NOT WELCOME ANYWHERE: STOP THE FORCED RETURN OF ROMA TO KOSOVO

Amnesty International, 2010, 57 pages

Increasing numbers of roma and members of other minority communities are being forcibly returned to Kosovo by European Union (EU) member states, despite recommendations by the Un High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on their eligibility for continued international protection. Conditions for the safe and sustainable return of Roma, Ashkali, Egyptians, Serbs – and Albanians returning to a minority situation do not yet exist in Kosovo, including because of cumulative discrimination amounting to persecution.
Amnesty International considers decisions by EU countries to withdraw international protection to be premature, and likely to place Roma and other vulnerable individuals at risk of persecution or other serious harm, or at risk of statelessness.
This report documents the persistent discrimination and cumulative human rights violations experienced by forcibly returned roma and other minorities, including the Kosovo authorities’ failure to ensure that forced returnees have access to documentation and to guarantee their rights to education, health care, employment and housing.
Amnesty International urges EU member states, and Switzerland, to refrain from forced returns until there is a fundamental and durable change in circumstances for roma and other minorities. Amnesty International also urges the Kosovo government to guarantee the rights of minority communities, and to fully implement measures enabling the sustainable return and reintegration of minority returnees, so that they may return to Kosovo voluntarily, in safety and dignity.