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UÇKHistory and Memory

20 March 1999 · 1999

The withdrawal of the OSCE Verification Mission

On the orders of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Knut Vollebæk, the Verification Mission withdrew from Kosovo to Macedonia on 20 March 1999. HRW and the OSCE record that attacks on Albanian villages intensified from that day.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.The 1998–1999 warDiplomacy
A man with glasses and a moustache speaks into microphones, the OSCE logo behind him
William Walker addresses the press on his report to the OSCE Permanent Council after the mission's withdrawal, March 1999.Photo: Bela Szandelszky / OSCE / OSCE · 1999-03 · CC BY-ND 4.0

Photographs

A column of orange armoured vehicles on a road beside damaged houses
British verifiers of the Kosovo Verification Mission drive from Pristina to Prizren, November 1998.Photo: Bela Szandelszky / OSCE / OSCE · 1998-11 · CC BY-ND 4.0

Sources

  1. [1]Tribunali Penal Ndërkombëtar për ish-Jugosllavinë (ICTY). Prosecutor v. Milutinović et al., Judgement, Volume 1 of 4. 2009-02-26. IT-05-87-T. https://www.icty.org/x/cases/milutinovic/tjug/en/jud090226-e1of4.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]OSBE — Zyra për Institucione Demokratike dhe të Drejta të Njeriut (ODIHR). Kosovo/Kosova: As Seen, As Told: An analysis of the human rights findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission, October 1998 to June 1999. 1999. https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/d/d/17772.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  3. [3]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.

English translation in progress.

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

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