Conference “Kosovo: Zone of special passports,” organized in Mitrovica North yesterday focused on the issues holders of the Serbian passports issued by the Coordination Centre face in Kosovo, Radio KIM reports.
The Serbian Coordination Centre passports have been issued since August 2009 for the citizens of Serbia living in the territory of Kosovo, and these passports are not part of the Serbia’s visa liberalization process.
NGO Activ Director, Miodrag Milicevic said that based on analysis conducted last month, around 20 percent of all passport holders in the north of Kosovo have passports issued with addresses in the central Serbia. He warned this percentage would be much higher next year, when the validity of the passports citizens got in 2009 by the Serbian Ministry of Affairs units dislocated from Kosovo, would expire.
Bojan Elek, from the Belgrade-based Centre for Security Policy thinks there is a way citizens with Serbian passports with a place of residence in Kosovo, can travel freely as their co-citizens living in the central Serbia.
“Solution to this situation for the citizens of Serbia who live in the north of Kosovo, and who are discriminated, is either to find the way to harmonize the process of issuing documents which are part of visa-free regime, Serbia to insist on it within the Brussels dialogue or in some other way, or to find the way and provide visa liberalization for those holding Kosovo passports,” Elek said.
Activ representative also said the percentage of requests for Kosovo passports is rising, however, not everything is going smoothly and citizens face a bureaucratic adventure in order to obtain certain documents, including travel documents.
Activ proposed as one of the main recommendations that Kosovo institutions must provide a clear explanation of the legal basis related to the ban on using certain Serbian passports, while Serbia must ensure equal treatment of all its citizens, KIM Radio reported.
