KFOR cases test human rights law

KFOR cases test human rights law

In one of the cases, a boy died playing with cluster bombs they say French troops failed to remove or make safe.

The UK has argued to the court that the troops should not be held responsible.

Boy blinded

The boy's father, Agim Behrami, travelled to Strasbourg for the hearing.

One of his sons, Gadaf, died in the explosion in March 2000, and another, Bekir, was blinded.

The cluster bombs had been dropped during the NATO bombardment in 1999, and left untouched in an unmarked area in hills near Mitrovica.

Mr Behrami says it was the duty of French KFOR forces, operating in the Mitrovica area, to mark or defuse the undetonated cluster bombs.

The London-based Advice on Individual Rights in Europe (Aire) centre, which is representing him and his blinded son, says the French troops knew the bombs were there, but took no steps to inform families of the danger.

"They said it was 'not a priority' for them," the centre said in a press release.

The other case is brought by a man, Ruzhdi Saramati, who was detained by KFOR troops on suspicion of involvement in armed groups operating on the Kosovo/Macedonia border.

He accuses Norwegian and French KFOR commanders of violating his right to liberty by holding him for six months without any legal basis.

"Impunity"

The UK government has submitted observations to the court regarding both cases, arguing that countries should not be accountable for violations by their troops of the European Convention on Human Rights, in countries that have not signed it.

The UK says the Kosovans were not under the jurisdiction of France, Germany or Norway and that the troops were not "required to secure to them the rights and freedoms" of the Convention.

It adds: "It would be obviously undesirable and inappropriate for the European Convention to be interpreted in a way that discouraged or even put at risk participation in such peacekeeping" by states that are signatories to the Convention.

Aire staff were among the experts sent in by the Council of Europe to train new Kosovo judges and lawyers on the Convention of Human Rights.

"We encountered at first hand the bitterness in Kosovo at being told to they had to implement the convention when the United Nations mission and K-For troops could disregard it with impunity," said Aire director Nuala Mole.

She said it was shocking that the UK was arguing that its troops did not have to respect human rights on foreign missions.