BLIC NEWS, July 11, 2001
** IN KOSOVO KFOR IS ABOVE THE LAW
"The legal system in Kosovo is not independent and it is in a very sad
state. Local judges have very low salaries, so corruption is flourishing
in the province, while the few international judges are dealing mostly
with the cases left over from 1999. The situation is far from
satisfactory", says Marek Antonyi Novicki, Ombudsman for human rights in
Kosovo, in an interview for Blic News.
(...) - What is the job of the ombudsman for human rights in Kosovo and
in what way can you help people who are threatened?
"Our main task can be brought down to promotion of human rights in
Kosovo and assistance to people whose rights have been violated. Our
jurisdiction covers the entire system of civil administration. This
practically means that the target of our investigations are central
authorities, that is UNMIK, but also the newly established local
authorities in Kosovar municipalities. The only problem is that military
forces in Kosovo (KFOR) are not in our jurisdiction. If we receive a
report that KFOR has violated somebody's human rights, unfortunately, we
cannot investigate anything. Our jurisdiction covers the whole territory
of Kosovo, but we can also work concerning certain problems outside
Kosovo. This refers primarily to Serb refugees from Kosovo whose
fundamental rights are threatened or Albanian refugees in other
countries. This jurisdiction is very limited because we cannot
investigate all these cases. What we can do is give the so-called good
services by offering our assistance in the procedure that can help
families outside Kosovo to find the right solution for their problems".
Serbian News Network - SNN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.antic.org/
