Kosovo Update #13
Physicians for Human Rights
August 19, 1999Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has investigated episodes of violence and intimidation in health care services in Kosovo.
1. PHR has learned of an incident involving a brutal attack on a Serb physician in Kosovo by Kosovar Albanians.
*PHR investigators interviewed a Serbian doctor who had been critically injured on August 4, 1999 while working in his clinic in the center of Pristina. His clinic was one of six which provided primary care for the population of Pristina. He had worked at this clinic for more than a decade and had provided medical care to both Albanians and Serbs.
An Albanian woman came in to the clinic and asked for a prescription for an antibiotic for her child. The doctor gave the woman the prescription, and she left the clinic. The woman returned a few hours later, accompanied by a man dressed in civilian clothing, who shot the doctor in the abdomen at close range. The man and woman were both identified as Albanians, but were not regular patients at the clinic. He was immediately taken to the Pristina hospital and subsequently transferred to a KFOR facility. His condition remains critical.
This attack occurred three days after an agreement was made between Russian KFOR, British KFOR, and the Serbian and Albanian Directors of the six ambulantas (clinics) providing primary care in Pristina to provide safety in the workplace.2. Physicians for Human Rights has examined the status of ethnic Serb physicians and patients in Pristina hospital.
*Almost all of the physicians and health workers as well as the patients at the Pristina hospital are currently Albanian. Through negotiation with the hospital, some Albanian doctors and other health workers were allowed to return to their jobs at the hospital on June 18, 1999 (see PHR’s Kosovo Update #12). Physicians who were dismissed in the mass firings of Albanians in 1990 returned en masse soon thereafter. Nearly all Serb physicians and patients have now left the hospital. One Albanian physician interviewed said that on the day he returned to the neurosurgery ward, there were no Albanian patients and only wounded Serbs. Currently, he said, the situation has completely reversed.
*Recent interviews with the few remaining Serb physicians and patients revealed that there is a general fear of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and other Albanian hard-liners both inside and outside the hospital. One physician was threatened by a KLA member admitted as a patient: “I must say I am afraid. But, I am not afraid of my Albanian colleagues. I had an incident with an UCK (KLA) patient who attempted to beat me and (my Albanian colleagues) protected me. It is even more dangerous on the street and at market places where there is no one to protect us.” The Serb patients interviewed did not complain of abuse or mistreatment from Albanian physicians or health professionals, but indicated that they did not feel comfortable in the hospital: “I can't complain about the treatment I am receiving here, but this is not the place for me.”
3. Fear has dissuaded Serbs from coming to the hospital when critically injured.
*A group of four critically injured Serb victims of an unprovoked drive-by shooting reported to PHR that they bypassed Pristina hospital and traveled over 20 km to a Serb- dominated clinic. Fearful of receiving care at the almost exclusively Albanian Pristina Hospital, the group chose to make the longer journey to seek care at the Serbian run clinic at Kosovo Polje. The group entered the clinic while a PHR investigator, who interviewed the driver of the group, was present. The patients had been in a group of 10 to 20 civilians, including women and elderly, which was sprayed by automatic gunfire by a single person driving by in an automobile. The four patients who came to the clinic were all young men: one died and one lost the use of his left arm.
4. The Kosovo Polje Clinic remains segregated and is characterized by ethnic tension.
*Approximately 15 km from Pristina, the Kosovo Polje Clinic remains entirely staffed by Serb physicians. Despite attempts at negotiation with the clinic, no Albanian physicians have been reinstated. The Clinic is providing care to a mixed population. PHR’s physician / investigator requested a list of the patients at the clinic from the Director of the clinic. The list she was given had a derogatory term hand-written next to the names of the Albanian patients. These facts highlight the resistance to an integrated health system that exists at the clinic.
5. Physicians for Human Rights has learned about details of two cases of Albanian health workers being held in a Serbian prison. These health professionals are among the over two thousand Kosovar political prisoners currently being held in Serbia. Physicians for Human Rights calls on Serbian authorities to make criminal charges against each detainee public, to ensure that each detainee has access to a lawyer, and to ensure that each detainee is granted legal safeguards in accordance with international standards for fair trials.
*PHR’s investigator interviewed the father of Ilir Hoxa, an Albanian fifth- year medical student at the Pristina Medical School who was arrested in August of last year by Serb authorities for providing medical care in field hospitals. He was charged with terrorism for attempting to set up a pharmacy for the KLA organization and was indicted in November 1998. He remains imprisoned at the Pozharevac prison.
*PHR continues to express its concern about the imprisonment of Dr. Flora Brovina (see PHR Urgent Action, July 15, 1999, “Colleague at Risk: Kosovo, Flora Brovina”). According to reliable reports, Dr. Brovina was abducted on 22 April 1999 by a group of special policemen, charged with terrorism and separatism, and detained at the Lipljan prison in Kosovo. We are deeply concerned that Dr. Brovina is being detained because she continued to practice medicine during the recent conflict. Dr. Brovina was transferred from Lipljan prison to Pozarevac prison in eastern Serbia in early June. PHR has received reliable information that Dr. Brovina is quite ill and that she has not been given access to medical care.
Recommendations
NATO,the U.S. and its allies must deploy KFOR forces aggressively where minorities are at risk in Kosovo. As stipulated in Security Council Resolution 1244 and in the Military Agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia, KFOR must more robustly use its mandate to ensure public security. KFOR and the UN Civil Administration must enhance monitoring and early warning mechanisms and have a rapid reaction force to quell violence in the making. In the meantime, the UN must rapidly deploy a full contingent of civilian police and quarter them in the communities they police. KFOR and UNMIK (the UN Mission in Kosovo) must ensure that medical facilities have adequate security to serve all ethnic communities and that they take forceful steps to ensure ethnic integration of staff.
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leadership at all levels (military and political), in the capital and all municipalities, must regularly denounce abuses against Serbs and Roma, conduct investigations of abuses, and release the information. It must ensure that KLA military forces stay out of hospitals and in general do not interfere with health professionals and the delivery of health care.
PHRurges the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to investigate violations medical neutrality and hold those individuals responsible accountable.
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