Celic: The Law on Foreigners is unconstitutional, this must be pointed out to the international community

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pristina, temporarily seated in Kosovska Mitrovica, Dusko Celic, emphasized that the implementation of the Law on Foreigners will prevent Serbs who do not possess Kosovo documents from exercising basic rights, and that there is still room to alert the international community to the fatal consequences of these, as he stresses, unlawful regulations.

Celic told Kosovo Online that the regulations were deliberately drafted and will be deliberately implemented in a way that strikes at the vital institutions of the Serbian people that have remained – Serbian healthcare and education, from primary level to the university level.

"My position is that the implementation of these regulations will have a fatal impact on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and on their institutions. According to estimates, nine to ten thousand Serbs in the north of Kosovo and Metohija alone do not have identity cards issued by the so-called Pristina authorities, either because they cannot obtain them due to administrative obstacles or because of conscientious objection. They will be prevented from exercising basic rights, the right to freedom of movement, the right to a home, they will not be able to stay longer than three days in their own birthplace. Not to mention what will happen to students from central Serbia and from northern Montenegro who traditionally study at the University of Pristina, what will happen to nearly two-thirds of lecturers and university professors who are either not from Kosovo and Metohija or cannot, for bureaucratic reasons or conscientious objection, obtain a Pristina identity card, meaning that the functioning of the University will be made impossible," Celic stated for Kosovo Online.

According to him, this is the first step toward integration and, as he adds, the integration of Serbian institutions, as envisioned by Pristina, represents a sure path to their disappearance.

"This means a chain reaction, first the departure of children for schooling in central Serbia or other areas, the departure of children later implies the reunification of families, that is, the departure of parents, and it is not difficult to conclude that this would have fatal consequences not only for the institutions but for the entire remaining Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija," our interlocutor emphasized.

As he adds, it is high time for the academic community to raise its voice against the implementation of the regulations, but also to alert both the international community and Belgrade that this regulation and its enforcement could have fatal consequences for the Serbian community.

"Foreign actors react when they have a problem on the ground. Therefore, if there is no problem, there is no reaction. They know there will be problems, that is clear, however I believe they should be made aware that the problem will be of such magnitude that Kosovo and Metohija will no longer be a multiethnic society. If that is truly what they want, then it should be clearly and loudly pointed out to them – an ethnically pure Kosovo, cleansed of Serbs, will be on their conscience," Celic stated.

Celic emphasizes that the Law on Foreigners is unconstitutional and that this must be pointed out both to international actors and to institutions in Kosovo.

"It seems to me that there is still room to point out, on that basis as well, to international actors and perhaps to institutions within Kosovo that this is an unconstitutional regulation. It does not respect the acquired rights of Serbs or freedom of movement, it declares 220,000 refugees to be foreigners, which is unprecedented in comparative international law. Therefore, it seems to me that, no matter how aware they are and how benevolent their attitude toward Pristina may be, there is still room to exert pressure on the international community by pointing out the fatal consequences if these regulations are implemented," Celic concluded.