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

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10. A Sustainable Prosecutorial and Judicial System................................................. 49 11. The Final Challenge: Interference by the Executive.............................................. 54 12. The Future Prosecution of Crimes under International Law................................... 58 Across the region .................................................................................................... 58 Options for Kosovo .................................................................................................. 60 Endnotes ................................................................................................................... 62 GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS COE Council of Europe CPCC Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability (EU) CSDP Common Security and Defence Policy (EU) DFM Department of Forensic Medicine ECHR European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms EULEX European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo EUPT EU Planning Team in Kosovo FRY Federal Republic of Yugoslavia HLC-K Humanitarian Law Centre-Kosovo ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross KFOR NATO-led Kosovo Force KJC Kosova Judicial Council KLA Kosova Liberation Army KP Kosova Police KPA Kosova Prosecutorial Council LCP Law on Criminal Proceedings of the FRY MMA Monitoring, Mentoring and Advising OMPF Office of Missing Persons and Forensics OSCE Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe OWCP Serbian Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor PACE Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe PCCK Provisional Criminal Code of Kosovo PCPCK Provisional Criminal Procedure Code of Kosovo SFRY CC Criminal Code of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia SPRK Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo SRSG Special Representative of the UN Secretary General UNMIK United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNSC UN Security Council VJ Vojska Jugoslavije (Yugoslav Army) WCIU War Crimes Investigation Unit WPU Witness Protection Unit
1. INTRODUCTION Kosovo: Time for EULEX to prioritize war crimes 3 In June 2012, the Council of the European Union will approve the extension of the mandate of the EU-led rule of law mission in Kosovo, (EULEX). In this report, Amnesty International advocates that the new mandate should include specific measures to ensure that EULEX, as a matter of urgency, prioritizes the investigation and prosecution of crimes under international law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Amnesty International is aware that over the next two years the EULEX mission will be reconfigured, and that the mission will down-size, and withdraw personnel from the police and customs sectors, leaving the mission to focus on the justice system. Amnesty International considers that this is an ideal opportunity to strengthen both the international and local components of the justice sector, and in so doing, provide the resources and personnel needed to effectively address the persistent impunity which persists in Kosovo. Across the Balkans, impunity for war crimes remains one of the most serious human rights concerns. In Kosovo impunity persists for war crimes committed by both sides of the 1999 armed conflict. Few of the Serb military, police and paramilitary forces responsible for war crimes against Kosovo Albanians have been brought to justice. However, even fewer members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), responsible for war crimes against Kosovo Serbs, Roma and members of other minority communities have been prosecuted and convicted. Despite the presence in Kosovo since 1999 of international police, and (since 2000) of international prosecutors and judges, charged with the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of war crimes, little progress was made by EULEX’s predecessor, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). In January 2008 Amnesty International published a report, Kosovo (Serbia): The challenge to fix a failed UN justice mission, which described the failures of UNMIK’s international justice system in Kosovo. 1 This report demonstrated that UNMIK had failed to establish an effective and impartial justice system, with concrete reference to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes. That report made specific recommendations, “to any future EU mission or any other international body mandated to assist the government of Kosovo in ensuring the development of a fully functional prosecutorial and judicial system in Kosovo (irrespective of the form of any agreement on the final status of Kosovo)”. These recommendations sought to ensure that the then-planned EULEX mission did not make the same mistakes as UNMIK. As this report illustrates, many of Amnesty International’s recommendations were indeed taken on board and put into practice by EULEX, although over the ensuing years, in several areas EULEX either failed to identify solutions or gradually fell back into UNMIK’s old ways. In this report, and bearing in mind the organization’s 2008 recommendations, Amnesty International analyses the progress made by EULEX in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes. In the light of those findings the organization makes a series of new recommendations which aim to inform decision-makers in EU member states and institutions, in advance of their extension of EULEX’s mandate. Index: EUR 70/004/2012 Amnesty International April 2012
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