ERRC Letter to Joint World Bank/European Commission Office for Southeast Europe
28 July 1999
On July 28, 1999, the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, sent a letter to Mr Olivier Bodin, European Commission Representative of the Joint World Bank/European Commission Office for Southeast Europe, and Mr Rory O'Sullivan, World Bank Representative of the same body, to urge that international authorities undertake all possible measures to overcome the alienation of Roma from local aid distribution. The ERRC also urged that representatives of the Romani community be involved in bodies charged with damage assessment and reconstruction fund distribution in Kosovo. The ERRC provided Mssrs Bodin and O'Sullivan with the ERRC Press Statement of July 9, detailing human rights abuses against Roma by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the period June 15-July 7, 1999. The ERRC additionally provided the Declaration of the European Roma Rights Center/Human Rights Project Balkan Roma Conference for Peace and Security, which took place on June 18 and 19 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Both of those documents can be found on the ERRC internet website at www.errc.org.
The text of the letter to Mssrs Bodin and O'Sullivan follows:
Dear Mr Bodin and Mr O'Sullivan,
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest law organisation which monitors the rights of Roma and provides legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, has noted with interest the foundation of the Joint World Bank/European Commission Office for Southeast Europe.
The ERRC has documented a wave of grave human rights violations of Roma by ethnic Albanians since the end of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in mid-June and the entry of KFOR troops into the province. The ERRC made public the findings of field research conducted between June 30 and July 7 in a press statement issued on July 9. That document is attached herewith.
In addition to the serious human rights violations documented, Roma in Kosovo reported to the ERRC that they were in many instances excluded from aid, since international aid organisations working in Kosovo are primarily staffed by ethnic Albanians. Numerous Roma in the towns of Prizren, Djakovica, Kosovo Polje and Orahovac told the ERRC that they had been refused aid. Some Roma stated that they had been chased away or insulted in the course of being refused aid. The ERRC witnessed ethnic Albanian doctors working for the organisation Médicins sans Frontieres who, despite stating that they were "not interested in politics" and therefore by implication not given to anti-Romani sentiments, were highly suspicious of ERRC activity and wanted to know "why we were helping Gypsies".
In this context, the ERRC is highly concerned by press reports, such as that in the International Herald Tribune of July 28 that "most of the members" taking part in World Bank and European Commission Kosovo damage assessment and reconstruction projects will be ethnic Albanians.
The ERRC is forwarding herewith the Declaration of the Balkan Roma Conference for Peace and Security, which took place on June 18 and 19 in Sofia, Bulgaria, along with its ten-point appeal. The ERRC urges that representatives of the Romani community be involved in bodies charged with damage assessment and reconstruction fund distribution. The ERRC additionally urges that international authorities undertake all possible measures to overcome the alienation of Roma from local aid distribution.
Sincerely
Dimitrina Petrova
Executive Director
Persons wishing to express similar concern are urged to contact Mr Olivier Bodin and Mr Rory O'Sullivan at the Joint World Bank/European Commission Office for Southeast Europe.
Fax: (32 2) 504 0999
