Time for eULeX To prioriTize war crimes - Amnesty International ...

Kosovo: Time for EULEX to prioritize war crimes 31
victims of war and their families. The Law also fails to provide any of the other five forms of reparation,
identified above, and set out in the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and
Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of
International Humanitarian Law.
The Law also discriminates catastrophically against women and girls who were raped or suffered other forms
of sexual violence as a result of the armed conflicts, despite continued lobbying by the Kosova Women’s
Network. It fails to make any provision to afford the status of civilian victim of war to these women, or provide
for benefits for a person suffering mental harm, or even physical harm caused by rape or other forms of sexual
violence. In this respect, Amnesty International calls for a transformative reparations process which seeks to
address the gender discrimination which contributed to these crimes being committed. Such measures were
set out by the Special Rapportuer on violence against women, in her 2010 report. 85
8.3 ENSURE THE INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF THE POST-WAR
ABDUCTION OF SERBS, ROMA AND MEMBERS OF OTHER MINORITY COMMUNITIES
Hundreds of members of minority communities were abducted, allegedly by members of the
KLA during the 1998-1999 conflict, and in the aftermath of the armed conflict. As was
noted in the previous section, most of their bodies have not been found. Few witnesses have
come forward to help identify burial sites, and only a tiny number of cases have been properly
investigated.
While progress has also been slow in the investigation of the enforced disappearances of
Kosovo Albanians by Serb forces, almost no investigations have been conducted into the fate
of Serbs and others abducted by the KLA. Amnesty International considers that this has been
due to the lack of political will, by both the Kosovo government and by the international
community, to bring former members of the KLA to justice. The organisation urges that
EULEX WCIU and SPRK be specifically mandated to investigate all outstanding UNMIK
legacy cases of abduction, and any new cases that are brought to light through the work of
the DFM.
EULEX has, to its credit, investigated and prosecuted cases in which ethnic Albanians,
perceived to be associated with the Serbian authorities, or otherwise perceived to be
“traitors” were abducted and killed by the KLA, but few have involved minority victims.
Amnesty International considers that all cases involving the alleged abduction by members of
the KLA or other armed ethnic Albanians, including those which took place after the end of
the armed conflict, should be investigated and prosecuted by the SPRK. They should be
adjudicated by mixed panels, and with adequate witness protection.
INCORRECT CLASSIFICATION OF WAR-RELATED ABDUCTIONS BY THE SPRK
Amnesty International is concerned that EULEX does not consider the hundreds of
unresolved abductions of Serbs, Roma and others which took place in the aftermath of the
war as crimes against international law. Few of these cases have been investigated; many
have been classified as ordinary crimes.
In 2009 some 62 abduction cases inherited from UNMIK were reviewed by the SPRK. The
SPRK took no action to reopen these cases but instead, on the basis that they occurred after
Index: EUR 70/004/2012 Amnesty International April 2012