Three years without Serbian daily newspapers in Kosovo: Silence as complicity of the international community

Even three years after the decision by the Government in Pristina to ban the entry of goods produced in central Serbia into Kosovo, Serbian-language daily newspapers are still not reaching shops and kiosks, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia recalls. Together with the Journalists’ Association of Kosovo and Metohija, it warns that freedom of the press is a cornerstone of democracy, and that the right to be informed in one’s own language is a fundamental human right that must be guaranteed at all times, without restriction.

The distribution of Serbian daily newspapers to Kosovo has been obstructed multiple times over the past fifteen years. The empty space at kiosks is striking for every citizen—both for those for whom newspapers were an important source of information and for anyone who values and nurtures their culture, the article published on the UNS website states.

The President of DNKiM, Ivana Vanovac, assessed that this is a precedent and that such a situation does not exist anywhere in the modern world, except in war-affected areas where it is impossible to distribute print media.

“We are in peacetime, yet there is a decision banning the entry of daily newspapers in the mother tongue, a right guaranteed to the Serbian community in Kosovo. Even if there were no local provisions, there are international conventions on civil rights that include the right to be informed in one’s native language,” she emphasized.

Vanovac: The lack of interest from the international community is alarming

This is a precedent, Vanovac stressed, occurring in Europe in the 21st century.

“The lack of interest from international actors—who are supposedly there to raise the level of democracy in society—is even more troubling than the actions of the Kosovo authorities,” she said.

Under such circumstances, she added, it is most important that local electronic media providing information in Serbian have functioned effectively throughout.

“People are not deprived of information, although the conditions in which these media operate are far from satisfactory, given the discriminatory treatment they face—lack of translation, inability to cover events, exclusion of Serbian-language media, financial difficulties, and much more,” Vanovac noted.

However, she emphasized that despite the availability of electronic media, denying the fundamental civic right to be informed through print media in one’s native language is unacceptable.

Gudzic: Kosovo is hermetically closed to any form of dissenting opinion

Historian Aleksandar Gudzic told UNS that the ban on Serbian-language daily newspapers is just one part of a broader pattern that has become more aggressive and intensified over the past decade, originating from Pristina.

“This includes the ban on goods from central Serbia, newspapers, and a host of other measures and laws adopted by Pristina. What is concerning from the perspective of an ordinary person is that Serbs have accepted and are not reacting to the repressive methods, restrictions, and limitations imposed by Pristina. As for the international community, its representatives have in recent years largely developed a ‘fantastic strategy’ of silence and inaction. By failing to react, they are complicit,” he noted.

Gudzic added that even today, 27 years after the war, the political elite of Kosovo Albanians “fears any form of dissenting and critical opinion that diverges from the official and preferred narrative.”

“Kosovo is a hermetically closed environment for any kind of critical or alternative thinking. For decades, the dominant narrative in Kosovo has been that Serbia is to blame for the war of the 1990s and everything that followed, while Kosovo Albanians hold an exclusive victimhood status. In that context, I also view the ban on Serbian-language daily newspapers entering Kosovo,” he said.

Gudzic pointed out that people had long been accustomed to buying and reading newspapers, and that many used to travel from other areas to Gracanica to obtain them.

Zvezdan Mihajlović from the company “KiM Beokolp,” which previously distributed Serbian daily newspapers in Kosovo, stated that each ban led to a decline in newspaper sales.

“Before the last ban on goods produced in central Serbia entering Kosovo and Metohija, we distributed between 600 and 650 copies of daily newspapers. We had 32 points of sale, and people in Kosovska Mitrovica, Strpce, Gracanica, and other places regularly received daily newspapers,” he recalled.

At one point, he added, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe also helped ensure that Serbian newspapers reached all parts of Kosovo.

“Even today, nearly three years after this ban, there is strong interest in restoring the distribution of daily newspapers in Kosovo and Metohija,” Mihajlović emphasized.

Continuous obstruction of Serbian press distribution

In mid-April 2014, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia strongly protested against the taxation of Belgrade-based newspapers in Kosovo.

At the time, it stated that it was unacceptable to require distributors to pay VAT and called on EULEX and the Ombudsman to enable unhindered distribution and ensure protection.

In 2018, the authorities in Pristina imposed additional tariffs of 100 percent on print media from central Serbia. This move was assessed as a flagrant violation of citizens’ right to information, with the position that the distribution of information must be free from all economic and political restrictions.

UNS and DNKiM informed international journalistic organizations about the issue.

The move was also strongly condemned by Serbia’s then Ministry of Culture and Information, which called on the authorities in Pristina to revoke the decision and ensure the right to information in one’s native language.

Concern was also expressed by the then OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, who underscored the necessity of protecting the right of all citizens to access information in their own language.

A few days later, UNS and DNKiM stated that the distributor had been willing to pay the additional tax, but customs officials required that the invoice state: “Republic of Kosovo.”

This marked the first time since 1999 that Kosovo’s citizens went without access to print media for such an extended period.

After multiple interruptions, nearly three years since the latest decision by the Government in Pristina, Serbian-language daily newspapers still do not reach shops and kiosks.