February 22 (SeeNews) - The living situation of Kosovo's Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities did not improve last year and they continued to live in overcrowded informal settlements without adequate access to water and other basic services, Amnesty International said.
These communities are suffering institutional dicrimination, in particular in accessing sustainable solutions for housing and employment, as internally displaced persons, the non-governmental organisation said in the 2016/2017 edition of its annual report The State of the World’s Human Rights.
The Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP) brought to light past several breaches of the human rights of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities under the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Amnesty International said in its report which covers 159 countries and territories. I
In February 2016 HRAP found out that UNMIK subjected several families from these communities to inhuman and degrading treatment, failed to respect their rights to respect for private and family life and to health and discriminated against them on the grounds of their ethnic background.
In its final report from June 2016, HRAP severely condemned UNMIK for its overall failure to provide accountability for human rights violations, Amnesty International noted.
UNMIK was established in order to provide an interim administration for Kosovo. Its mandate started in June 1999, immediately after the Kosovo war (March 1998 - June 1999). Following the declaration of independence by the Kosovo authorities on 17 February 2008 and the entry into force of the new constitution, the tasks of UNMIK have significantly been modified with its configuration changed and the number of staff reduced.