Slovenia: AI condemns forcible return of “erased”

Slovenia: AI condemns forcible return of “erased”

There, as members of Romani/Ashkali/Egyptiani communities, with the current uncertainty surrounding the final status of Kosovo and the recent increase in ethnic tension, they would be at risk of ethnically-motivated attacks.

Amnesty International is concerned that the Slovenian authorities have not restored retroactively the status of permanent residents of those "erased" in 1992 and, in this case, have deported from Slovenia one of them, with his family.

Ali Berisha was born in the former Yugoslavia, in Kosovo. He was registered as a permanent resident in the city of Maribor, in what is now Slovenia, between 1987 and 1992.

In 1992, he was one of some 18,305 people who were "erased" (unlawfully removed from the Slovenian registry of permanent residents) and was thus deprived of his rights as a permanent resident, including his right to have access to health care and his employment and social security rights.

Following his "erasure", Ali Berisha was forced to leave Slovenia in 1993. He voluntarily returned there in September 2005 and since then has lived with his family in a reception centre for asylum-seekers in Ljubljana.

Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Slovenian authorities to retroactively restore the status of permanent residents of those "erased" in 1992 and to provide other forms of reparation, including compensation, to the individuals affected.

Amnesty International also calls on the German authorities not to forcibly transfer Ali Berisha and his family to Kosovo where they would be at risk of ethnically-motivated attacks, the statement ends.