Acknowledgements

This project was undertaken with the work of a large team and with the inspiration of many contributors. Fred Abrahams from Human Rights Watch and Eric Stover of the Human Rights Center of the University of California-Berkeley originally invited me to go to Albania in mid-April, 1999. Subsequently they introduced me to the project’s co-director, Fron Nazi (East-West Management Institute/Institute for Policy and Legal Studies). Fred, Eric and Fron oriented me to the region, told me what I needed to read, provided helpful feedback on many drafts, and gave me access to their interviews for confirmatory qualitative evidence.

At EWMI, Adrian Hewryk and Kim Gildersleeve have demonstrated how smoothly inter-organizational collaboration can go, and I am very grateful to them.

In Tirana, the project acknowledges the crucial early assistance of Sokol Sinani at INTECH who provided us with computers and software for our startup period. His staff keyed the scanned images from the border records.

Without the authorization from the Albanian Ministry of Public Order this work would not have been possible. I want to thank especially the national commander of the border guards Col. Gëzim Goçi, the commander of the Kukës post Xhemal Syla, and the chief of all checkpoints in the northern region, Beqir Cena.

The IPLS staff in Tirana did enormous work, from Gent Ibrahimi’s administrative oversight to Andrea Lako’s inspired negotiations with the Ministry of Public Order. The technical coordinator and programmer was Vasian Cepa who supervised the transformation of the border records and camp surveys into properly-coded, useful data. He was assisted by Niko Risilia. The field team led by Blerina Kashari included Teuta Latifaj, Donika Lama, Shpend Krasniqi, Alket Goxhahasri, Kalter Serreqi, Ema Ishmi, Xhenmila Karapariso, and Eranda Ymerali. We did not get to finish the survey we originally planned, but the camp listing data gathered with so much effort turn out to have been very useful anyway. Special thanks to Ilir Gocaj who accompanied me to Morina during both visits. He translated for me, and he explained my errand to the border guards. He ran one of our scanners during 72 very hot and stuffy hours as we copied the border records.

At the University of California-Berkeley, Ellie Gladstone and Bronwyn Leebaw at the Human Rights Center provided research assistance. I also want to thank Dr. Tim Miller and the participants of a special seminar in the UCB Department of Demography for their ideas on how to analyze the data.

Roy Gutman of Newsday and Maud Beelman at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reviewed an early draft of the report and offered keen and well-informed opinions. This project would not have been possible without statistical data generously shared by Physicians for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch, and we appreciate their assistance.

As they have with all my work at AAAS, Louise Spirer and Dr. Herbert F. Spirer provided enormous moral, editorial, and scientific support. No one could ask for more thorough reviewers or more engaged colleagues and friends.

Many people at AAAS participated in this project. Sampling whiz and Science and Human Rights (SHR) Program Consultant Julia Belanger joined me in Tirana for more than four weeks in May-June. SHR Program Consultant Dr. Sandra L. Eyster reviewed all of the statistical programming. SHR Program Intern Andy Samuelson checked the bombing coding. Audrey Chapman and Sage Russell reviewed drafts. Lars Bromley did the GIS mapping, and Donnie Norwood designed the cover. Eric Wallace handled a mountain of administrative matters. Matt Zimmerman generated the graphics and designed the layout.

Dr. Fritz Scheuren originally saw the promise in the border records when we visited Morina in early May. While we were initially focused on the survey, he pushed me to think about the records that became the basis for this study. With unflagging good humor, Fritz answered hundreds of scientific questions over many months, and his assistance has been deeply appreciated.

This project was supported primarily by a grant from the Ford Foundation to the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program. Seed money was provided to AAAS from the Institute for Civil Society and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The East-West Management Institute gave a small grant to support the IPLS’s early project development.

I greatly appreciate the support from my staff, colleagues, partners, reviewers, and donors. However, I bear the sole responsibility for all the conclusions expressed in this report.