Letter to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights: When life fits into one word – injustice

The letter was sent to the right address. The header included a warning: in Kosovo there is serious and systematic non-compliance with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. A clear and loud message from several civil society organizations was sent to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, claim interlocutors of Kosovo Online. They are convinced it is a “desperate cry for help” from non-majority communities, primarily the Serbian one. They are also convinced that someone in Europe will read it, but not all believe the reaction expected by the Serbs will follow—that they will be allowed to live a normal life.

Written by: Djordje Barovic

“Numerous findings of relevant institutions and organizations point to serious violations of the rights, well-being, and dignity of the Serbian community in Kosovo, and underscore a pattern of systemic disregard for the standards of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities,” reads the key sentence from the letter of civil society organizations, which lists in detail the violations of minority human rights.

The Council of Europe adopted this Convention on 10 November 1994, and it entered into force on 1 February 1998.

It is the first legally binding multilateral instrument dedicated to the protection of national minorities worldwide, and its implementation is monitored by the only international committee devoted exclusively to minority rights: the Advisory Committee. It is now in force in 38 states.

Life in One Word

One of the signatories of this letter to the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe is Gordana Djoric, president of the women’s association Avenija from Gracanica.

In a conversation with Kosovo Online, she says that the life of Serbs in Kosovo over the past 25 years can be summed up in one word—injustice.

That is why she was bothered by the question of whether this letter will change anything.

“If we had thought it couldn’t change anything, we certainly wouldn’t have addressed it. This is our opportunity to try to change something so that human rights are respected properly, so that our rights are not threatened, and thereby our lives destroyed,” says Djoric.

She claims that in Kosovo—at least when it comes to the Serbian community—the rule of law does not exist.

“For 25 years we have endured injustice, and I am certain there is no rule of law, especially when it comes to the Serbian community,” Djoric emphasizes.

As a clear example, she cites selective application of the law.

“When it comes to the majority community, court cases are resolved very quickly, but when it comes to the Serbian community, these cases are prolonged. For example, now they are evicting entire families without trial, without any ruling, only with police action. Some institution has given itself the right to evict families who have lived there for 50 years, or to build illegally. They do whatever they want, while institutions are there to enforce laws, but instead, they break them,” Djoric says.

She believes that European institutions will take the letter of the Serbian community in Kosovo seriously and that the European Commissioner will send his representatives.

“We hope that they will influence some changes, so that we can survive and live, to simply improve some of our living conditions and finally exercise our rights granted to us by law, and live more normally,” Djoric explains.

Asked what if there is no appropriate reaction, she shrugs.

“If they don’t pay attention to our letter, then we really have no one left to trust, and we’ll have to see how we will organize ourselves to influence proper implementation of laws here,” Djoric emphasizes.
EU Annual Reports

Member of the Serbian Parliament’s delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Dunja Simonovic Bratic, warns that Serbs in Kosovo face a life Europe has not seen since World War II, which is why it is necessary to constantly point out numerous violations of their basic human rights.

If nothing else, she says, all violations of human rights of minority communities in this way will have to be included in the annual report of the Commissioner for Human Rights.

“In Kosovo and Metohija, everything hurts the Serbs, since the life they live there is something Europe hasn’t seen since World War II, and their struggle is heroic. What we are trying to do through the Council of Europe and this way of addressing the Commissioner, unfortunately, are our only ways to react,” Simonovic Bratic says in a conversation with Kosovo Online.

She is convinced that the European Commissioner will react to this letter, just as he reacted on 6 April to the arrest of 16 pilgrims in Prizren.

She reveals that his visit to Kosovo was supposed to follow at that time, but it was canceled due to the institutional crisis.

“I think he has the desire to help,” Simonovic Bratic specifies.

She emphasizes that Serbs from Kosovo must react to all EU institutions because of the annual reports “which are taken into account.”

“If there is not enough initiative from our side, the Council of Europe will use the report written by the

European Commission, and when you read that report about the state of human rights in Kosovo and Metohija, it looks like ‘flowers and springtime’ there,” says Simonovic Bratic.
She adds that the reaction of the NGO sector in Kosovo, recognized in the EU as an “important civil society actor,” is of key importance.

She explains that Serbs “necessarily must expect” an answer from Europe, but that it is crucial that the European Commissioner “has some reaction” because he will have to include it in his annual report.
She stresses the need for Serbs from Kosovo, despite their “legitimate resistance” towards representatives of the European community, to present concrete examples and evidence of their endangerment, since they face “fabrication, concealment, and embellishment” of reality by Albin Kurti’s regime.

Therefore, she advises that if the European Commissioner does not visit Kosovo, Serbs must persist and reach him.

In this way, she clarifies, the Council of Europe will also have a complete overview when it comes to Kosovo’s requests for membership in the Council of Europe and other institutions.

“It is very important to use all these mechanisms. Unlike us, Albin Kurti’s regime maximally uses all possible resources to communicate as much as possible with EU representatives, the Council of Europe, and all those involved in resolving the problem. That is why the proactive role is important, which I welcome, and I believe the Commissioner will react in a way that, if nothing else, it will be included in the report that will then be used for their aspirations to join the Council of Europe, as well as everything else they seek. And it is necessary in every conversation to highlight everything that is violated on a daily basis, the way those people live there, and what the Kurti regime has failed to fulfill, from the Brussels Agreement onwards,” Simonovic Bratic concludes.

Situation and an “Expected Step”

Another signatory of the letter to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights notes that the violation of basic human rights in Kosovo has become alarming.

President of the NGO Communication for Social Development (CSD), Ivan Nikolic, emphasizes in a conversation with Kosovo Online that this was a “logical and expected step” after all previous appeals to international representatives in Pristina failed to bear fruit.

“The entire situation, when it comes to the violation of basic human rights, primarily of the Serbian community in Kosovo, has lasted too long. As civil society organizations, we have appealed several times to representatives of the international community and are extremely dissatisfied with their reactions and actions. This was a logical course of action, to send such a letter to the Commissioner, because it is evident that there are numerous events that need to be discussed seriously as they seriously threaten the daily life of the Serbian community,” says Nikolic.

Asked whether they expect a quick and concrete response from the Council of Europe, he admits that “he does not know what to expect.”

“We don’t know what to expect. We’ll see in what way and within what timeframe they will respond. Ideally, a meeting with the Commissioner would be organized, since he deals with serious issues, not only here (in Kosovo) but across Europe. But this is a place where the situation has become seriously alarming,” Nikolic emphasized.

He adds that the letter to the Commissioner listed numerous very concrete examples.

“We hope this will somehow raise awareness in him personally and in his Office, so that he will respond to the meeting and this topic will be raised to a higher level,” Nikolic believes.

Asked whether he expects the Commissioner to visit Kosovo and whether such a visit could change the authorities’ approach in Pristina to respecting human rights, Nikolic says such a meeting is “primarily important with representatives of active NGOs,” but also with media whose work is, he notes, also endangered—from serious threats to the lack of translation into Serbian in institutions.

“In the event he comes, I think it would be a serious message that the situation is alarming. I want to believe it would change something. This was not just a formal move to say we tried something knowing nothing would happen. No, this is initiating a step forward, and I want to believe it would really change something,” Nikolic concludes.

Formal and Informal Discrimination

Historian Siniša Vulic emphasizes that in Kosovo “formal and informal discrimination” is being carried out against Serbs, and that all previous reactions of the international community to Pristina’s unilateral actions indicate that, “in diplomatic terms, they are made easier by them.”

Therefore, he is skeptical that the letter from the NGO sector in Kosovo could change anything.

“I am not sure I expect any reaction other than perhaps declarative. We have seen so far that the international community often reacts to what is happening in Kosovo and Metohija by condemning Pristina’s actions, but does nothing about them,” Vulic tells Kosovo Online.

He adds that despite having a “mandate and resources” through KFOR to prevent unilateral actions, the international community ultimately “fully accepts the status quo.”

“In fact, they even tacitly approve of it, since we see that the consequences of these actions largely make their work easier, because the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is diplomatically simpler the fewer Serbian institutions there are and the fewer Serbs remain,” Vulic specifies.

He notes that discrimination against the Serbian community in Kosovo is carried out both formally and informally.

“Formally, it is carried out through the tendentious implementation of laws so that they apply unequally to Albanians and Serbs,” says Vulic.

He adds that this includes all those laws that are “interpreted elastically” when it comes to the Serbian community in Kosovo.

“These are primarily laws concerning the spread of interethnic and religious intolerance. So we have cases where people are arrested because of symbols on their clothes representing the Republic of Serbia or Serbian sports associations—something unprecedented in any country in recent times,” the historian stresses.

According to him, “informal” discrimination is carried out through intimidation or harassment of Serbs in northern Kosovo.

“They are intimidated and harassed in various ways, and then when the police arrive on the scene, they do nothing about it, or even try to find a way to present the incident as something in which both sides participated equally, with Serbs who were attacked even being portrayed as the instigators,” Vulic concludes.