Kosovo: An Unfinished Peace 9781685850302

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KOSOVO

INTERNATIONAL PEACE A C A D E M Y OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES

KOSOVO An Unfinished Peace

William G. O'Neill

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IN IN

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RIENNER PUBLISHERS BOULDER L O N D O N

Published in the United States of America in 2002 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 1800 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80301 www.rienner.com and in the United Kingdom by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 3 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8LU © 2002 by William G. O'Neill. All rights reserved by the publisher

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O'Neill, William G. Kosovo : an unfinished peace / William G. O'Neill. p. cm.—(International Peace Academy occasional paper series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58826-021-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Kosovo (Serbia)—History—Civil War, 1998—Peace. 2. Human rights—Yugoslavia—Kosovo (Serbia). 3. Criminal justice, Administration of—Yugoslavia—Kosovo (Serbia). I. Title. II. Series. DR2087.6.P43 0 5 4 2001 949.7103—dc21 2001048121

British Cataloguing in Publication Data A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in the United States of America @

The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984. 5

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Contents

Foreword, David M. Malone Preface Acknowledgments Map of Kosovo

7 9 11 12

1

Introduction

13

2

Violence Gradually Prevails : The Prewar Period, 1989-1999

21

3

The U N Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo: An Unwieldy Beast

37

4

The NATO Kosovo Force

43

5

Human Rights in Kosovo

51

6

The Kosovo Judiciary and Legal Reform

75

7

Policing the Peace

99

8

The Kosovo Protection Corps

117

9

Prisons and the Penal System

125

10

Preventing Future Human Rights Abuses

129

11

Conclusion

137

5

6 List of Acronyms Chronology of Key Events Selected Bibliography Index About This Publication Other International Peace Academy Publications The International Peace Academy

CONTENTS

143 145 149 151 157 158 159

Foreword David M. Matone,

President; International Peace Academy

We publish with great pride, in the International Peace Academy Occasional Paper Series, William G. O'Neill's fascinating volume on human rights in Kosovo as seen through the prism of his experience with the UN mission there in 1999-2000. This text builds on the efforts of the International Peace Academy to bring serious research and policy-development writing to scholars and practitioners alike. Importantly for the UN and other international organizations, Bill O'Neill provides both useful conclusions at the end of his text and some specific recommendations for a variety of actors. Bill is well known to and widely admired within not only UN circles, but also the broader human rights and international legal communities to which he belongs. He served with distinction in the joint UN-OAS Civilian Mission in Haiti during the years 1993-1995 and in the UN's Human Rights Mission in Rwanda in 1995-1997. His field experience thus extends as broadly as his commitment to the protection and promotion of international human rights standards runs deep. It is our hope that the events documented here and the reflections of the author will inspire the UN, regional organizations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to consider not only what we need to do better in future international deployments, but also what we do well and on what existing "good practices" we can build. We are deeply grateful to Bill for the in-depth research he carried out in preparation for the writing of this fluent and illuminating text, and for preparing the draft under tight deadlines. The result, we believe, fully justifies the effort involved. He and we are most grateful to the Ford Foundation for funding the research and publication of this volume that aims above all, as usual with International Peace Academy work, at being policy relevant.

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Preface

Working in Kosovo is a challenging and humbling experience, and the issues are complex and overwhelming. The suffering of the people of Kosovo and their ability to get on with life after losing so much is truly inspiring. The desire to hold the guilty accountable is praiseworthy, less so the thirst for vengeance held by some Kosovo Albanians. I worked in Kosovo from September 1999 to March 2000 as the senior adviser on human rights to the special representative of the SecretaryGeneral. Since then, I have stayed in virtual daily contact with former colleagues in the UN mission and with several Kosovar friends. All interviews conducted for this study occurred during a research trip I made to Kosovo in September 2000 and in subsequent meetings in New York and elsewhere. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing danger and violence in Kosovo, everyone I interviewed there asked that their names not be used, and I have honored their requests. Likewise, most UN and OSCE officials requested anonymity. Concerning place names, I have decided to use the Serbian versions because these are more familiar and I did not want to burden the reader with the tiresome practice of repeating two names for every place, thus adding to an already lengthy work. My decision has no political content or intent, and in a few places I use the Albanian version where that has become widely known. Although I did not begin this study with moral questions in mind, it soon became clear that Kosovo presents a complex moral universe. I tried to identify the moral challenges throughout the text. But one demands attention at the outset: is it morally right or responsible to expect that Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs reach some accommodation after the horrors of the past twelve years? Is it "starry-eyed naïveté" or "Western human rights-style neocolonialism" to promote tolerance and respect for diversity? Perhaps. But if so, I think it is the lesser of two evils. It is a serious misreading of the Balkans to assume that its inhabitants are congenital-

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ly incapable of coexistence or that alleged immutable and ancient ethnic hatreds require partitioning of territories and people. Worse, I think it is patronizing to conclude that Kosovars cannot distinguish between who is guilty of a crime against humanity and who is an innocent neighbor, or that mutual respect and honoring cultural diversity are unattainable goals. While the guilty must be punished and the past never forgotten, it would be morally irresponsible to accept pat explanations and demand anything less than an all-out effort to reach these goals. —William G. O'Neill

Acknowledgments

Many people helped make this book possible. First, I want to thank the many good and brave people of all ethnic backgrounds from Kosovo. Unfortunately, they must remain anonymous, but their insights, honesty, and generosity were invaluable. UNMIK and KFOR colleagues, too numerous to mention here, provided an example and an inspiration for all involved in modern peacekeeping operations. Staff at the International Peace Academy in New York, especially David Malone and Karin Wermester, provided substantive advice and administrative support. I would also like to thank Katherine E. Garrett, David Malone, Ian Martin, Sandra Mitchell, and Elio Tamburi for their extremely helpful comments on earlier drafts. All mistakes, of course, are my responsibility. This project would not have been possible without the generous support of the Ford Foundation. And I would never even have gone to Kosovo without the encouragement and backing of my wife, Katherine E. Garrett. —W. G. O'N.

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