Frederikshavn d. 29.07.98

Ang. Krigssituationen i Kosova hvor den serbiske regering nu har indsat tunge våben med yderligere død og masseflugt til følge (efter at de nedenstående AI-rapporter er skrevet) og hvor den fra den bosniske krig så berygtede serbiske krigsforbryder Arkans milits nu mishandler kosovoalbanere og brænder deres landsbyer(Information d. 29.07.98).

Ja , så har jeg modtaget nedenstående opfordring fra et medlem af Amnesty International, som følger situationen i Kosovo tæt. Og jeg vil skynde mig at bringe de relevante uddrag videre til videre foranstaltning alt efter placering og muligheder.

Med venlig hilsen

Arne Hansen, Sønderjylllands Alle' 35, 9900 Frederikshavn, epost arnehans@post3.tele.dk, http://home3.inet.tele.dk/arnehans

"Jeg vil tillade mig at bede om din udelte opmærksomhed og kreative tænkning i nogle få timer af dit liv. Det handler om mennesker i overhængende livsfare i et kyniske magtspil, hvor vi selv er med til at udsende signaler.

Opmærksomheden er rettet mod Kosovo provinsen i det tidligere Jugoslavien og den krig vi har været bange for ville komme.

Du har nu fået én del af det nye materiale fra Amnesty International i hånden.

(Du kan se dele af det på AI's internetside http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/1998/EUR/47004698.htm og abbonnere på AI's epostservice, eller rekvirere dokumant series A AI index: EUR 70/32-35/98 fra june 1998 og EUR 70/46/98 July 1998 hos Amnesty International, Dyrkøb 3, 1166 Kbh K tlf 33117541, epost: sekretariatet@amnesty.dk

I øvrigt er det også muligt at få oplysninger om Kosovo på TFF/konfliktlægen Jan Øbergs internethjemmeside: http://www.transnational.org.

Og desuden fra en part på Kosova-siden: http://www.kosova-state.org og med Epostadressen: kosove@kosova-state.org har jeg uopfordret fået situationsberetninger. Parantesen her er tilføjet af Arne Hansen)

Det drejer sig om ... rapporter om baggrund for og analyser af begivenhederne i Kosovo. Det er forfærdeligt at læse - det må være traumatiserende at opleve!

Og vi kan ikke - vi behøver ikke blive stående som passive vidner ude på sidelinjen

Vi skal udsende signaler til vore egne politikere om at medvirke helhjertet til en fredelig løsning

Vi kan sprede holdninger ved at diskutere det med venner og naboer

Vi må behandle krigsflygtninge med omsorg og forståelse.

Vi vil være med til at forbedre mulighederne for forhandlinger

Blokering - afvæbning - løsning af såvel sociale som humanitære og territoriale problemer

.... men aldrig flere soldater, mere våben og tomme trusler om endnu mere terror!!

Vi må afdække de vestlige politikeres skjulte dagsorden og forlange oprigtighed og nærvær af

af os selv og vore egne...."

(Klip fra omslaget af " A human Rights Crisis in Kosovo province, Amnesty Document series A: Events to june 1998, #2: Violence in Drenica, february -April . EUR 70/33/98 june 1998 ")

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT SERIES

As of June 1998, the international community is looking on as the security situation in Kosovo province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia rapidly deteriorates and even minimal respect for human rights is withdrawn. Recent Serbian police and military operations, although ostensibly directed at the armed opposition Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), have led to hundreds of civilian deaths, many apparently a result of deliberate or indiscriminate attacks. Attacks on civilians have been part of the reason why tens of thousands of people have fled their homes. Members of the KLA have also been responsible for human rights abuses.

Developments as of June 1998 cannot be isolated from more than a decade of unaddressed human rights violations in Kosovo province. Throughout that time Amnesty International has been documenting and campaigning against a systematic pattern of human rights violations in Kosovo province - including torture and ill-treatment by police, deaths in police custody, and unfair trials of political prisoners. The lack of effective redress for these and other violations of basic human rights in the province must be counted among the sources of frustration and anger which have culminated in the present conflict.

In addition to its ongoing research, media work and the campaigning initiatives of its members worldwide to respond to events unfolding as of June 1998, with this series of reports Amnesty International delves beneath today's headlines and continues its detailed scrutiny of the long-standing

patterns of abuses in Kosovo province. Four documents in the series now being published simultaneously are:

#l: Background. A crisis waiting to happen (Al Index: EUR 70132/98). A summary analysis of the causes of the present crisis, and Amnesty International's recommendations to the international community, the Yugoslav authorities and the KLA.

#2: Violence in Drenica (Al Index: EUR 70/33/98). A detailed analysis of arbitrary killings

and extrajudicial executions during police and military operations in February-March 1998 in

the Drenica region (a precursor to events in June), and reports of KLA abuses.

#3: Deaths in custody, torture and ill-treatment (Al Index: EUR 70/34/98). A survey of the

widespread use of torture and ill-treatment against detainees and on the streets against demonstrators, including recent detailed victim testimony and photographic evidence from 1998. #4: Unfair trials and abuses of due process (Al Index: EUR 70/35/98). A survey of ongoing failures in the administration ofjustice in political cases, including details of four political trials in 1997-98.

These reports are based largely on information gathered during an Amnesty International mission to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in March 1998 to investigate human rights violations, including those perpetrated in the context of police and military operations in the Drenica region, and on updated infonnation from Amnesty International representatives in the field in June 1998. In addition, information was supplied by local human rights monitors in Kosovo and Belgrade, local lawyers, foreign and local journalists and other individuals. Amnesty International is grateful for the assistance it has received from these sources.

A further series of reports, now in preparation, will address the human rights situation in Kosovo from June 1998.

Cover photograph: The body of Rukije Nebiu, a pregnant mother of two, shot through the head apparently with a high velocity weapon during a police operation in the village of Cirez on the night of 28 February-I March 1998.

C Amnesty International.

INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT, 1 EASTON STREET, LONDON WCIX 8DJ, UNITED KINGDOM