Sir, - Our attention has been brought to an article (July 16th) which said that former Serb policemen are working for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo.
The article contains many factual errors and is damaging for the OSCE since it implies that the organisation hired policemen knowing that they had been in uniform while the ethnic cleansing involving the Serbian police was ongoing. It is not the OSCE policy to hire people involved in ethnic cleansing or other criminal activity.
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo policy on hiring local staff is as follows: the background of every local staff member, Serbian, Albanian or of other nationalities, will be checked before getting permanent employment. Persons found to have been involved in criminal activities, especially ethnic cleansing or other crimes against humanity, will not be contracted. Due to limited measures, the OSCE Mission has not yet been able to check the background of all its employees. Two cases are now under investigation following accusations that the individuals concerned have taken part in criminal activity. One of the two is suspended from his OSCE job while the investigation continues. - Yours, etc.
Urdur Gunnarsdottir, (Acting Spokesperson), OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Pristina, Kosovo.
Chris Stephen replies: I stand over the report. I did not say the OSCE knowingly hired former Serb policemen, merely that they had been hired - an assertion Ms Gunnardsdottir does not challenge. I note also the OSCE now has a policy of checking the background of locally-hired staff.