Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told Reka/Suhareke), within days several hundred villagers returned to their homes. They had been too afraid to live in the village but the mere presence of OSCE-KVM gave them confidence. The accumulation of time, presence and effort resulted in a high degree of trust by Kosovo Albanians towards OSCE-KVM. Serb civilians and some officials also developed an increased level of trust as a result of the Human Rights Division's commitment to impartiality and a genuine concern for the plight of many Serb civilians. 34 The effect of the absence of a national human rights protection mechanism Although the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a party to major international human rights 35 instruments, there was no effective domestic human rights mechanism while OSCE-KVM was in Kosovo. The pervasive distrust of the Serbian police and judiciary limited the means of addressing effectively human rights violations. When the OSCE-KVM Human Rights Division opened the first "outreach office" in Pristina on 27 December, the initial response from the Kosovo Albanian community and the Serb community was overwhelming. OSCE-KVM in effect functioned as a de facto human rights complaints mechanism. Between 27 December and the day of withdrawal, 20 March 1999, the Human Rights Division received more than 800 complaints and allegations of human rights and humanitarian law violations. OSCE-KVM Human Rights Division field operations in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania Monitoring events in Kosovo post-evacuation The OSCE-KVM withdrew from Kosovo on 20 March 1999, by decision of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Knut Vollebæk. Thereafter, the human rights division continued to operate and monitor the human rights situation in Kosovo. OSCE-KVM human rights activities were the only portion of the OSCE-KVM mandate that continued after the evacuation. Human rights officers collected firsthand information about the situation in Kosovo from refugees who were often victims of and direct witnesses to grave human rights and humanitarian law violations prior to and in the course of fleeing or being expelled to Albania or the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch2.htm (9 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:40 AM