The discrimination of newborn children due to discharge papers in Kosovo

They say that pregnancy, if without complications, is actually one of the most beautiful experiences a woman can have. Experts recommend that we avoid stress when we are "expecting" and instead enjoy this special and important period. However, if you are currently pregnant or a new mother in Kosovo, you're also worrying about things the system itself should be solving, but which the local system only complicates.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but most mothers in Serbian communities in Kosovo give birth in clinical centers or maternity wards that operate within the system of the Republic of Serbia, located in Gracanica, Pasjane, and North Mitrovica.

After the closure of certain institutions in northern Kosovo, registering newborns has become a complicated process, which will now have to be done outside of Kosovo, specifically in the nearest city in central Serbia, to ensure that the child receives Serbian citizenship and secures further rights associated with that status.

Another very complicated situation, which I’ve heard about from our compatriots in the north, is that not only can they not register the child in their own municipality, but—surprisingly—they also cannot register the child in the Kosovo system. You might ask how this is possible?

As it was explained to me, if you want to register your child in that system, you must present a "Serbian" birth certificate, which you cannot obtain because the Provisional Body (the municipality according to the Serbian system) no longer exists. This leaves your child outside the system for as long as the unnecessary and complicated processes persist, processes which the authorities in Pristina do not acknowledge—just as they fail to recognize the presence of Serbs here—while the authorities in Belgrade remain reserved and vague.

In our area, in the south, in Gracanica, there are no such problems for now, since the Provisional Body of Pristina still functions, if we can even call it that. But we won't delve into their work or lack thereof now; instead, we’ll focus on the current circumstances. This is why it is easier to register newborns immediately in this municipality. However, if it happens that this body is also shut down, we will presumably, as we have for the past 25 years, have to go to Niska Banja to obtain birth certificates and registration numbers.

There is, however, a bigger danger here. The Clinical Center of Pristina, which operates in Gracanica under the Serbian system, has some form of cooperation with the Clinical Center of Pristina, which operates under the Kosovo system. Patients that cannot be treated by one center are referred to the other. This cooperation is absolutely praiseworthy, but! If you, as a mother, are urgently transferred to Pristina, you give birth there, everything goes well, and you receive a Kosovo discharge paper, the Serbian system does not recognize it. In this case, you can only rely on God or some higher power, the universe, or whatever you believe in, to hope that this situation doesn’t arise. In this way, your child is denied the right to Serbian citizenship, even though, according to the Serbian Constitution and official stance, "Kosovo is part of Serbia." A child born in Pristina, with a Kosovo discharge paper, due to a strange twist of circumstances and the reality in Kosovo, is not!

Mothers who decide to give birth in foreign hospitals in Kosovo, with better conditions and treatment, and with insurance provided by the international institutions they work for, face a similar problem. In those cases, the discharge papers are not recognized by Serbian institutions either.

Now you can practically see what life looks like for a pregnant woman, a new mother, or a mother in Kosovo. Neither system truly cares about them. I think that during the next visit or meeting with the "Serb leaders," the authorities in Belgrade should resolve this situation as soon as possible and explain, while taking pictures with "Serbian babies" in maternity wards, how these children suddenly have no right to Serbian citizenship through no fault of their own.

Written by: zenski.info