Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told 23 Geneva Conventions and additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions which apply to internal conflicts. Under Article 1(1), the Protocol applies to armed conflicts that take place in the territory of a High Contracting Party between its armed forces and dissident armed forces or other organized armed groups which, under responsible command, exercise such control over a part of its territory as to enable them to carry out sustained and concerted military operations and to implement this Protocol. The provisions place obligations on both the UCK and the FRY and Serbian authorities. The primary responsibility of the OSCE-KVM was to verify compliance by all parties in Kosovo with 24 UN Security Council Resolution 1199. Although the Resolution imposed a cease-fire in Kosovo, the OSCE-KVM verified numerous breaches in the cease-fire. The fact that the cease-fire was kept for brief periods of time does not change the state of affairs of an armed conflict. In a judicial expression of what constitutes an armed conflict, and thus triggers the application of international humanitarian law, the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY maintains: "International humanitarian law applies from the initiation of … armed conflict and extends beyond the cessation of hostilities until … a peaceful settlement is achieved. Until that moment, international humanitarian law continues to apply … in the whole territory 25 under the control of a party, whether or not actual combat takes place there". The conflict in Kosovo meets the threshold of Additional Protocol II and the criteria of Common Article 3 for direct application of both Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II. In the indictment of Milosevic, ICTY states that "[a]t all times relevant to this indictment, a state of armed conflict existed in Kosovo in the FRY". 26 Conditions on the ground in Kosovo Conditions on the ground reflected the state of armed conflict. Kosovo during the tenure of the OSCEKVM was a place of war, albeit restrained at times. Nevertheless, VJ forces deployed in the province with tanks and heavy war equipment. The FRY and Serbian security forces restricted the movement of civilians and at times fighting broke out with UCK forces. The majority of complaints received by the OSCE-KVM involved: extra-judicial killings, summary executions, arbitrary killings, persons going missing following abductions; incommunicado detention; abuse by the police and security forces; indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population, the destruction of civilian property, pillaging, illegal evictions; and restricted freedom of movement for Kosovo Albanians. Although the OSCE-KVM verified human rights violations, its ability to report and intervene was hampered first by personnel shortages and later by the escalation in military activity. 27 OSCE-KVM capacity to perform tasks. External factors affecting the capacity of the Human Rights Division to work included restricted access to official personnel, courts, hospitals and other public services, and restricted freedom of movement. Experiences with FRY and Serbian authorities varied and co-operation depended to some degree on personalities and sometimes the nationality of the OSCEKVM staff. The same was true for the UCK, which restricted access to their controlled areas, denied OSCE-KVM access to monitor their "trials" and restricted access to detainees. http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch2.htm (7 of 16)12/5/2003 11:48:40 AM 28