Celic: Implementation of the Law on Foreigners would lead to widespread discrimination against Serbs in Kosovo

Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pristina temporarily seated in Kosovska Mitrovica, Dusko Celic, stated today that there is significant concern within the academic community regarding the entry into force of the Pristina laws on foreigners and vehicles, warning that their full implementation would lead to widespread discrimination against Serbs.

“Entire categories of the Serbian population are excluded – 220,000 refugees and internally displaced persons, individuals who were born for various reasons in central Serbia, who are registered in civil registries within the system of the Republic of Serbia, and who concluded marriages before civil registrars within the system of the Republic of Serbia are legally unrecognized under this so-called regulation,” Celic told Tanjug.

He noted that the University of Pristina with temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica is not a local university, but that around one third of its students come from central Serbia, Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska.

Celic explained that a number of students from Kosovo also do not possess documents issued by Pristina due to administrative barriers.

“When we consider these regulations as a whole, we see that they produce the effect – I will not say that this is too strong a description – of a ‘perfect storm’, without a single shot being fired,” Celic emphasized.

He added that among professors, the percentage of those who do not possess Pristina-issued documents exceeds one third, and rises to approximately half when considering all employees, warning that a rigid application of these regulations would make the operation of the university impossible.

“This is an indirect way of forcing us, in quotation marks, to ‘integrate’, which is again a euphemism for disappearance. I would like to say that there are two red lines here. One is takeover – in other words, integration by Pristina – and the other is relocation outside the territory of Kosovo and Metohija,” Celic stressed.

He pointed out that both scenarios would be catastrophic, adding that although the University might survive outside Kosovo, it would not be able to fulfill its purpose.

“A university does not exist merely for employees, merely so that professors, associates and other staff can receive salaries there. It exists primarily for our people, for our students,” Celic emphasized.

Responding to a question about the recent meeting between University Rector Nebojsa Arsic and the head of UNMIK, Peter Due, and whether representatives of the international community in Kosovo understand the consequences of implementing these regulations, Celic said that UNMIK had long ago ceased to be what UN Security Council Resolution 1244 defined in terms of an executive mandate and had turned into an observer mission.

“I believe that all international missions in Kosovo and Metohija should be informed, but I must say that we are not optimistic. We are not optimistic because that part of the international community – the political West – actually supported the unilateral declaration of independence of the so-called Kosovo in 2008, and it seems that it applies a policy of double standards toward our people in Kosovo and Metohija and toward our institutions. Not to mention that it tacitly supports the authorities in Pristina when it comes to all unilateral actions against Serbs and Serbian institutions,” Celic said.

He recalled that Pristina abolished payment transactions in dinars, banned the operations of all Serbian banks, and prohibited the circulation of Serbian books.

“All of these are measures that represent side attacks not only on the university, but on education as a whole, as well as on healthcare – in other words, on institutions operating within the system of the Republic of Serbia,” Celic said.

He added that UNMIK, under Resolution 1244, has the duty to recognize and intervene in such situations, but that it has unfortunately somehow relinquished its executive powers.