, rape, murder and mass looting and destruction, which international troops stationed there stood idly by. By March 2000, some 15,000 Roma homes had been destroyed. After the expulsion of 150,000 Roma from Kosovo, the remaining houses and properties were occupied by the majority population.

Today, the expelled Roma and their children live scattered throughout Europe and continue to face difficulties. Some are still threatened with deportation. Attempts to seek justice in the past have failed. With a new Kosovo government seeking to join the European Union and several former Kosovo Albanian politicians facing trial in The Hague, a settlement of Roma claims is increasingly likely, the KRRC said.