INSTITUTE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN'S POLICY

STATEMENT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

For more information, contact the Institute for Women and Children's Policy
iwcp@angelfire.com
11 April 1999

The Crisis in Kosovo

On 24 March 1999, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) staged an aerial bombing assault on Kosovo, a province in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.  The bombing campaign was started after the President of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, refused to sign a peace treaty that was negotiated in France that would give the ethnic Albanian majority population in the province of Kosovo autonomy.  The treaty had been signed by the Albanian majority.

The bombing campaign, now in its third week with no hope of letting up, has created a significant refugee problem.  Over 100,000 Albanian refugees have been forced to flee from their homes -- many with no hopes of ever returning again.  In an effort to relieve some of strain accomodating the refugees, many NATO countries have agreed to transport the refugees from Macedonia into their respective countries.  However, the government of Macedonia, according to reliable sources, are forcing many of the refugees to leave the country against their will -- in some cases, entire families are being separated.  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has stated that as many as 10,000 refugees cannot be accounted for because of this Macedonian policy.

Another concern with the refugee situation is that families are being separated.  Many of the refugees who are crossing the border into Macedonia are women and children -- many of the men are missing.  And they cannot be accounted for.  One report that came through stated that a woman saved her teenage son by dressing him as a woman in order to get him across the border.

In another development in the past week, the government of Yugoslavia closed its borders forcing even more refugees to return to homes that do not exist.  The government has claimed that the refugees are returning voluntarily but it is widely believed that the government will use the refugees as "human shields" to prevent further bombing attacks from NATO.  Reports from NATO are stating that one Serb tank was surrounded by refugees returning into Kosovo -- presumably to keep NATO forces from bombing the tank.

I have also learned that many young Albanian Kosavar women are being taken to a Serb army training camp near Djakovica where they are being raped by Serbian troops -- much in the same way that the Japanese Imperial Army used women from several Asian countries as comfort women during World War II.  This is clearly a violation of international law and the human rights of the women involved.

It is therefore that I demand the following:

1.  That the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia immediately withdraw its troops from Kosovo.

2.  That President Slobodan Milosevic enter into a peace treaty with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and giving the province complete autonomy.

3.  That NATO immediately enact a cease-fire upon verification that 1 and 2 above have occurred.

4.  That the government of Yugoslavia guarantee the return of all Albanian refugees to Kosovo and that they facilitate the reunion of families.

5.  That the member nations of NATO provide financial assistance to help rebuild Kosovo.

6.  That the government of Yugoslavia apologize and offer financial compensation to the women who were raped during the NATO air bombing campaign.


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