Poet and women’s rights activist Flora Brovina reportedly abducted

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is disturbed by reports that Flora Brovina, a well-known writer, paediatrician and women’s rights activist, was abducted in Pristina on 22 April 1999. In light of the difficulties in verifying information from Kosovo, PEN is not in a position to confirm the abduction. However, International PEN is concerned for her safety and […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is disturbed by reports that Flora Brovina, a well-known
writer, paediatrician and women’s rights activist, was abducted in Pristina
on 22 April 1999. In light of the difficulties in verifying information from
Kosovo, PEN is not
in a position to confirm the abduction. However, International PEN is
concerned for her safety and is seeking clarification of her situation.

It has been reported that Brovina, aged 49, was abducted from her home in
the Sucnani Breg district of Pristina by eight men reportedly in civilian
clothing, some of whom were masked. She is said to have been forced into a
car and driven away. There are suggestions that she remains held by Serb
police.

As well as her activities as a women’s activist, Brovina is a well-known and
respected poet, having four books of her poems published, some of which have
been translated.

Brovina is the President of Lidhja e Gruas Shqiptare (The Albanian Women’s
League). In this role, she led 8 March demonstrations marking Women’s Day in
1998, against Serb forces actions against ethnic Albanians in Drenica. On
that day, some 20,000 Albanian women are said to have gathered in Pristina,
all holding up blank sheets of paper. Brovina is quoted as saying: “We had
no official way to announce the protests, so we used word of mouth. It
spread like fire – within just a few hours we could have almost every woman
in the city out on the streets.” She continued to lead protests through 1998
and in October she was beaten by soldiers when she refused to leave the site
of a student demonstration. “They beat me on the back with a baton and I
still didn’t leave. I wanted the police to stay occupied with us so they
couldn’t chase the students.” At the time of her alleged abduction, she was
working in Pristina in a centre she had opened for the rehabilitation of
displaced women and children. She is one of the few prominent ethnic
Albanians to remain in Pristina.

For further details on Brovina, see: “Marie-Claire” magazine, US edition,
January 1999, where she features as one of the magazine’s “Women of the
World”.

Recommended Action

His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic

President of Yugoslavia

Savezna Skupstina

11000 Belgrade

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Fax: + 381 11 636 775

E-mail:slobodan.milosevic@gov.yu