Census in Kosovo: Statistics serving citizens or politics?

The census in Kosovo officially concluded yesterday, and the Statistical Agency has announced that the first results will be known in three to four months. However, according to most interlocutors of Kosovo Online, the census has failed in many segments, including the fact that the Serbian community boycotted it.

At the Statistical Agency of Kosovo, a formal meeting was held today to mark the conclusion of the census, attended by Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

It was unanimously concluded that despite the challenges and complexities, the process was conducted with great success.

"The conduct of the census is proof that our institutions can successfully implement projects on both a national and international level," the statement read.

However, most experts would hardly accept the assertion that the census was conducted "with great success." On the contrary, they warn of numerous controversies.

On April 5, the first day of the census, the enumerators were sent off with significant media attention, only to find that within a few hours, they had to return to their offices without having done any work. Due to an error in the application, they could not send the collected data to the central database.

They then faced a much more serious problem. The Serbs had no idea that the census was taking place or that they could be fined up to 10,000 euros if they did not participate.

"I was not informed; I am hearing about it from you right now. As for the census, I don't know what we are going to do at the moment. I am telling you, I am hearing this from you now," said Stefan Cirkovic from central Kosovo to the Kosovo Online team on the first day of the census.

Those less courageous later had trouble understanding what was actually being asked of them in the Serbian-language questionnaires.

“What is the main reason for your absence from your usual residence?” was one of the questions, which had more philosophical than statistical value.

Similarly tricky were the questions about family status, with options such as "Man/Woman with a crown" or "child of a male partner"...

Former Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs Petrit Selimi was much harsher, saying that the census questionnaire translated into Serbian was laughable.

And that was not the only laughable aspect. The census was officially supposed to end on May 17, but the Kosovo Government extended the deadline to Friday, citing requests from 11 municipalities as the reason.

"I was shocked when I saw that information. We immediately refuted it yesterday. No official requested an extension of the census. I called on the Kosovo Government to withdraw such information because it is completely false. We neither requested nor needed an extension of the census. I don't know why and for what reason the municipality of Strpce was mentioned, except to show that not only municipalities with an Albanian majority requested it, so they found some municipality, and Strpce was probably convenient to mention in that context. The information is completely false," said Dalibor Jevtic, the mayor of Strpce, one of the 11 municipalities mentioned as having requested an extension, to Kosovo Online.

Numerous Controversies

For sociologist Marija Marsenic from the Institute for European Studies, this might be the least of the controversies surrounding the census.

In a conversation with Kosovo Online, she assessed that the results would reflect on the Serbian community and that the fundamental criticism is that it was conducted in an atmosphere of fear, violence, and physical and institutional terror against the Serbs.

"The results of this census will not favor the Serbs in terms of creating and implementing public policies. We know that municipal budget allocation is based on population numbers and minority communities. Funds will not be allocated for the development of the economy, healthcare, education, and other economic and social aspects," Marsenic said.

She added that official Pristina would use the Serbian community's boycott to downplay their actual numbers.

"Pristina will use the Serbs' boycott of this census to show that the Serbian community is smaller than it really is to continue repression against them. Of course, worse living conditions for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will be created, but this will also mean limiting the protection of their rights both politically and institutionally," she stated.

Marsenic has no doubt that the Serbian community will be sanctioned directly or indirectly due to the boycott.

"I expect that fines will certainly be enforced. Now, whether they will be monetary fines as announced by Pristina and whether 200,000 displaced Serbs will be fined or whether it will be fines in the form of bureaucratic prohibitions or administrative problems, meaning that Serbs will not have access to public services, elections, or the renewal of documents, obtaining certain permits. It is possible that census participation or other proofs will be required," Marsenic emphasizes.
She adds that there are several contentious aspects in the recently concluded census, and the key issue is that neither the socio-political nor the security aspects were ensured for its implementation.
“The census cannot be conducted at any time and under any circumstances. The timing of the census should be scheduled when there is a stable socio-political and security situation to ensure sufficient trust from the population in the institutions conducting the census. Clearly, the case of the census in Kosovo and Metohija does not reflect this. It is being conducted in an atmosphere of fear, violence, and physical and institutional terror against the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, as evidenced by recent events,” Marsenic said.
She cites recent police raids on the Postal Savings Bank, the abolition of the dinar, and the ban on importing Serbian products as examples.

She also highlights a major issue that many Serbs did not have the opportunity to be counted.

“We need to consider the 200,000 forcibly displaced Serbs who are currently not at their usual place of residence and cannot return, which indicates that the timing of this census is inappropriate,” she emphasized.

She expressed doubts about the part of the census dealing with war damage.

“This does not benefit the Serbs and raises questions about how well the enumerators were trained for such tasks, and how these data will be verified at all,” she stresses.

Among the major shortcomings of the completed census, Marsenic also lists an inadequate informational campaign.

“The informational campaign was extremely poor because people could not access basic information on the Statistical Agency's website in Albanian, let alone in Serbian. Not to mention the questionnaires, which were poorly translated into Serbian. There were many irregularities and inconsistencies, making it difficult for Serbs to properly understand these questionnaires, indicating that the conditions of inclusivity and transparency were not met in this census. This suggests that there are no objective conditions for determining the actual number of Serbs currently residing in Kosovo and Metohija,” Marsenic stated.
Census - General Confusion
Ivan Nikolic, Director of the NGO “Communication for Social Development” (CSD) from Gracanica, told Kosovo Online that the recently concluded census in Kosovo can be described as "hard to explain" and a "general confusion." He added that the results will be used against the Serbian community, which is already accustomed to this.

"Overall, it’s a general confusion, to say the least, and once again, it’s at the expense of the ordinary person from the Serbian community, who simply doesn't know what to do and has to rely on themselves," said Nikolic.

Ivan Nikolic, Director of the NGO “Communication for Social Development” (CSD) from Gracanica, reminded that the census had been announced for a long time, with the key message being that a boycott would be a significant mistake, resulting in reduced budgets for municipalities with a majority Serbian population. He stated that the process started in a way that is hard to explain.

"When the census finally started, something happened that is again difficult to explain. We heard from a large number of people that they were not sufficiently and properly informed. They were confused by different messages from the Kosovo and Serbian sides about a potential boycott or avoidance. On the other hand, there were talks from Pristina about fines for not participating in the census. Another confusing factor was that there were not enough resources on the ground to conduct the census properly, as many people said that no one even visited them," Nikolic pointed out.

According to him, the results of the census could lead to reduced budgets for municipalities with a majority Serbian population.

"This is no small matter, as that budget is intended for the citizens and can be wisely used. There could also be concrete consequences considering the mention of penalties for those who did not participate in the census. There were no official confirmations or statements about fines. It all boiled down to hearsay, assumptions, and rumors. We will have to wait and see," said Nikolic.

Asked how the census results will affect the rights of the Serbian community in Kosovo, Nikolic said he doubts there will be a significant impact because those rights are already sufficiently threatened.

"The rights of Serbs in Kosovo are already sufficiently threatened that this cannot significantly impact them further. It could serve the Kosovo side as an argument that we do not deserve additional benefits. I don't see this leading to any extreme measures," Nikolic concluded.

Benefit for All Communities

On the other hand, Hazbije Qeriqi, an associate of the Statistical Agency, told Kosovo Online that there were minor issues during the census in Kosovo, but everything went smoothly and the results will benefit all communities.

"There were no major problems, but during the census process, we faced several minor challenges which we resolved very easily," Qeriqi said.
She added that the census results will produce numerous benefits for all communities in Kosovo.

"The results will reflect the entire population living in Kosovo. The Serbian community will have the same benefits. For example, in the areas of local self-government, investments, and organizations that want to invest in programs to provide a better life. They will benefit from this census because everyone will use this data for investments, including international organizations and local governments that want to invest in something. They need this data to know which areas are best to invest in," Qeriqi explained.

She said that after extending the census deadline, the Statistical Agency opened multiple phone lines to ensure everyone could participate.

"The Prime Minister informed the public that May 24 would be the last day of the census, but we opened several phone lines so that all residents from across Kosovo could call and contact the employees of the Statistical Agency, and then they could be counted," Qeriqi said.

When asked if those who did not respond to the census would be sanctioned as initially stated, the representative of the Statistical Agency said that this is the responsibility of other institutions.

"Penalties are regulated by law, but we are only responsible for contacting the respondents and collecting data. Other institutions will be responsible for punishing those who boycotted the census system," Qeriqi concluded.

Questionable Questionnaire Translation

However, the Executive Director of the NGO "Aktiv," Miodrag Milicevic, told Kosovo Online that the census results will undoubtedly be used for political purposes, and the key oversight is that the process was not inclusive, especially concerning non-Albanian communities.

"If we look at the obligations and the impact it has and will have after the official results are published, it will undoubtedly be exploited for political purposes. In practice, precisely because of all these deficiencies, including the northern part that will be completely excluded, despite assurances from the Kosovo side that the census will be fully implemented. That is not happening in practice. We will end up with partial results, which will, I am sure, have political consequences, including possibly re-evaluating the Ahtisaari Plan, which is actively included in the Kosovo Constitution and offers constitutional guarantees to both the Serbian and other non-majority communities living in Kosovo," Milicevic said.

He assessed that the questionnaire presented to the Serbian community was scandalous, from the translation to the problematic questions, highlighting that this indicates a fundamental disrespect for the rights guaranteed by the constitution and laws to minority communities.

"It is scandalous that such a questionnaire and its content were published. This is a scandal in itself and speaks not only to the quality of the translation, which is a technical issue, but more about the respect for the rights of a community. This points to a far greater fundamental problem, which is precisely the disrespect of rights guaranteed by the constitution and numerous laws and other mechanisms for a community, in this specific case - the Serbian community," Milicevic emphasized.
He stated that the NGO “Aktiv” published extensive research and offered a set of recommendations to the authorities in Pristina that should have been implemented before the census, but none of these suggestions were taken into account.

This led to a situation where citizens were not informed about the details or obligations of the census process even at its conclusion.

"On the other hand, the Statistical Agency, including the Kosovo government, did not even make an effort to implement the necessary measures to make the census fully inclusive. This means it should have included all those who are outside Kosovo and could not return for various reasons, primarily security concerns. This mainly refers to displaced persons," said Milicevic.

He added that, on the other hand, the Kosovo diaspora was fully included in the census process, including the section related to war damage from 1998 and 1999.
He emphasized that this section is also contentious because it only accounted for war damage up to June 1999.

"We know that there were consequences after that date, in 1999, but also in 2000 and... 2004," Milicevic pointed out.

Commenting on the translation of the questionnaires into Serbian, he said this is not new as it has happened before, but it is incomprehensible that it was carried over to census-related documents.

"Every ten years, you have an action that is fundamentally important, and there should not be any percentage of irregularities, especially regarding the technical aspect, which would allow someone to publish such a document with a scandalous translation. This is something that should have been corrected much earlier. Proofreaders needed to do their job properly. I'm not only referring to translators but also to proofreaders. Someone had to approve the publication of such a document. It is unnecessary to interpret individual questions in the document or justify that even the Albanian questionnaires were not the best. Such a document should not have been published before ensuring it was grammatically correct and properly aligned with all the rules," Milicevic believes.

When asked how the census results could affect the north, which boycotted the process, and whether the number of residents living there would be artificially presented as smaller, Milicevic emphasized that the bigger problem is the mass exodus of Serbs.

"For years, we have been warning the broader public and key authorities in Kosovo, Serbia, and the international community that this process is happening on a large scale and that it is reaching massive proportions. If this trend continues, we will be left with a significantly symbolic number of people and citizens at some point," said Milicevic.

He stressed that this process began with the change of government in Kosovo.

"What has happened over the past few years, from the moment of the change of government in Kosovo to today, has incredibly accelerated the pace of migration. Today, we are talking about the mere survival of a small number of people. If this trend continues, they will be completely marginalized politically and in any other sense, without any real influence on the quality of life and political processes, as has been the case in previous years. This is not good for anyone. It is not good for the concept of a multi-ethnic Kosovo, nor for the dialogue process, and least of all for the attempt to normalize relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which should essentially pave the way for ultimate normalization and establish a greater degree of trust among the citizens within Kosovo," Milicevic emphasized.

He warns that the authorities in Pristina are doing nothing to stop the migration process.

"Numerous decisions, especially the recent ones from the Kosovo Government, such as the ban on importing goods and the ban on using the dinar without providing concrete solutions for all those people who receive their salaries in dinars, absolutely do not contribute to stabilizing the situation. On the contrary, they accelerate migration, which is not being discussed at all, at any level, and not only in the north," Milicevic concludes.