As you may know the German federal government has just signed a new agreement with the international civil administration of Kosovo, a so-called Agreed Note, providing the basis for the forced repatriation of 300 Askhali and Egyptians during the first month.

From August on this number may increase to up to 500 people. With regards to the UNHCR Position on the Continued Needs for International Protection of People belonging to ethnic Minorities from Kosovo Roma have not yet been included in this agreement, but will be subject of a separate agreement at a later stage. However, already now up to 20 Roma who have been sentenced to imprisonment of at least two years for a criminal offence can be forcibly deported back to Kosovo. From August onwards, this number will be increased to 30 people.
The deportations from Germany may affect up to 50,000 people.

The situation in Germany is not unique. As we are aware several countries have put pressure on the UNHCR to lift the de facto banon deportations of people belonging to ethnic minorities from Kosovo. The Montenegrin government has signed a protocol with the Provisional Institution of Self-Government (PISG) in Kosovo on the return of Roma IDPs from Kosovo currently hosted in Montenegro. The Macedonian government is expected to follow the same move. On 1 June, the State Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Macedonia, Aco Janevski, declared at a press conference "We do not intend to expel Kosovo refugees, but it is normal to exercise pressure regarding their return in the country of their origin, taking into consideration the interest of Macedonian citizens."

Since 2003, governments of the host countries have started to consider the situation in Kosovo as safe and forcibly deported Roma, Askali and "Egyptians" [Gypsies] back to Kosovo despite the ongoing securiity threats and the unsustainable living conditions especially for people belonging to the smaller minorities. The current reinforced move can be seen as the result of the pending negotiations on the final status of the province. Indeed, the PISG is currently very eager to demonstrate compliance with the so-called Kosovo standards, of which fulfillment is the condition for the opening of the negotiations. The government of the host countries of the Kosovo refugees and IDPs are making use of this eagerness to forcibly return people to Kosovo regardless what their future in Kosovo will be.

At the same time there are already high-level talks about the future of the Kosovo province. These talks include representatives of the international community such as the Contact Group or the EU, representatives of the PISG, the Serbian authorities and representatives of the local Serb communities. Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians as well as other smaller ethnic minorities from Kosovo are not represented in these talks. As you may have noticed they are also regularly ignored when High-Level representatives of the international community talk about the future of Kosovo.

If the non-inclusion and ignoring of Roma and other minorities continues and they are not included in the talks on the future status of the province the situation which happened in Bosnia-Hercegovina is likely to be repeated. In Bosnia-Herzegovina Roma were not invited to take part in the Dayton Process which set the basis for the future of the Bosnian state, with the result that Roma as well as the other smaller minorities have not been granted the status of a constituent people of Bosnia-Herzegovina reserved to the three largest communities. As a result, the Bosnian Roma are today excluded from the highest political posts by virtue of the constitution.

Roma have been granted particular rights as a minority only in 2003, almost eight years after the end of the war, much of which still have to be implemented. It is thus important to avoid a repetition of the same in Bosnia and to ask for the inclusion of representatives of the Roma and the other smaller ethnic minorities in the negotiations on the future of Kosovo at all levels.

The call is just the beginning of a larger campaign whose success will depend on the support it receives from organisations and activists. Please forward the attached message to all your contacts and sent it back to  stopdeportations@yahoo.co.uk

Kind regards,

Asmet Elezovski
Karin Waringo


Photo: Eleanor Beardsley

The Zitcovak camp, near Mitrovica, Kosovo, is a shantytown of tin shacks and dirt alleys inhabited by more than 200 Roma, most of them children.