UNMIK Kosovo

UNMIK entered Kosovo under the banner of human rights, but the Mission started with a mistake that badly influenced the life of part of Kosovo inhabitants. In the first three months of international administration, the UN failed to organize any kind of effective police force in Kosovo.

Prizren destroyed house

At the same time, KFOR troops were not ready to deal with this problem. In that vacuum, the spirit of revenge in some parts of the Albanian population could freely thrive as well as the appetites of criminal groups. Cities and villages were cleansed from the members of minorities who didn’t leave the province with the retreating Serbian army.

Granma in IDP camp Gracanica

Their properties were illegally occupied, or looted and destroyed. Parallel to the return of 900.000 Albanian refugees who fled Kosovo during the conflict, murders, kidnappings and harassments forced a great part – around 200.000 people – of Kosovo minorities to leave their homes. According to UNHCR statistics, until 2006 only 15.000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) returned to Kosovo.

Those who returned found their properties destroyed or occupied. They live in ghettoes dispersed through Kosovo, often without access to basic services. Threats, harassments, and isolation are part of the daily life of returnees.