Freedom in the World 1999 - Yugoslavia

1999 Scores

Status: Partly Free
Freedom Rating: 5.0
Civil Liberties: 5
Political Rights: 5

Ratings Change

Yugoslavia's political rights and civil liberties ratings changed from 6 to 5 because Kosovo is no longer under the control of the Milosevic government, and due to the more favorable situation in Montenegro.

Overview

The year 1999 was perhaps the most dramatic year in the decade-long Yugoslav crisis. The Albanian-Serb struggle for control over Kosovo became a full-fledged war, provoking a regional crisis, drawing NATO into its first offensive military campaign against a sovereign country and turning the Kosovo conflict into a major source of contention between the great powers. The fortunes of war also swung dramatically, as a campaign unleashed by Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic drove hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from their homes. After Milosevic agreed to terms for a settlement of the conflict in June, a campaign of reverse ethnic cleansing began involving attacks on the Serb, Roma (Gypsy), and other minority populations. Tens of thousands of non-Albanians were subsequently forced from the province, with NATO unable or unwilling to react. With NATO in de facto control of Kosovo, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was split into three distinct political entities, with Montenegrin president Milo Djukanovic and his supporters openly contemplating secession from what remained of the Yugoslav federation. Nevertheless, despite these setbacks, Milosevic defied all expectations by staying in power through year's end.

Two rounds of talks, held in Rambouillet, France, in February and March to negotiate a settlement to the Kosovo crisis failed when the Yugoslav delegation refused to accept a U.S. plan for turning over control of the province to NATO. On March 24 NATO began a bombing campaign lasting 79 days. Under cover of the NATO attacks, Serbian paramilitary units began to forcibly expel hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from possible invasion routes into the country and from areas in which the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had been active. Estimates of the number of people killed during the war (as a result of killings by Serbian paramilitary units and fighting between the KLA and Yugoslav governments, and from the NATO bombing itself) ranged from 5,000 to 10,000.

International outrage at these actions culminated in the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) issuing indictments for war crimes against Milosevic and four of his closest associates in May 1999. In the same month, the European Union (EU) instituted a travel ban against 305 of the most important members of Milosevic's regime. In December, the EU sanction on the Milosevic regime was expanded to include a further 383 persons.

On June 9, Milosevic accepted a deal, subsequently codified in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, in which control of the province was handed over to the UN while Yugoslav sovereignty was ostensibly maintained. In the vacuum of authority created by the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces, the introduction of NATO troops, and the establishment of a UN governing structure, the KLA swiftly moved in and established de facto authority in many municipalities. A UN attempt to create a multi-ethnic "Kosovo Transitional Council" to govern the province quickly fell apart, and on September 22, 1999, the two main Serbian leaders in Kosovo, Momcilo Trajkovic and Bishop Artemije of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), announced that they were quitting the council to protest the UN's inability to protect Serbs and other minorities. With the withdrawal of Yugoslav government forces from the province, a campaign described by international organizations as organized and systematic to forcibly expel non-Albanians from the province was launched, and by year's end the number of Serbs, Roma, Bosniacs, Jews, Turks, and others forced to flee the province was more than 100,000. Human rights organizations also documented numerous incidents of harassment of Kosovo Albanians who were not supporters or members of the KLA.

In Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic managed to hold on to power throughout the year and to maintain a careful balancing act between forces favoring outright independence for Montenegro (with a population of approximately 650,000) and those wanting to maintain ties with Serbia. Montenegrin society is severely polarized: a majority of the Slavic Orthodox population (approximately 40 percent of the total population) favors continued ties to Serbia, and a minority of the Slavic Orthodox population, supported by Montenegro's Albanian, Croat, and Muslim communities (altogether about 60 percent of Montenegro's population), wants outright independence. Consequently, there is a high potential for violence in the republic should any attempt at secession be made; moreover, Montenegro's economic viability as an independent state is extremely questionable.

Montenegro's conflicts with Serbia cover a wide range of issues; many are legitimate constitutional disputes about how power should be shared in the federation, but much of the problem stems from Milosevic's autocratic style and his refusal to tolerate any show of independence. In general, Djukanovic has favored a more conciliatory stance vis-à-vis the west, and this stance spared Montenegro from the worst of the NATO bombing campaign. Many Kosovo Albanians fled to Montenegro during the worst of the fighting in Kosovo, creating a tremendous burden for the tiny republic.

Djukanovic and his supporters continued throughout 1999 to edge closer to seceding from what remains of the Yugoslav federation. During the course of the year, Montenegro took over some border-control functions from Belgrade and tried to remain aloof from the conflict between NATO and Milosevic. In August, Montenegro offered a set of proposals outlining constitutional changes for a renamed and reshaped Yugoslav federation, but negotiations between the two republics made little progress. In November, Montenegro legalized use of the deutsche mark as a legal currency alongside the ailing Yugoslav dinar. In December, Montenegrin officials announced that Montenegro would not participate in federal elections organized by Milosevic's government. By year's end, however, with no explicitinternational support for a Montenegrin declaration of independence forthcoming, Djukanovic had to maintain his careful balancing act between Belgrade and those factions in his government supporting secession.

Despite the fact that Milosevic had become increasingly unpopular with the Serbian population (a public opinion poll carried out in September 1999 showed that 67 percent of the population wanted Milosevic to resign), the disunited Serbian opposition still proved unable to mobilize enough public support to threaten him seriously. In July, the leadership of the SOC publicly called on Milosevic to resign for the good of the country. A round of much-heralded public demonstrations begun in September quickly lost their momentum. Nevertheless, Milosevic was considerably weaker, as many important members of his regime, such as the banker Bogoljub Karic, announced that they were leaving the government. The Milosevic regime also faced significant economic problems due to the destruction caused by the NATO bombing (estimates on the total losses due to the bombing campaign ranged from $60 to $100 billion), the trade embargo on the country, and Yugoslavia's continued exclusion from international monetary organizations.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The judicial system in the FRY is generally considered to be controlled by the regime, and courts usually bow to the will of the state security apparatus. Judges are often subjected to various forms of intimidation and pressure. The controversial "Act on Lawyers" passed in July 1998 has been criticized by human rights groups for infringing on lawyer-client relationships. Police units are frequently accused of engaging in various abuses of human rights and civil liberties. Yugoslavia has also refused to cooperate with the ICTY, and many individuals indicted by the court remain at large in the FRY.

The rights of some 700,000 Serb refugees from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo are generally denied, as the FRY government refuses to grant them rights to citizenship, residency, or education. On July 7, 1999, representatives of Kosovo's Serbian teacher's union claimed that the Serbian education ministry was preventing 50,000 Serb children from Kosovo from enrolling in the new school year in Serbia proper. In Kosovo, international organizations criticized NATO and the UN for their inability to create a policing and judicial system capable of defending the rights of the Serb, Roma, and other minority populations, or of protecting Albanians opposed to the KLA, or of stemming he growth of organized crime.

Freedom of the press has been under attack in Yugoslavia since the adoption of a new "Law on Public Information" in October 1998, which allowed individuals or the government to charge reporters or media outlets with defamation, libel, or "spreading lies" and to defend themselves in the courts. Since the law was passed, three independent newspapers and ten radio and television stations have been forced to close. The independent media were further curtailed by the outbreak of war, which the Milosevic government used as an excuse to continue the crackdown. On the day before the NATO bombing campaign began, the well-known Belgrade radio station B-92 was forced to shut down. (B-92 managed to go on the air again a few months later, under the new title of B2 92.) On April 11, 1999, Slavko Curuvija, the publisher of the anti-regime Dnevni Telegraf, was gunned dow outside his Belgrade apartment. Several prominent independent journalists have had their vehicles car-bombed. Owners of printing companies have been fined and prosecuted as well. In Kosovo, the Albanian journalist and intellectual Veton Surroi was implicitly threatened with death in a KLA publication after decrying Albanian attacks against the remaining Serb population.

Yugoslavia has not had what could be considered free and fair elections for the past nine years. The US State Department claims that "in practice citizens cannot exercize the right to change their government." Although numerous independent political parties, trade unions, and other organizations exist, members are frequently harassed by the police. Police also frequently disrupt public gatherings of the opposition.

Freedom of association is guaranteed under the FRY's constitutions, and several trade unions exist. Independent trade unions have complained about various forms of government harassment. Although strikes and work stoppages are common, the regime often defuses such problems by temporarily acceding to local worker's demands.

Religious freedoms are also guaranteed under the constitution. The vast majority of Serbs are Orthodox Christians, but relations between the SOC and the Milosevic regime have been tense for years, and the church is still trying to reclaim property nationalized by the communists after 1945. Restitution issues remain unresolved for the Roman Catholic and Jewish religious communities in Yugoslavia as well. Human rights monitors have reported harassment of the Muslim minority in the Sandzak (a mountainous region on the border between Serbia and Montenegro) and of Muslim Albanians in Kosovo. In the fighting between Yugoslav government forces and the KLA, mosques were frequently destroyed or damaged. After NATO assumed control of Kosovo in mid-June, more than 70 churches and monasteries belonging to the SOC were destroyed by Albanian extremists.