In a difficult and often challenging year for the Government and for Kosovo society in general, a number of political developments have cast shadows over the long-term stability of the governing coalition composed of PDK, LDK, and Srpska lista. Internal disagreements over major issues such as the newly-adopted Law on Trepça/Trepča or the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities have put a strain on the work of the government endangering its majority in parliament. At the same time, the agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro turned into a major political issue with the opposition staging a number of strong protests inside and outside parliament; Srpska lista chose to boycott the vote, leading to a deadlock and complicating relations within the government even further.

Notwithstanding these challenges, there were a number of positive developments in Kosovo as well. The Government of Kosovo continued to invest significant sums of money in the four northern municipalities through direct budgetary support and the Development Fund for the North. President Thaçi’s visits to the memorials of Kosovo Serb civilian victims of the Kosovo War in Gračanica/Graçanicë and Pejë/Peć, represented an important step as leaders increase their efforts to reach out to all civilian victims of the war; the Government’s decision to begin verifying diplomas from graduates of the University of Mitrovica North provides them with an opportunity to seek public employment within Kosovo institutions, yielding immediate positive results in increasing opportunities for employment for minority communities. Finally, in line with the Brussels agreement on the judiciary, the integration of the judiciary system previously run by Serbia in northern Kosovo to the Kosovo-run judiciary system is progressing, albeit at a deliberate rate.

This issue of the Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor provides a detailed overview of some of the main developments during 2016 and provides concrete recommendations on how to renew and re-energize the community agenda during 2017 in line with existing agreements and the legal framework in Kosovo, chief among them are postponing or rapidly dealing with the issue of border demarcation, which has poisoned and complicated all other developments in 2016, and then moving swiftly with the challenging agenda for communities, which includes dealing with the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities as well as a host of other issues discussed in this report.

Click here for the full Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor in Albanian, Serbian and English .

The project creates favourable working conditions for one of the most disadvantaged groups in our society, Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian community members, by offering them opportunities to improve their social welfare, reduce unemployment and create sustainable incomes for themselves and their families. The project provides support to these members, who collect recyclable materials in an informal capacity, by using and expanding existing business models that they have established by supporting them to improve their skills, broaden their access to resources and capacity to collect recyclable waste.

Please click here for the full version of the brochure in Albanian, Serbian and English.

This brochure explains the procedure and the criteria for the Issuance of the Certificates of Validity of diplomas issued by the University of Mitrovica North. The temporary verification mechanism was put in place by the Government of the Republic of Kosovo and it will enable the citizens of Kosovo who have diplomas issued by the UMN to have their diplomas verified for job application-related procedures at Kosovo public institutions.

Please see the full version of the brochure in Albanian, Serbian, and English.

The European Centre for Minority Issues Kosovo would like to announce the relaunch of the project “Official Language Acquisition for Municipal Officials in Kosovo 2016“, which aims to enhance the ability of municipal officials to communicate and provide municipal services to communities in both official languages.

Last year, the project funded by the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and Office of the Language Commissioner/Office of the Prime Minister, was designed to increase the knowledge of official languages in Kosovo. It was implemented by the ECMI Kosovo in 16 targeted municipalities and offered a total of 23 language courses of Albanian and Serbian to municipal officials reaching a total of 286 municipal officials.

Please click the following links to watch the videos, where municipal officials and teachers share their experiences of the project and provide additional information of it.

For Albanian, Serbian or English language.

The Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo forbids discrimination against citizens on a number of grounds, including on sexual orientation. The Constitution also provides for a number of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, such as the Right to Freedom and Security, to Gatherings, and to Association. All of these rights were exercised by citizens of the Republic when they organized a peaceful march in celebration of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia in Prishtina, Kosovo, on May 17th, which saw the participation of hundreds of citizens, including political leaders and ambassadors.

Mr. Kelmendi holds public office and as such bears responsibility to uphold the values and the principles of the Constitution. Statements like those made by Mr. Kelmendi may incite violence, the likes of which we have already seen when the 2012, when an attack by a group of some 30 individuals was carried out against members and supporters of the community.

We call upon the Assembly of Kosovo, of which Mr. Kelmendi is an elected Deputy and is bound by its Rules of Procedure, as well as on the Assembly Committee on Human Rights, Gender Equality, Missing Persons and Petitions, to consider this issue and to strongly condemn the public statements made by Mr. Kelmendi, as well as to investigate whether these statements qualify as hate speech under Kosovo’s legislation.

For the full reaction please click English, Albanian and Serbian.

Equal Rights for All Coalition (ERAC) published a booklet where that explains the aim of the establishment of the Coalition, who the members of the Coalition are and what activities will be implemented during four (4) years.

Please see more about the booklet: