The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) 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."
The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Its operations are gradually reducing until Kosovo's Security Force, established in 2009, becomes self-sufficient.
Parliamentary elections to the Assembly of Kosovo have been held four times since 1999 with the latest in December 2010. The Assembly was an institution within the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to provide 'provisional, democratic self-government' in advance of a decision on the final status of Kosovo. Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia, came under UN administration in 1999 and unilaterally declared its independence in February 2008. The Assembly elected in 2007 continued in office after the declaration of independence.
The politics of Kosovo takes place in a framework of a multi-party parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President (Presidenti) is the head of state and the Prime Minister (Kryeministri) the head of government. Parliamentary elections are held every four years, the most recent in 2021.
The administrative divisions of Serbia are regulated by the Government of Serbia Enactment of 29 January 1992, and by the Law on Territorial Organization adopted by the National Assembly of Serbia on 29 December 2007.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1244, adopted on 10 June 1999, after recalling resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998) and 1239 (1999), authorised an international civil and military presence in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and established the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). It followed an agreement by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević to terms proposed by President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari and former Prime Minister of Russia Viktor Chernomyrdin on 8 June, involving withdrawal of all Yugoslav state forces from Kosovo.
Stabilisation Tracking Mechanism is the mirror instrument of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) for Kosovo. Kosovo, a disputed province of Serbia under international administration that in 2008 unilaterally declared independence and received partial recognition, still not having a final status, was not able to commence with SAP. To ensure that the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) follow EU-compatible practices in the political, economic and sectoral reform process, UNMIK and the European Commission agreed that an instrument was needed to monitor and drive the process. Although developments within Kosovo are not only a matter of reform, it was deemed profitable for the PISG and UNMIK to follow the methodology and substance of the SAP and thus avoid isolation from the mainstream of European integration.
The Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Kosovo or PISG are local administrative bodies in Kosovo that were established by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) during the period that the United Nations was directly responsible for the governance of Kosovo.
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 New Bridge is a steel truss bridge crossing the Ibar river in Mitrovica, Kosovo. The New Bridge has become an iconic symbol of Kosovo division, as it separates around 80,000 Kosovo Albanians in the south from around 50 000 Serbs and other nationalities living in the north. It was used as a military checkpoint and provides a de facto boundary and buffer zone between the mainly ethnic Serbian populated North Kosovo and the rest of Kosovo which has an ethnic Albanian majority. Today the bridge is open to pedestrians and there are only Carabinieri patrols from KFOR-MSU and Kosovo Police, but there is no longer any checkpoint.
Parliamentary elections were held in Kosovo on 17 November 2007 alongside Municipal elections. Voters elected the 120 members of the unicameral Assembly, the legislative branch of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government that the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo created. The elections were scheduled by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Joachim Rücker on 1 September 2007.
The Constitution of Kosovo is the supreme law of the Republic of Kosovo, a territory of unresolved political status. Article four of the constitution establishes the rules and separate powers of the three branches of the government. The unicameral Assembly of the Republic exercises the legislative power, the executive branch led by the President and the Prime Minister which are responsible for implementing laws and the judicial system headed by the Supreme Court.
The coat of arms of the Republic of Kosovo was introduced following the unilateral declaration of independence on 17 February 2008. It shows six white stars in an arc above a solid golden shape of Kosovo as seen on a standard projection map, placed on a rounded triangular shield with a blue field and a golden border. Its central figures, the stars and the shape, are also the content of the new blue flag of Kosovo, already adopted at the same time.
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.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Kosovo (SRSG) is appointed by the Secretary-General to lead the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). The Joint Interim Administrative Structure and then the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government held their authority under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, reporting to the Special Representative.
Local elections were held in Kosovo on 11 May 2008, together with Serbia's parliamentary elections and elections in Vojvodina. UNMIK authorities have criticized Serbia organizing elections saying only the UN can organize elections in Kosovo. Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu accused Serbia of trying to challenge Kosovo's statehood.
The Governance of Kosovo operates in the context of the disputed territory of Kosovo.
The Interim Administrative Council (IAC) was an interim cabinet for Kosovo established on 15 December 1999 by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as part of the Joint Interim Administrative Structure. Its purpose was to advise the Special Representative of the Secretary General on policies relating to the other JIAS bodies. It was composed of 10 members, 4 nominated by the United Nations, 3 representatives of Kosovo Albanians, 1 representative of Kosovo Serbs and 2 additional observer members. The IAC was replaced on 3 March 2002 by a cabinet established as part of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government following elections held in November 2021.
United Nations Administered Kosovo refers to the period between 1999 and 2008 when the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo was directly responsible for the governance of Kosovo. This period began on 10 June 1999 with the passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and effectively ended on 17 February 2008 with the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo.
The Kosovo Transitional Council,, was an advisory body that existed in Kosovo between July 1999 and November 2001 during the period that the United Nations was directly responsible for the governance of Kosovo. The council was replaced by the Assembly of Kosovo following elections held in November 2001.
