Albania Essay Research Paper The destruction of — страница 4

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where they were able to control their own destiny. Unfortunately, these conditions did not last long. The Socialist Republic of Serbia made an amendment (amendment 47, article 3) which stated: The Assembly of Serbia before deciding upon a proposal to act for changes in the Constitution of Serbia, presents the proposal for consideration to the assemblies of the autonomous provinces, takes into account the opinion of the assemblies of the autonomous provinces, and takes decision upon those opinions (BRS Kosovo Under the Burden of the Serbian Discriminatory Laws 5). Therefore, Kosovo no longer determined its own outcome. It can give an opinion, which has no legally binding effect, to Serbia for consideration, but it does not mean that Serbia will comply with Kosovo s advice.

Serbians also added an amendment, which implemented the use of Serbo-Croat language and its alphabet. This was in direct violation of the Constitutional principal of equality of languages, especially since the Albanians made up 90% of the population. The only reason that the Kosova government agreed to the amendments was due to the use of Serbian Force. The second aspect of the unconstitutionality of the mentioned amendments has to do with the procedure itself and the situation that prevailed at the time of their approval. In fact, immediately before their approval, on 27 February 1989 to be exact, the presidency of SFRY introduced a state of emergency to Kosova, which was still in power on 23 March 1989, when the assembly of Kosova passed a decision for granting its consent to

constitutional amendments 9-49 of the SRS Constitution. The building of the Parliament of Kosova was surrounded by the army and police, tanks and armored vehicles, and military aircraft and helicopters hovered low over it at the very time of the decision making, which means that the consent was given under strong pressure (BRS Ethnic Albanians 5). This was the first step, in Serbia s policy to rid Kosova of its Albanian inhabitants. From there on Serbia would implement a plan of ethnic cleansing in Kosova. A method used to enforce the ethnic cleansing policy by the Serbian government was the use of police abuse against ethnic Albanians, this specific method which has drawn the attention of Amnesty International. Due to the severity of the problem, in June 1992 the organization

issued a report, Yugoslavia: Ethnic Albanians victims of torture and ill treatment by police in Kosovo province Even though the Yugoslav Criminal Code has a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment and the Serbian Criminal Code provides a maximum sentence of up to five years, Amnesty International noted that in 1993 there have been no SBD officers prosecuted under these conditions. The right no to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishments is protected by Article 7 of the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights and under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or degrading treatment or Punishment. Both of he mentioned treaties are legally binding on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Unfortunately for

the Albanian people, this would just be the beginning. In 1997, the Council of the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, based in Prishtina, which has been monitoring violations of human rights since its foundation (1989), has concluded that during 1997 there was no single right or freedom which was not the subject of violation (BRS Human Rights Violation in Kosovo in the course of 1997 1). During the year of 1997, CDHRF registered: - 35 Albanians were killed or died in a violent way, of whom - 5 died due to police torture - 11 were killed with weapons used by police or army, - one was stabbed by a Serb, - 18 were killed or died under unknown circumstances, - 1073 persons were arrested, of whom 12 were convicted, - 596 persons were arbitrarily arrested, - 803 persons were sought

out and summoned to police stations, - 480 were taken in for informative talks - 427 Albanian families were raided, - 1 rape attempt, - 207 cases of threats against individuals or families, - 5 hostage cases, - 3 kidnapping cases, - 57 cases of police intervention in educational institutions, - 8 cases of police intervention regarding political parties and associations, - 5 cases of police intervention regarding humanitarian associations, - 10 cases of profanation of national symbols, - 10 cases of real estate usurpation, - 9 cases of real estate confiscation - 10 cases of hampering economic activity, - 3 cases of hampering private festivals, - 8 cases of police intervention in political institutions, - 3 cases of police interventions in cultural institutions, - 1 case of police