My Life as a Refugee, 1999-2004

11 March 2005

Džavit Berisa

Before the war in 1999, Kosovo was home to several ethnic groups: Albanians, Ashkali, Bosniaks, Gorani, Egyptians, Roma, Serbs, and Turks. Serbs, Gorani and Bosniaks speak dialects of the Serbian language; Albanians, Ashkali and Egyptians speak Albanian, Turks speak Turkish; and Roma speak Romani.

The exact number of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians who lived in Kosovo until 1999 cannot be determined but estimates indicate between 120,000-150,000 people. In the 1991 Yugoslav census, which was boycotted by the Kosovo Albanians and parts of other communities, 42,806 persons declared themselves Romani. After the last wave of violence in Kosovo in March 2004, there are no more than 10,000-12,000 Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians left in the province.

On March 24, 1999, at around 8:15 pm, the bombing of Kosovo by NATO forces began. The first bomb was dropped on the Marshal Tito Base of the Yugoslav Army. During the bombing, those of us who had Albanian names were threatened and abused by Serbs. Lack of trust in Roma and Egyptians on the part of the Serbs saved us from recruitment in the paramilitary forces.

One day during the bombing, my mother walked from our village Subotić to Priština to do some shopping. On the way she was beaten by Serbian police because she was Egyptian. Men of our community did not dare to go out because there was a risk for their lives. During the NATO bombing, I was mobilised in the work place and I had to work 12 hours per day. Every night my family and I waited for the NATO bombs to fall on us.

On June 10, we rejoiced because the UN Security Council Resolution 1244 was adopted and the Kumanovo military technical agreement with the Yugoslav army was signed. Everybody celebrated thinking that it was a “White Day”. Later on, it turned out to be a “Black Day” for minorities in Kosovo.

In the following weeks, my family was subjected to threats and verbal harassment by Albanians; some Albanians threatened us with raping our women. The Albanians who returned to Subotić were arrogant and behaved as if they were untouchable. They told us that if any man in our family created problems, they would ask the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to come and “take care” of us. This harassment continued for more than two weeks. Finally, on June 28 at around noon, my family was forced to leave our home in Subotic by Albanians in the village (some of them we knew, others were unknown to us), and KLA soldiers in uniform came to enforce this order. We were told that we had to leave Kosovo and go to Serbia, and this territory is now “Greater Albania”.

After we left the house, we went to the Kosovo Forces (KFOR) to ask for protection and for about seven hours between 12:00-7:00 pm we didn’t receive any answer from KFOR. At around 7:00, pm we took a train and went to the Ace Marovic school in Kosovo Polje, where we joined another 4,000 displaced Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians. The school had 3 bathrooms for 4,000 people. Some of us were very sick and all of us were extremely traumatised.

After three weeks, I was informed that my house in Subotić had been burned down.

On July 20, Ms Paola Gedini from the UNHCR came to the Ace Marović school and informed us that there would be another shelter for internally displaced persons (IDP’s) in Krusevc/Obilić.

A few days after our arrival in the Krusevc/Obilic camp, a 3-year-old child was wounded by Kosovo Albanians with a rock in front of KFOR soldiers. The child was then taken for medical care by a British soldier. After this incident, the IDPs were very upset and insisted that they be returned to the Aca Marović school. But this request was not respected.

Seven days after our transfer to the Krusevc/Obilić camp, one morning we woke up to discover that the KFOR was not there any more. After a couple of hours, the UNHCR came and informed the IDP’s that UNMIK police were coming to provide protection. We were frightened and we did not believe the UNMIK can protect us because we knew that they were not armed.

The conditions in the camp were very bad. We slept in tents for three months, there was no security, no medicine. Two persons died in the camp – one three-month-old baby and an elderly man. After this tragedy we called a meeting with the manager of the camp Mr Marco Donati, representative of the Italian humanitarian organisation Consorzio Italiano Solidariet (ICS). We requested him to ensure adequate security measures, medicine and better living conditions in the camp. His answer was: “This is what we can provide. If you want to stay, you can stay, if not, you can leave the camp.”

Since we realised that nobody from the international organisations would pay any attention to us, we decided to leave the camp and to walk on foot to Macedonia. On September 20, at about 10 am, about 700 people set off to Macedonia. About 5 km on the way, we were attacked by Albanians and one of us was injured. Despite the attack, we made a decision to continue to walk for another 25 km. Among us there were newborn babies, sick and traumatised people. In the evening, we stopped near the petrol station in Lapna Selo (Serbian village) to spend the night. On the following day at 8 am we continued our way. The UNHCR tried to send us back to the camp but we refused. Then the UNHCR told us to wait for the buses because it was dangerous to walk through the towns of Ferizaj/Uroševac and Kaçanik/Kacanik.

From Lapna Selo we were transported to Blace – the border town between Kosovo and Macedonia. At the border, the Macedonian police told us to go back to Kosovo. A police officer hit one refugee. When asked by a KFOR solider why he hit the man, the policeman replied that the refugees should leave the place and go back to Kosovo. The KFOR soldier then said that the refugees should stay in Macedonia. The two of them almost got into a fight, with the KFOR soldier insisting that the refugees should stay in Macedonia because there was no safety for them in Kosovo and the police officer replying “if there is no safety in Kosovo for them what are you doing there”. In Blace we spent nine days waiting for the Macedonian government’s agreement to accept us. Finally, the UNHCR and the Macedonian government reached an agreement and we were transferred to the refugee camp Stenkovec II in Macedonia. After we arrived in the camp, my wife, who was three months pregnant lost the baby.

From Stenkovec II we were transferred to another collective center in Struga, Macedonia, where we spent about 7 months.

In July 2000, the UNHCR built a refugee camp in Šuto Orizari, Macedonia, where all of us were accommodated.

On April 4, 2001, I applied for voluntary repatriation. This was granted, and upon my return to Kosovo, I was employed as an interpreter by the USA KFOR in Kosovo. My supervisor was an American citizen. While he was in this position, I had no problems with ethnic Albanians. Six months later, however, my supervisor was replaced by an American Albanian. In the meantime, some of my Albanian colleagues discovered that I had been a refugee in Macedonia. A year later I was fired. I believe my dismissal was racially-motivated.

On May 20, 2002, I was violently assaulted by Albanian extremists. On June 1, 2002, I and my wife went to Macedonia for the second time. On June 19, 2002, we were told by the Macedonian authorities that we cannot have Temporary Status and we have to apply for asylum even though Asylum Law did not exist in Macedonia.

Three months after I filed an asylum claim, I was rejected. After several appeals, the Supreme Court of Macedonia finally confirmed the rejection. On May 29, 2003, we were notified that we must leave Macedonia within 30 days or face forcible expulsion. The UNHCR in Macedonia was informed about the decision in my case and they tried to stop the Ministry of Interior of Macedonia from deporting us, presenting them with a document from the UNHCR office in Priština which stated that there was no security for us to go back to Kosovo. When I received the Supreme Court decision, the Kosovo refugees in Macedonia were trying to go to Greece and seek asylum there. Macedonian authorities then told them to stay in Macedonia and apply for asylum. The refugees told the UNHCR that they did not believe they would be given asylum knowing that I had already been rejected by the Macedonian courts.

On September 15, 2003, I and my wife were detained in the street and taken to the police station in the town of Bitola, southern Macedonia. We were not allowed to call our lawyer and at around 6 pm, after we had been sentenced for illegally trying to cross the border with Greece, we were put in a car and forcibly expelled from Macedonia. I and my wife did try to cross the border with Greece when we were informed that the Macedonian police were looking for us. If Macedonia refused to give us asylum, we did not have any other solution but to seek asylum elsewhere, in another country. We could not agree to go back to Kosovo because we knew that it was not safe for us there. This was a case of “forced migration” provoked by the Macedonian authorities.

After 10 hours spent in detention, we were told that the police would deport us back to the Serbian border and not to Kosovo. When we arrived at the Macedonian/Serbian border the Macedonian police told us that the Serbian authorities did not want to accept us in Serbia. After some discussion, the Serbs agreed to accept us but only on condition that we go back to Kosovo. The Serbian police told the taxi driver who took us that if he drove us to Serbia he would have problems with the police. The taxi driver told me that he could leave me at the Kosovo border. I didn’t have any other solution so I had to accept. From the border I called my cousin who drove us to my wife’s family in Lipijan/Liplian. Two days after our arrival, two Albanians came and asked my father-in-law whether I was in Kosovo. My father-in-law denied that I was there. Then the Albanians told him that if they found out that he was lying to them, they would punish his family.

After this incident, I and my wife decided to seek asylum in Hungary. On October 1, 2003, we arrived in Budapest and after that we went to the refugee camp in Debrecen. On December 17, 2003 we were granted asylum. Since I had the status of refugee I could take my daughter back from Macedonia, where she had stayed with my relatives in the refugee camp. On August 11, 2004, after one year, my daughter joined me and my wife in Hungary with the support of Ministry of Interior, the UNHCR and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

With the support of European Roma Rights Centre, I have filed a case against Macedonia with the European Court of Human Rights for exposing me and other members of my family to inhuman and degrading treatment by refusing to provide international protection to us.

God Bless the people who helped me to win back my freedom!