Taking up the appeal of Shimon Peres “Never again – never again racist teaching” the Society for  Threatened Peoples one day after the Holocaust memorial day is drawing attention to the racist persecution of 10,000 Roma refugees and their German-speaking children who have only temporary permits of residence. It brings back the memory of the 21,000 people in the gypsy camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Human rights protections in the Western Balkans lag behind aspirations for European integration, Human Rights Watch said in its new World Report 2010. Roma and other ethnic minorities remain marginalized and vulnerable to violence. The number of inter-ethnic incidents has not been large, but this reflects a trend toward greater segregation of ethnic communities rather than greater integration, Human Rights Watch said. There was little progress toward durable solutions for displaced persons and refugees. The number of voluntary returns of refugees declined throughout the region, while Western European countries have been carrying out forced returns of refugees, especially to Serbia and Kosovo. "Forced returns, especially in the absence of effective assistance, are worsening the situation for vulnerable minorities, especially for Roma in Kosovo," Wanda Troszczynska van Genderen said.

(Chachipe) Christian Schwarz-Schilling, former minister under the liberal-conservative coalition of chancellor Helmut Kohl, strongly criticised the forced repatriation of Roma to Kosovo. Against the background of Germany's historic past, Schwarz-Schilling said that the forced repatriation of Roma to Kosovo was a big mistake. He recalled that the Roma as much as the Jews had been persecuted under National-Socialism and said that it was inappropriate to treat them this way. He also reminded that many emigrants from Germany had found a new home abroad. Schwarz-Schilling has repeatedly criticized the German authorities over their hard attitude towards the refugees.

“The forced return to Kosovo of people who have found shelter in European states should be halted”, said the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights publishing today a letter to the Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Angela Merkel. He notes that Kosovo lacks infrastructures allowing refugees’ sustainable reintegration.

"Die Innenminister verschließen die Augen vor den Gefahren, denen Angehörige von Minderheiten im Kosovo ausgesetzt sind. Damit ignorieren sie ihre Schutzpflicht aus internationalen Konventionen", kritisierte Imke Dierßen, Europa-Expertin von Amnesty International in Deutschland, anlässlich der morgen beginnenden Vorkonferenz zur Innenministerkonferenz (IMK). "Die drohende Abschiebung von etwa 10.000 Roma muss auf die Tagesordnung der IMK. Die Minister müssen von ihrer Möglichkeit Gebrauch machen und einen sofortigen Abschiebungsstopp verfügen."

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has issued a new survey on the “Implementation of the Strategy for Reintegration of Repatriated Persons in Kosovo's Municipalities”. The report concludes that the Strategy for the Reintegration of Repatriated Persons has not yet been adequately implemented at the central or local level. More particularly, the OSCE notes that the central institutions made little efforts to ensure that the Strategy and accompanying Action Plan are adequately distributed throughout the public administration, including municipal authorities, and effectively implemented. As a consequence, none of the municipalities has adopted specific policies in the field of reintegration of persons who are forcibly repatriated. As a result, forcibly repatriated person often find themselves without any assistance, the OSCE notes. The report is available here.

The UNHCR has just issued its New eligibility guidelines for assessing the international protection needs of individuals from Kosovo. These Guidelines contain updated information on the political and security situation in Kosovo, the established legal frameworks, and the current situation of groups at risk of persecution or serious harm, including minority communities. Against this background these Guidelines assess the need for international protection under the 1951 Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as other relevant international and regional instruments. The guidelines are available here.

The Central Council of German Sinti and Roma appealed Monday for Germany not to repatriate ethnic minorities to Kosovo and grant permanent right of residence to those who had been in the country for more than ten years. Last week, the German interior ministry confirmed plans for up to 14,000 refugees to be returned to the region, ten years after the end of the Kosovo War.

Kosovo civil society groups have warned against the return of 14,000 Kosovo refugees from Germany. From them, about 10,000 are Roma minority members who have been in Germany since the end of the war in 1999 and face unemployment and deep poverty in Kosovo, where the situation is already precarious due to an economy that is recovering from war and decades of neglect. However, German authorities cite the improved security situation as a good enough reason for the forced return of refugees. In Kosovo, the first returnees have found a chaotic situation with many of them going missing after landing in Kosovo. The Republic of Kosovo Ministry of Labor and Returnees cannot say what happened to most of those returned, and the potential hotel accommodation it has available for a week for returnees is not being used. (Source: newkosovareport)

Ein aktueller Recherchebericht von Pro Asyl kommt zu dem Schluss: Abgeschobene Roma und Angehörige anderer Minderheiten haben im Kosovo kaum eine Chance, eine menschenwürdige Existenz zu begründen. Ihnen steht ein Leben am Rande des physischen Existenzminimums bevor. Ihre Menschenrechte auf körperliche Unversehrtheit, auf Zugang zu Gesundheitsversorgung und Bildung bleiben auf der Strecke.