Die Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe SFH nimmt in einem vierseitigen Papier Stellung zur Beurteilung von Gesuchen von asylsuchenden Roma, Ashkali, «Ägypterinnen und Ägypter» aus Kosovo - anknüpfend an ihre früheren Positionen und gestützt auf eine neue Lageanalyse.

http://www.osar.ch/2008/10/10/kosovo_roma

In reaction to the nomination of the Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari to the Peace Nobel Prize, Romano Them said that the Kosovo Roma have no reason to join the chorus of congratulants. "Mr. Ahtisaari's achievements in bringing back peace in other parts of the world are undeniable, but in the case of the Kosovo Roma his action was a complete failure.", the organisation added.

The organisations Romane Anglonipe and the Verein der Rroma-Lehrer für Schulbildung und Kultur aus dem Kosovo e.V. have launched a petition against the forced repatriation of Roma to Kosovo. The petition will be submitted on the occasion of the meeting of the German conference of the Ministers of Interior in November. Deadline for submission is 14 November 2008. The forms are available here (german).

Die Schweizerischen Flüchtlingshilfe SFH hat ein Update zur ihrer Länderanalyse Kosovo herausgebracht. Der Bericht kann hier herunter geladen werden: http://www.osar.ch/2008/08/12/kosovo_update_situation

 In its most recent report to the Security Council, the UN Secretary General provides a brief account of the fact that the Kosovo Ministry of Communities and Returns has committed itself to "the overall responsibility and funding of the management of the Osterode camp" in Northern Kosovo, which were formerly assured by UNMIK. The report however remains entirely silent about the new lead crisis which erupted after tests carried out on the children in these camps showed that the lead levels in their blood has remained dramatically high.

The human rights in Kosovo are unsatisfactory as serious violations of human rights were registered in the past year, Kosovo's acting ombudsmanHilmi Jashari said on Monday.

Kosovo's justice system has failed to charge and sentence alleged perpetrators of riots in 2004 that saw the worst ethnic violence since the 1999 war, an OSCE report said Thursday.

After obtaining information from different sources about the way in which the Roma community live in the northern part of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica and after the suspicions raised that members of this community live in an environment with considerably high toxic components, the Ombudsperson Institution has initiated ex-officio investigations.

A new report by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) discovers divergence between the EU messages and the realities that minority communities face in their day-to-day lives in SEE countries. This is partly because the EU lacks an institutionalized mechanism for involving local minority communities in the accession process, the report says.

Die psychiatrische Versorgungslage im Kosovo hat sich keineswegs verbessert, sie ist eher noch schlechter geworden. In einem Artikel für die Zeitschrift für Asylrecht und Asylpolitik fasst Hans-Wolfgang Gierlichs die Ergebnisse einer Studie des kosovarischen Gesundheitsministeriums zusammen. Der Artikel kann hier herunter geladen werden.