Country Report: Kosovo
- Genocide Watch
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
By Kolby Phillip
Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of Kosovo. © picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Visar Kryeziu
Kosovo was once an autonomous province of Serbia within the former Yugoslavia. Kosovo has two main ethnic groups: Kosovar Albanians and Serbs. Kosovars have been Muslims since the Ottoman era. They held most governmental positions and pushed for greater autonomy within Serbia. Serbs faced discrimination and sought closer ties with Serbia.
When Slobodan Milošević became Serbian president in 1980, he announced he intended to establish a greater Serbian nation. Milošević revoked Kosovo’s autonomous status and replaced Kosovar-Albanians with Serbs in government.
Kosovar Albanians protested peacefully, but futilely. They organized an armed resistance, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), in 1993. From 1995 to 1999, the KLA fought the Serbian Army for independence. As they had earlier done in Bosnia and Croatia, Serbian Army and militias used genocidal tactics against Kosovar Albanians, including murder, abduction, forced displacement, and mass rape,. The KLA employed similar tactics against Serbs, Roma, and Ashkali “Egyptian” Muslims. A few KLA leaders promoted a ‘greater Albania’ ideology.
Serb militias massacred over 10,000 Kosovar Albanians. 45 were killed in the Račak massacre. Serb militias forced over 14,000 Kosovar-Albanians to flee from their homes. After US War Crimes Ambassador David Scheffer announced on April 9, 1999 that there were “indicators of genocide” in Kosovo, the US and NATO intervened with a bombing campaign on Belgrade. Serbian forces surrendered and quickly withdrew. The civil war cost 13,535 killed or disappeared, 20,000 rape victims, 600,000 refugees, and 400,000 internally displaced.
NATO claimed legal justification for its 1999 intervention under U.N. Charter ch. 8 art. 52, 53, & 54 which provides for enforcement action authorized by the Security Council by “regional arrangements or agencies” “for the maintenance of international peace and security.” NATO established a peacekeeping force, KFOR, which operates to this day. The U.N. established an interim government that lasted nine years.
Kosovo declared independence on February 17, 2008. 119 countries currently recognize Kosovo as a sovereign independent nation. Serbia still does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.
Kosovo and Serbia agreed in 2013 and 2015 to normalize relations. The pacts were never implemented. They agreed to establish an Association of Serb Municipalities in Serb-majority Northern Kosovo, but it has never functioned. Each side routinely blames the other for non-action. Following the Kosovo Judicial Council’s suspension of a Serb judge in March 2022, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić declared, “The Brussels Agreement no longer exists.” In February 2023, Kosovo and Serbia agreed to another framework for normalizing relations, but it has also not been implemented.
Ethnic conflicts erupted in the 2020’s in Leposavić, Zvečan, Zubin Potok, and North Mitroviça. On April 23, 2023, Kosovar Albanians swept municipal elections that Serbs boycotted. A month later, Kosovo Police forcibly took over municipal buildings in Serb areas to install Kosovar Albanian mayors. These actions galvanized Serb protests, resulting in violent clashes with KFOR on May 29, 2023, leading to 82 injuries. The US blamed the violence on Kosovo authorities. In April 2024, recall elections were held to depose Kosovar mayors in Serb municipalities, but only 253 people voted out of 46,000 registered, so the electoral commission held the elections to be invalid.
In September 2023, Serb militants entered Banjska, Zvečan, ambushing Kosovo police and killing four. In September 2024, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that Serbia “orchestrated and financed” the attack and “should be held accountable.” Vučić retorted that the militants’ actions were of Kurti’s doing. Such divisive rhetoric characterizes Vučić’s disdain for Kurti, with whom Vučić says he has “no relationship at all.”
In November 2024, Kosovo Police raided northern Serb municipalities following an explosion that damaged the Ibar-Lepenc canal. Kurti accused Serbia of orchestrating a “criminal and terrorist attack,” a claim strongly denied by Vučić. No conclusive evidence of Serbian involvement has been found.
Genocide Watch considers Kosovo to be at Stage 3: Discrimination and Stage 6: Polarization.
Genocide Watch recommends:
● Serbia must officially recognize Kosovo as an independent sovereign nation.
● Kosovo should implement formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities in Northern Kosovo.
● Kosovo should reopen the Mitroviça bridge over the Ibar River after reconciling with northern Serbs.
● The EU should condition Kosovo’s membership on strengthening Kosovo laws to protect minorities.
● Kosovo and Serbia should step up negotiations to normalize diplomatic and economic relations.
