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

Kosovo: Time for EULEX to prioritize war crimes 35
still being advertised up to 12 January 2012, and the team remained incomplete in mid-
March. 97
On 6 October 2011, the Head of the EULEX mission, Xavier Bout De Marnhac signed an
agreement on police cooperation with the Albanian Minister of Interior Bujar Nishani, and in
January 2012 Albanian Prime Minister Berisha agreed on the need to sign an agreement on
cooperation between Albania and EULEX, “in order to create a clear legal framework that
would help EULEX fulfil its mandate for the investigation". 98 No further developments had
been made public by March 2012.
The failure in 2003 of the international community, including the Tribunal and UNMIK, to
investigate these allegations is discussed further below (pp.56-7).
8.4 ENSURE THE INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES OF RAPE
AND OTHER FORMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
EULEX must ensure that crimes of sexual violence committed during the conflict are properly
investigated and prosecuted, with adequate provisions for the support and protection of
witnesses before, during and after proceedings.
In 2008, Amnesty International recommended to EULEX that, “The relevant police and
judicial authorities, in close consultation with all sectors of civil society, especially women’s
human rights groups, should develop a long-term action plan to end impunity in Kosovo for
all crimes under international law, including rape and other crimes of sexual violence”. 99
These recommendations still stand. The organization welcomes reports from the Kosova
Women’s Network (KWN), that EULEX in 2011 began to “meet with women’s organizations
to discuss the process and potential collaboration”, and from the international NGO, Kvinna t
Kvinna, that EULEX had five such cases. 100 Amnesty International was informed in October
2011 that two cases of rape were under investigation by the EULEX WCIU. However, in view
of the scale of reported rapes, and almost complete impunity, Amnesty International urges
EULEX without delay to fully implement the measures recommended in 2008 to ensure that
these crimes are prosecuted.
RAPE AND OTHER FORMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
There is no accurate estimate of the number of women and girls who were raped or suffered
other forms of sexual violence during the Kosovo war. Some estimates number in the
thousands, whilst hundreds of credible accounts of rape and other crimes of sexual violence
were documented by local and international NGOs, including Amnesty International. 101
Many were reported to the authorities, yet UNMIK made little progress in investigations, and
no prosecutions were opened. In April 2006, the head of the UNMIK Victims Advocacy and
Assistance Unit confirmed that although there was a large file of statements taken by NATO
forces in 1999 documenting rapes committed during the war, there had been no
prosecutions involving charges of sexual violence. However, there were no immediate
investigations. According to the UNMIK official, when UNMIK police officers had – after two
years’ delay - attempted to interview women who had given statements, the women
repudiated the statement or said they were unwilling to testify. She blamed this on the social
pressure on women in Kosovo and the shame associated with rape. She did not explain why
Index: EUR 70/004/2012 Amnesty International April 2012