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In October 1998, No Peace Without Justice established a team of experts in international humanitarian and international criminal law to engage in a project concerning the alleged commission of violations of international humanitarian law in Kosovo, in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (hereafter "FRY"), during 1998. More specifically, the project was concerned with those violations that are within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (hereafter "International Tribunal" or "ICTY") and the present report analyses the conflict in Kosovo from this perspective.

The team, composed of six members, travelled to Kosovo and other parts of the FRY, as well as to neighbouring Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania, in October 1998 in order to conduct the necessary field research for this report. The method of operation during the field mission largely involved meeting and interviewing various individuals and organisations on the ground, including local journalists and non-governmental organisations ("NGOs"), members of the diplomatic community, representatives of international NGOs, as well as of international governmental agencies, and personnel from the various Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Missions ("KDOM").

In November and December 1998, a second field mission was conducted to follow up on the initial contacts which had been established. A smaller team again visited Kosovo, as well as Belgrade, and gathered some new material, in addition to confirming existing information and the conclusions that had been formulated on the basis the previous visit. This aspect of the work of the project has also been supplemented by research and analysis conducted in Brussels, New York and Washington D.C. Public information which is available on the conflict in Kosovo, including news reports and those compiled by various international NGOs, has been gathered, along with military information. This has been utilised to provide the context for as well as the substance of the present report, which seeks to present the findings of the project from the perspective of the relevant norms of international humanitarian law and the jurisdictional provisions of the Statute of the ICTY.

It is not the purpose of the report to document each and every violation of international humanitarian law committed in Kosovo during the conflict. The present aim is rather to demonstrate the existence of a campaign organised from within the State structure of the FRY, which involved the widespread commission of violations of international humanitarian law. It should thus be emphasised that, while violations may have been committed by both parties to the conflict – the Serbian/FRY forces and those of the Kosovo Liberation Army – the subject of the report does not extend to the latter. Such potential violations are nonetheless worthy of further investigation, and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Tribunal ("Prosecutor") should seek to gather any and all information in this regard, along with evidence of crimes committed by the FRY/Serbian forces.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the report does not cover those most recent events which have occurred since the agreement reached between the President of the FRY, Slobodan Milosevic, and the United States Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, in October 1998. While the conflict in Kosovo has clearly continued since this agreement and recent events, including the massacre of numerous Kosovars in Racak and the continued shelling of