Human rights in Kosovo

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Human Rights in Kosovo has been a controversial subject due to the country's history of ethnic tension and its struggle for independence. This was highlighted during the onset of the Kosovo War and the subsequent intervention of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Particularly, this war and the other conflicts in the Balkans were the focus of the European human rights instruments such as the Council of Europe, the OSCE, and the European Union. [1]

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After it achieved independence in 2009, Kosovo has posted several milestones in upholding and the protection of human rights.

Ethnic conflict

Kosovo has multiple ethnic minorities that include the Serb, Kosovar Albanian, Roma, Turk, Muslim Slav, and other minorities. [2] The war that transpired from 1998 to 1999 was the third conflict involving the former Yugoslavia and came after the wars in Bosnia and Croatia. All of these were orchestrated by the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, the leader of Serbia and Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), which controlled Kosovo as a province before the war.

Milosevic's 1987 campaign promise to defend the Serbs in Kosovo catapulted him to power. The Serbs have strong emotional ties to Kosovo as they consider the region as the cradle of their nation. [3] Before Milosevic's regime, Kosovo enjoyed an autonomous status that gave ethnic Albanians rights and this was guaranteed by the 1974 Yugoslav constitution. [4] When Milosevic finally became president of Serbia, he terminated Kosovo's special status and suppressed the Albanian language and culture. [3] These led to the emergence of non-violent opposition and the rise of parallel state structures such as the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). [4] This also led to the establishment on the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that aimed to liberate Kosovo. [3]

By 1997, Serbian authorities began a campaign against Albanians as part of its crackdown of KLA and its increasingly aggressive and violent guerilla campaigns. Two years later, the Serbian authorities had forcibly displaced thousands of predominantly Muslim Kosovar Albanians, who constituted the majority of the province's population. [3] This was carried out in response to the uprising by the insurgent nationalist group. Speaking before the UN Security Council, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported:

Fighting in Kosovo has resulted in a mass displacement of civilian populations, the extensive destruction of villages and means of livelihood and the deep trauma and despair of displaced populations. Many of the villages have been destroyed by shelling and burning following operations conducted by federal and Serbian government forces. [3]

Annan cited the disproportionate use of force and actions of security forces, which were carried out for the purpose of terrorizing and subjugating the civilian population. [3] In total, the war has displaced and cast out nearly one million Albanians out of the country on forced marches. [5] In addition, Serbian security forces pursued a campaign of terror in communities. According to available data from 10,000 to 15,000 Albanians were killed and 80 percent of the population of Kosovo was displaced. Due to the predominantly Muslim Albanians constituting the majority of the population of Kosovo, the international community claimed Milosevic's campaign was designed to depopulate the province. [6]

NATO launched Operation Allied Force in 1999 as a response to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Serbian forces. The goal was to compel the Milosevic government to cease its actions in Kosovo. [7] After this was achieved and the establishment of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), waves of violence against ethnic minorities persisted. For instance, as authorities were preparing to accommodate the arrival of incoming NATO troops, the diocesan reports to the Serbian Orthodox Church revealed harrowing retaliatory abuses were still being committed. An account covering Pristina, Kosovo, for instance, stated that “a wave of unprecedented violence, looting, murders, and abductions spread throughout the Province, especially in the cities, where the main victims were the remaining Serbs, Roma, Gorani, and Muslim Bosniacs.” Official data confirmed by both Serbian authorities and UNMIK cited that by January 1, 1998, there were 1,303 missing individuals, which include 944 Serbs, 210 Muslim Roma, and 149 ethnic Albanians. [8]

It was reported that UNMIK officials were baffled and frustrated by the relentless attacks against minorities even after the war and cited one particular problem – that the UN's involvement in Kosovo through the UNMIK lacked legislative support. The UN Security Council resolution 1244, which established this mission, did not have any provision that stipulated the protection of minorities and the promotion of multi-ethnicity. [2] Observers, including UNMIK officials, maintained that this lack of explicit commitment to a multi-ethnic Kosovo sent the wrong signals to extremist who perpetrated violence. [9] Later international response to the ethnic conflict in Kosovo addressed the issues of cultural rights. This, for instance, became one of NATO's strategies during its temporary administration of Kosovo to pacify the area and establish a path toward long-term peace. [2]

One of the measures that Kosovo has taken in response to its history of human rights abuses was the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This agency is mandated to investigate human rights violations that were committed during the Kosovo War. Organizations were also established to prosecute war criminals. An example is HLC, which was founded by the Serbian sociologist and human rights advocate Natasha Kandic. After the war, it opened an office in Pristina and worked with government officials, victims, and witnesses to prosecute war criminals. [10]

Other human rights issues

One of the critical human rights concerns in Kosovo involves human trafficking. In the early 2000s, the country was viewed as one of the centers of human trafficking in the Balkans. For instance, according to Amnesty International, trafficked women, who came from the poorest countries of Europe, were sold in transit to clients in Western Europe such as Italy, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Aside from the violation of their freedom, about 36 percent of these women were denied any form of medical care and the majority were forced into unprotected sex. [11] By 2023, Kosovo has made significant inroads in addressing the human trafficking problem. The Kosovo Police (KP) now has a Trafficking in Human Beings Directorate, which investigates all trafficking cases through its eight regional units. There is also a special coordinator assigned within the Office of the State Prosecutor to handle trafficking cases. [12]

In 2022, the US State Department cited persisting human rights-related problems such as corruption and impunity on the part of the government of Kosovo. These abuses also include politically motivated killings. Other issues involve different forms of abuse and violence as well as the harassment of ethnic minorities. It is noted that while authorities have made significant strides in addressing human rights violations and abuses, punishment and enforcement of laws sometimes lacked consistency. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo War</span> 1998–1999 armed conflict in Kosovo

The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. It was fought between the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which controlled Kosovo before the war, and the Kosovo Albanian separatist militia known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The conflict ended when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened by beginning air strikes in March 1999 which resulted in Yugoslav forces withdrawing from Kosovo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo</span> Country in Southeast Europe

Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a country in Southeast Europe with partial diplomatic recognition. Kosovo lies landlocked in the centre of the Balkans, bordered by Serbia to the north and east, North Macedonia to the southeast, Albania to the southwest, and Montenegro to the west. Most of central Kosovo sits on the plains of Metohija and the Kosovo field. The Accursed Mountains and Šar Mountains rise in the southwest and southeast, respectively. Kosovo's capital and largest city is Pristina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serbia and Montenegro</span> Country in Southeast Europe (1992–2006)

The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The country bordered Hungary to the north, Romania to the northeast, Bulgaria to the southeast, North Macedonia to the south, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to the west, and Albania to the southwest. The state was founded on 27 April 1992 as a federation comprising the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro. In February 2003, it was transformed from a federal republic to a political union until Montenegro seceded from the union in June 2006, leading to the full independence of both Serbia and Montenegro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo</span> Officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo is the officially mandated mission of the United Nations in Kosovo. The UNMIK describes its mandate as being to "help the United Nations Security Council achieve an overall objective, namely, to ensure conditions for a peaceful and normal life for all inhabitants of Kosovo and advance regional stability in the Western Balkans."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosovo Liberation Army</span> Ethnic-Albanian nationalist paramilitary organization (1992–1999)

The Kosovo Liberation Army was an ethnic Albanian separatist militia that sought the separation of Kosovo, the vast majority of which is inhabited by Albanians, from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia during the 1990s. Albanian nationalism was a central tenet of the KLA and many in its ranks supported the creation of a Greater Albania, which would encompass all Albanians in the Balkans, stressing Albanian culture, ethnicity and nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yugoslav Wars</span> 1991–2001 series of wars in the Balkans

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the six entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and Macedonia. SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries, which fueled the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in a massive number of deaths as well as severe economic damage to the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Horseshoe</span> 1999 alleged ethnic cleansing

Operation Horseshoe was a 1999 alleged plan to ethnically cleanse Albanians in Kosovo. The plan was to be carried out by Serbian police and the Yugoslav army.

The history of Kosovo dates back to pre-historic times when the Starčevo culture, Vinča culture, Bubanj-Hum culture, and Baden culture were active in the region. Since then, many archaeological sites have been discovered due to the abundance of natural resources which gave way to the development of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 unrest in Kosovo</span> Ethnic violence in Kosovo

On 17–18 March 2004, violence erupted in the partitioned town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, leaving hundreds wounded and at least 14 people dead. The unrest was precipitated by reports in the Kosovo Albanian media which falsely claimed that three Kosovo Albanian boys had drowned after being chased into the Ibar River by a group of Kosovo Serbs. UN peacekeepers and NATO troops scrambled to contain a gun battle between Serbs and Albanians. Serbs call the event the March Pogrom, while the Albanians call it the March Unrest.

Kosovo during the 20th century in history has largely been characterised by wars and major population displacements. The region formed a part of numerous entities, some internationally recognised, others not.

The political status of Kosovo, also known as the Kosovo question, is the subject of a long-running political and territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the Government of Kosovo, stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia (1991–92) and the ensuing Kosovo War (1998–99). In 1999, the administration of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was handed on an interim basis to the United Nations under the terms of UNSCR 1244 which ended the Kosovo conflict of that year. That resolution reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia over Kosovo but required the UN administration to promote the establishment of 'substantial autonomy and self-government' for Kosovo pending a 'final settlement' for negotiation between the parties.

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Republic of Kosovo to be a state independent from Serbia, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, including the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, and by the President of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu. It was the second declaration of independence by Kosovo's Albanian-majority political institutions; the first was proclaimed on 7 September 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija</span> Territory disputed by Serbia and Kosovo

The Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, commonly known as Kosovo and abbreviated to Kosmet or KiM, is an autonomous province defined by the Constitution of Serbia that occupies the southernmost part of Serbia. The territory is the subject of an ongoing political and territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the partially recognised Republic of Kosovo. Its claimed administrative capital and largest city is Pristina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crimes in the Kosovo War</span> War crimes committed during the Kosovo War

Numerous war crimes were committed by all sides during the Kosovo War, which lasted from 28 February 1998 until 11 June 1999. According to Human Rights Watch, the vast majority of abuses were attributable to the government of Slobodan Milošević, mainly perpetrated by the Serbian police, the Yugoslav army, and Serb paramilitary units. During the war, regime forces killed between 7,000–9,000 Kosovar Albanians, engaged in countless acts of rape, destroyed entire villages, and displaced nearly one million people. The Kosovo Liberation Army has also been implicated in atrocities, such as kidnappings and summary executions of civilians. Moreover, the NATO bombing campaign has been harshly criticized by human rights organizations and the Serbian government for causing roughly 500 civilian casualties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yugoslav colonization of Kosovo</span> Attempts to bring Kosovo under control of Serbia and Montenegro

The colonization of Kosovo was a programme begun by the kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia in the early twentieth century and later implemented by their successor state Yugoslavia at certain periods of time from the interwar era (1918–1941) until 1999. Over the course of the twentieth century, Kosovo experienced four major colonisation campaigns that aimed at altering the ethnic population balance in the region, to decrease the Albanian population and replace them with Montenegrins and Serbs. Albanians formed the ethnic majority in the region when it became part of Yugoslavia in early twentieth century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in Kosovo</span>

Kosovo within communist Yugoslavia had the lowest rate of crime in the whole country. Following the Kosovo War (1999), the region had become a significant center of organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking and organ theft. There is also an ongoing ethnic conflict between Kosovar Albanians and Kosovan Serbs. The large Kosovar diaspora which had built up in Western Europe during the 1990s, combined with the political instability, created ideal conditions for Kosovo to become "Europe's crime hub"; well into the 2000s, Kosovo remained associated with both ethnic conflict and organized crime. A Kosovo Police service has been built up under UN administration, beginning in 1999. It had an operational force of 7,000 officers in 2004, and further expanded to 9,000 by 2010. The deplorable crime rate led to an additional deployment of civilian law enforcement resources of the European Union to Kosovo, under the name of European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo in 2008. Originally scheduled for two years, the duration of the deployment was extended twice, as of September 2012 scheduled to last until 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Kosovo (1995–1998)</span> Event during the Yugoslav Wars

The Insurgency in Kosovo began in 1995, following the Dayton Agreement that ended the Bosnian War. In 1996, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) began attacking Serbian governmental buildings and police stations. This insurgency would lead to the more intense Kosovo War in February 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Kosovo</span>

The Kosovo Agency of Statistics monitors various demographic features of the population of Kosovo, such as population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Censuses, normally conducted at ten-year intervals, record the demographic characteristics of the population. According to the first census conducted after the 2008 declaration of independence in 2011, the permanent population of Kosovo had reached 1,810,366.

Kosovo is the birthplace of the Albanian nationalist movement which emerged as a response to the Eastern Crisis of 1878. In the immediate aftermath of the Russo-Ottoman war, the Congress of Berlin proposed partitioning Ottoman Albanian inhabited lands in the Balkans among neighbouring countries. The League of Prizren was formed by Albanians to resist those impositions. For Albanians those events have made Kosovo an important place regarding the emergence of Albanian nationalism. During the remainder of the late Ottoman period various disagreements between Albanian nationalists and the Ottoman Empire over socio-cultural rights culminated in two revolts within Kosovo and adjacent areas. The Balkan Wars (1912–13) ending with Ottoman defeat, Serbian and later Yugoslav sovereignty over the area generated an Albanian nationalism that has become distinct to Kosovo stressing Albanian language, culture, and identity within the context of secession from Serbia. Pan-Albanian sentiments are also present and historically have been achieved only once when part of Kosovo was united by Italian Axis forces to their protectorate of Albania during the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Destruction of Albanian heritage in Kosovo</span>

The architectural heritage of the Kosovo Albanians during Yugoslav rule was shown institutionalised disregard for decades prior to outright conflict at the end of the 20th century. Numerous Albanian cultural sites in Kosovo were destroyed during the period of Yugoslav rule and especially the Kosovo conflict (1998-1999) which constituted a war crime violating the Hague and Geneva Conventions. In all, 225 out of 600 mosques in Kosovo were damaged, vandalised, or destroyed alongside other Islamic architecture during the conflict. Additionally 500 Albanian owned kulla dwellings and three out of four well-preserved Ottoman period urban centres located in Kosovo cities were badly damaged resulting in great loss of traditional architecture. Kosovo's public libraries, of which 65 out of 183 were completely destroyed, amounted to a loss of 900,588 volumes, while Islamic libraries sustained damage or destruction resulting in the loss of rare books, manuscripts and other collections of literature. Archives belonging to the Islamic Community of Kosovo, records spanning 500 years, were also destroyed. During the war, Islamic architectural heritage posed for Yugoslav Serb paramilitary and military forces as Albanian patrimony with destruction of non-Serbian architectural heritage being a methodical and planned component of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

References

  1. ↑ Bytyçi, Enver (2015-04-01). Coercive Diplomacy of NATO in Kosovo. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-4438-7668-1.
  2. 1 2 3 Stamatopoulou-Robbins, Elissavet (2007). Cultural Rights in International Law: Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and beyond. BRILL. p. 101. ISBN 978-90-474-1993-8.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Murphy, Sean D. (2003-01-09). United States Practice in International Law: Volume 1, 1999–2001. Cambridge University Press. p. 388. ISBN 978-1-139-43532-1.
  4. 1 2 "Readings - The Roots Of War | War In Europe | FRONTLINE | PBS". www.pbs.org. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kosovo/readings/roots.html
  5. ↑ Ahmed, Akbar (2013-02-27). The Thistle and the Drone: How America's War on Terror Became a Global War on Tribal Islam. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-8157-2379-0.
  6. ↑ Margolis, Eric (2004-11-23). War at the Top of the World: The Struggle for Afghanistan, Kashmir and Tibet. Routledge. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-135-95559-5
  7. ↑ Hseham, Amrahs (2024-01-05). Remarkable Historical Events That Transformed Our World Part-2. Mahesh Dutt Sharma.
  8. ↑ Bataković, Dušan T. (2011). Minorities in the Balkans: state policy and interethnic relations (1804 - 2004): Les minorites dans les Balkans. Balkanološki institut SANU. p. 277. ISBN 978-86-7179-068-0
  9. ↑ O'Neill, William G. (2002). Kosovo: An Unfinished Peace. Lynne Rienner Publishers. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-58826-021-5.
  10. ↑ Bartrop, Paul R.; Jacobs, Steven Leonard (2014-12-17). Modern Genocide [4 volumes]: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-11854-1.
  11. ↑ "Kosovo: Facts and figures on trafficking of women and girls for forced prostitution in Kosovo" (PDF). Amnesty International. May 6, 2004.
  12. ↑ "Kosovo", 2023. United States Department of State. https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/kosovo/
  13. ↑ "Kosovo", 2022. United States Department of State. https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/kosovo/
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