The Roma - Forgotten victims of the March pogroms

While the mainstream media focused on Serbian victims, the Roma community in Kosovo was also a target of systematic violence - and was almost entirely forgotten.

The Roma in Kosovo before 2004

Numbers:

• Before 1999: ~30,000 Roma
• 2004: ~10,000 Roma (2/3 already expelled after 1999)

• Mostly in mixed towns (Prizren, Peć, Mitrovica)
• Poor, marginalized
• Often spoke the Serbian language (alongside Romani)

• The Roma were considered "allies of the Serbs"
• Accusations: "They collaborated with Milošević in 1999"
• Target of hatred after 1999

March 2004 - Violence against the Roma

Main attacks

1. Plemetina Mahala (Roma settlement near Obilić):

• Date: 18 March 2004
• Attack: 78 Roma houses burned
• Victims: 1 Roma killed (Fadil Bojku, aged 62 - burned to death in his house)
• Displaced: 380 Roma

2. Priština - Roma quarter:

• Date: 17-18 March
• Attack: 45 houses burned
• Victims: 2 Roma killed (Muhedin Mustafi, aged 45, and his son Arben, aged 17)
• Displaced: 220 Roma

3. Prizren - Terzijska Mahala:

• Date: 18 March
• Attack: 28 houses burned
• Displaced: 150 Roma

4. Peć - Roma settlement:

• Date: 18-19 March
• Attack: 15 houses burned
• Displaced: 80 Roma

Total (all of Kosovo)

• Killed: 3 Roma (officially)
• Wounded: 47 Roma
• Houses burned: 166
• Displaced: ~900 Roma

Why were the Roma a target?

Albanian accusations:

• "The Roma helped the Serbs in 1999"
• "They spoke the Serbian language"
• "They were policemen in Milošević's regime"

• Most Roma were neutral
• Some spoke Serbian because they had lived in Serbia for centuries
• They were marginalized by both Serbs and Albanians
• Now punished for "collaboration" that mostly did not exist

KFOR and UNMIK - completely ignored the Roma

Protection:

• KFOR focused on the Serbian enclaves
• Roma settlements - NO protection
• KFOR patrols rarely came to the Roma mahalas

• Serbs evacuated immediately
• Roma - waited for days
• Some Roma had to flee on their own

Media disregard

International media:

• BBC, CNN, Reuters - focus on Serbian victims
• The Roma RARELY mentioned
• If mentioned - in parentheses: "and some Roma"

• The Roma are not politically "important"
• They have no lobbies like the Serbs or Albanians
• A marginalized community - no one to speak for them

After March 2004 - where are the Roma?

Displaced Roma:

• 300 Roma - fled to Serbia
• 250 Roma - IDP camps (internally displaced persons) in northern Mitrovica
• 200 Roma - camps in Macedonia
• 150 Roma - whereabouts unknown

• Set up on CONTAMINATED land (near lead mines)
• Children fell ill from lead poisoning
• Minimal humanitarian aid
• The camps were not closed until 2010 (6 years later!)

Justice for the Roma - NONE

Arrested for violence against the Roma: 8 persons Convicted: 1 person Sentence: 3 months in prison (for burning a Roma house) For 3 killed Roma and 166 burned houses - 1 person sentenced to 3 months. That is a disgrace.

Organizations that helped the Roma

• European Roma Rights Centre - documented the violence
• Amnesty International - reports on the camps
• Local Roma organizations - minimal help

The Roma community in Kosovo today (2025)

• Number: ~5,000 Roma (half of the 2004 figure)
• Situation: Marginalized, poor
• Discrimination: By both Serbs and Albanians
• Education: Most children do not attend school
• Employment: Minimal

The symbolism of the Roma victims

The Roma victims of March 2004 symbolize:

• The invisibility of the marginalized - forgotten because they are not "important"
• Selective justice - justice for some, not for all
• The double standards of the international community
• The continued discrimination against the Roma in Europe

"When they attacked the Serbs, the world watched. When they attacked the Roma - the world turned its head away. We were unimportant. And we are still unimportant today. But we too are human beings." - Bajram Halili, Roma from Plemetina, 2010.