© 2001 American Public Health Association
Vincent Iacopino and Doug Ford are with Physicians for Human Rights, Boston, Mass. Martina W. Frank and Ronald Waldman are with the Program on Forced Migration and Health, Center for Population and Family Health, Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY. Heidi M. Bauer is with the Preventive Medicine Program, University of California, San Francisco. Allen S. Keller is with the Bellevue New York University Program for Survivors of Torture, Center for Health and Human Rights, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. Sheri L. Fink is with the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley. Daniel J. Pallin is with the Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Vincent Iacopino, MD, PhD, Physicians for Human Rights, 100 Boylston St, Suite 702, Boston, MA 02116 (e-mail: viacopino{at}aol.com).
Objectives. This study assessed patterns of displacement and human rights abuses among Kosovar refugees in Macedonia and Albania. Methods. Between April 19 and May 3, 1999, 1180 ethnic Albanian refugees living in 31 refugee camps and collective centers in Macedonia and Albania were interviewed. Results. The majority (68%) of participants reported that their families were directly expelled from their homes by Serb forces. Overall, 50% of participants saw Serb police or soldiers burning the houses of others, 16% saw Serb police or soldiers burn their own home, and 14% witnessed Serb police or soldiers killing someone. Large percentages of participants saw destroyed mosques, schools, or medical facilities. Thirty-one percent of respondents reported human rights abuses committed against their household members, including beatings, killings, torture, forced separation and disappearances, gunshot wounds, and sexual assault. Conclusions. The present findings confirm that Serb forces engaged in a systematic and brutal campaign to forcibly expel the ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo. In the course of these mass deportations, Serb forces committed widespread abuses of human rights against ethnic Albanians. This article has been cited by other articles:
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