Throughout 2015, ECMI Kosovo has regularly reported on development affecting communities in Kosovo through its Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor. An important part of our attention went out to the Association/Community of Serb Majority Municipalities. Therefore it is appropriate to devote the final issue of the Monitor for 2015 to the Association and argue for a shift in the discussion. Up to now, the discussion has mainly revolved around obligations stemming from the existing legislation or international agreements. The existing legislation, the Dialogue, and international agreements, however, establish a framework, but don’t predetermine the competences and functioning of the Association. In fact, earlier agreements on the Association leave open many outstanding issues. These should be clarified through an inclusive and careful discussion, which should focus on the question how services in the fields of own or enhanced competencies in Serb-majority municipalities could be carried out in a more efficient and transparent manner through inter-municipal cooperation. Only if there is a clear view on how inter-municipal cooperation between Serb-majority municipalities can improve the provision of municipal services, can we determine how to best frame the way the Association should function and determine its competences.

The Constitutional Court approved the request made by President Jahjaga to interpret the compatibility of the 25 August agreement with the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo and suspend all activities produced by the Agreement until it reached a decision. Our newest contribution to the Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor looks into the request and argues that any ruling on the Principles would be speculative in nature at this stage, as the full details on the Statute have not been drafted yet. Further, while a constitutional court review was foreseen for the final agreement, this early involvement of the constitutional court in the process was not foreseen and it is yet unknown what effect it will have on the overall dialogue process.

This is yet another delay caused by over-optimistic deadlines that return to discredit the Dialogue and the confidence of all side in the dialogue process, especially of the Kosovo Serb community that has made the request for the establishment of Association a central point of their political engagement with the Kosovo institutions. At the least, we argue, the decision of the Constitutional Court and the suspension should allow the Kosovo Government – including the representatives of the Kosovo Serb community – and opposition to engage in an inclusive discussion on the competencies and functioning of the Association.

See more for the full Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor:

On 24 October, media in Kosovo reported about an incident involving adolescent children in the village of Kuscë e Epërme/Gornje Kusce in the municipality of Novobërdë/Novo Brdo in eastern Kosovo. It was reported that adolescent children belonging to the Serb community were attacked by another adolescent individual from the Albanian community. Reportedly, the attacker used a piece of wood with a nail on it and he managed to wound a Kosovo Serb fellow child. The wounded child was immediately sent to the hospital in Gračanica/Graçanicë and his wounds were not life-threatening. Kosovo Police confirmed the incident took place, and later on arrested two adolescents, 16 and 17-year old respectively, believed to be the perpetrators.[1]

The youngster was visited by the Director of the Office of Community Affairs within the Office of the Prime Minister, Ivan Tomić, who called on the Kosovo Police to investigate the incident and take appropriate measures. Tomić also added that it is the parents’ responsibility to educate their children not to hate people from other ethnicities, and that incidents of this nature show that “we all need to work more, including parents”.[2] Serbian political representatives in Kosovo quickly condemned the attack, stating that it was another instance of ethnically motivated violence against the Serb community in Kosovo.[3]

Nevertheless, our research in the field and conversations with our contacts from the Serbian and Albanian community in Novobërdë/Novo Brdo indicate that this incident was not a blind ethnically motivated attack but came about as a result of young children playing a game of football and having a fight afterwards. This is confirmed by the official Kosovo Police report on incidents during the day.[4]Although the violence itself should be condemned, it should be treated carefully and rash and premature conclusions when commenting on potentially ethnically motivated incidents should not be a norm. An escalated fight between Serbs and Albanians playing football, although intolerable and a worrisome indicator of the continuing ethnic distance and divide between young Serbs and Albanians even in places where they live close together, it is, nevertheless, not a blind ethnically motivated attack without any occasion.

A separate incident took place in Pejë/Peć when a bus with Serbian license plates was reported to have been stoned on its way to the “Usekovаnjа glаve sv. Jovаnа” (Beheading of Saint John the Baptist) church in Pejë/Peć. Media in the Serbian language report that the bus was stoned even though it was being escorted by Kosovo Police, while media in Albanian report that the bus was stoned after its passengers started chanting pro-Serbian slogans and giving the three-finger salute, commonly perceived to be a provocation by Albanians and other non-Serbs.[5] No passengers were injured in the stoning, and the bus injured material damage.[6] Minister for Communities and Return, Dalibor Jevtić, condemned the stoning of the bus and said that Serbs have a right to visit their places of worship all over Kosovo. He singled out what he called a small number of Serbs working for Kosovo Police in the Pejë/Peć as a problem that needs to be fixed. He said that Serbs in Kosovo want to live together in peace and equality with others.[7]

Whatever the occasion for the attack – and no occasion can justify the use of violence – representatives of all communities, including municipal authorities, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and organizers of these visits, and Kosovo Police should sit together and agree on measures that should be taken to make sure that visits to Serbian Orthodox places of worship take place in a peaceful manner.

[1]http://www.rtklive.com/?id=7&r=46342 and http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2015&mm=10&dd=24&nav_category=640&nav_id=1055272

[2] http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3438

[3] http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3429;
http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3428;
http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3430.

[4] http://www.rtklive.com/?id=7&r=46342

[5] http://www.telegrafi.com/lajme/sulmohet-autobusi-ne-peje-pasi-udhetaret-serbe-ngacmuan-ne-baza-etnike-80-11127.html;http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3435 and http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3436

[6] Ibid.

[7] http://www.rtklive.com/rtk2/?id=2&r=3436

The decision of the Parliament’s Commission for Legislation not to proceed with a law proposal until further clarification on the fact that the proposal and in particular the Parliament’s logo were written in the Cyrillic alphabet reopened a longstanding discussion on the official use of language and their alphabets.

This update to ECMI Kosovo’s Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor situates this disagreement within the longstanding but unresolved discussion on the use of the Cyrillic alphabet in official use in Kosovo. It urges Kosovo’s political representatives and institutions to solve this legal ambiguity through a serene and inclusive dialogue. In addition, the update also uses this occasion to address the poor implementation of Kosovo language legislation in general.

Please click here for the full document:

In July the new human rights package came into effect. In this political analysis, we provide an overview of the laws and the challenges that need to be considered by the Kosovo institutions on how to improve the enjoyment of the fundamental rights and freedoms for all the community members.

Please see the full document:

During the past ten days, there has been an upsurge in incidents involving Serb communities in the Pejë/Peć and Klinë/Klina area. These incidents come on the heels of a series of incidents in Klinë/Klina this past May, where Kosovo Serb returnees were victims of robberies and verbal abuses. This newest contribution to ECMI Kosovo’s Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor argues that this series of attacks, while still being under investigation, speaks of an emerging trend of incidents directed at the Serb community in the area, which cannot be discarded as merely isolated cases. This pattern of incidents calls for adequate security measures and engagement from all sides of the political spectrum, including representatives of the majority community.

Please see the full update: