Ethnic Communities in Kosovo 2003 and 2004
During the course of 2003, Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) investigators visited all the settlements in Kosovo inhabited by persons belonging to ethnic minorities and interviewed 497 Serbs, Montenegrins, Roma, Bosniaks, Turks, Gorani, Egyptians, Ashkali, and Albanians. They paid special attention to the returnees. The investigators discussed with the interviewees the matters of security, freedom of movement, access to administrative and judicial authorities, access to health and social welfare services, employment, education, access to property, participation in political life, and return. The data they gathered indicate some improvement in 2003 regarding the freedom of movement and the return of refugees. This is a major step forward compared with the preceding period when Serbs in particular ran the risk of losing their lives outside their settlements.