Non-governmental organization Activ from Mitrovica North organized yesterday a conference dedicated to difficult procedure and obstacles to obtain Kosovo citizenship, document that is a prerequisite to have Kosovo identification documents.
In a wider context this issue was identified as the main obstacle to integration, in particular northern part of Kosovo into Kosovo society.
According to Xhevdet Haxhiju from the civil registry department at Mitrovica North Administration Office there are around 200.000 persons older than 18 years, born in Kosovo, who cannot get citizenship as personal number is a prerequisite for it.
He said it is necessary to collect 12 to 13 documents to prove they are born in Kosovo and have residence here.
Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Milan Radojevic said the issue with personal identification documents is not the only problem citizens in the north are facing.
He said persons born after 1999 are not registered in the copies of civil registry books Serbia handed over to the Kosovo authorities and they according to the current Kosovo law do not meet criteria to get citizenship. Kosovo government also declared invalid documents they have from the Serbian authorities thus disabling them to get citizenship.
However, according to Radojevic there is neither a single decision of the government nor instruction that declare those documents as invalid.
According to NGO Human Centre from Mitrovica North, Veroljub Petronic this issue impacts freedom of the movement of citizens from the Serb community and that Pristina selectively applies its laws.
“From one side they are asking for integration of Serbs into Kosovo society and based on what was done so far, it seems that Pristina does not want integration or to have it to the lesser extent possible. This leads to dissatisfaction and mistrust into Kosovo institutions, further leading to the feeling of discrimination and insecurity of the citizens,” he said.
