The final vote on Kosovo’s bid to join UNESCO, expected for Monday 9 November, gave rise to a fierce and unbalanced dispute pro and contra Kosovo’s UNESCO membership, largely along ethnic lines. This newest issue of ECMI Kosovo’s Communities Issues Monitor aims to focus the discussion and provide counterbalance to rising ethnic tensions. It points at the legal framework in place for the protection of Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo, counters claims on the moral right of this or that party to become UNESCO member based on how it treated cultural heritage in the past, and refers to the broader action domain of UNESCO to put in perspective the fears of the Kosovo Serb community about the impact of Kosovo UNESCO membership on Serb cultural heritage in Kosovo.

The quota system in higher level education, designed to offer an opportunity to students from minority communities to apply for and register their studies in Kosovo’s public universities, has been reported to have been misused by students not belonging to minority communities. Issues with the quota system for members of minority communities have been raised repeatedly.

The opposition parties are blocking the session of the Assembly for the third time in a row, demanding that the Government withdraws the agreement of 25 August on the Association/Community of Serb Majority Municipalities. This new issue of ECMI Kosovo’s Communities Issues Monitor argues that although the violent blocking of the Assembly is a non-legitimate act, bypassing the Assembly in the process of establishing the Statute of the Association is a major shortcoming. Regardless of the question whether the new agreement and the final statute – which will be approved by the High-Level Dialogue – are new international agreements that require ratification by the Assembly, not including the Assembly jeopardises the long-term functionality of the Association. Moreover, as a consequence of the current stalemate, discussions on the Association do not touch on the contents or the core of the matter, but remain restricted to superficial slogans pro or contra and give the impression that affirmative measures to protect the rights of non-majority communities and especially the Kosovo Serb community are a necessary evil, instead of an opportunity to establish an inclusive multi-ethnic society in Kosovo. The right solution out of the deadlock should come through negotiations with the opposition and representatives of non-majority communities for the need and form of involvement of the Assembly in drafting and approving the statute of the Association.

Here it is – the definite analysis of the new agreement on the Association/Community of Serb majority municipalities! In a comprehensive way, this report deconstructs the agreement and scrutinizes the procedures for the establishment of the Association; its functioning, competencies and organisational structures and relations with central authorities and the Republic of Serbia. The study also offers an eagerly awaited examination of how the establishment of the agreement may impact on the legal framework that is set out to promote and protect rights of communities and their members in Kosovo. As well as taking stock of the opportunities and challenges that lies ahead, we offer some broad recommendations on how the Association could operate in a way that could serve both its purpose and not upset the Kosovo legal framework, where it is anchored. At the end, we stress the importance of the spirit of cooperation that should prevail among all sides, as the authors argue “the Association will only be functional to the citizens it serves in an atmosphere of transparent and constructive engagement of all stakeholders”.

This issue of Kosovo Communities Issues Monitor addresses three incidents in chronological order that unfolded during August. First, it highlights an occurrence where the Emergency Centre at the University Clinical Centre (UCC) of Kosovo failed to provide timely assistance to members of a Roma family had. In the Monitor, both representatives of the Kosovo Assembly, the UCC and members of the family comment on the incident. In the second update, we turn to the insulting slogans that was written on the house of a Bosniak family in Prizren in an area of the city that is populated by Bosniaks. The slogans, targeting the Bosniak and Gorani communities. We welcome that the Kosovo Police is currently investigating the incident and is taking measures to identify the perpetrators. The third update comment on the Feast on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (“Uspenje Presvete Bogorodice” in Serbian) where displaced Kosovo Serbs from Gjakovë/Đakovica and other regions in Kosovo, visited the Serb Orthodox monastery in the city to participate in a liturgy on the occasion. A group of 20-30 Vetëvendosje activists disturbed the occasion with smearing chants, signs and throw red paint in the direction of the pilgrims. It is clear that these visits need to be carefully managed by the political representatives and religious leaders and that a tolerant balance should be found between the plight of missing persons and the emotional attachment of Serb pilgrims to their hometown and places of worship.

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.