The biggest security problem for the Serb community in the North of Kosovo is crime and for the Serbs South of Ibar freedom of movement – says the research within the project “Did the Brussels Agreement Forgotten Citizens” conducted by NGO “Crno Beli Svet” (Black and White World) and TV Mir based in Leposavic.
The survey was conducted in May, June and July last year on a sample of 600 respondents – 300 in municipalities in the North of Kosovo and 300 in municipalities south of the Ibar – Gracanica, Lipljan, Gnjilane, Novo Brdo and Partes.
Some of the problems cited by people (respondents) are the inter-ethnic intolerance and insecurity of Serbs in Albanian communities, says Director of NGO “Black and White World”, Sanja Sovrlic.
She adds that given that the respondents in this segment did not have the offered answers, they themselves have indicated them, the reasons why they perceive it as security problems can be different.
“Considering that the research was conducted in the year when the murder of Oliver Ivanovic happened, but also because of some other, I say, security problems, it is possible that this is one of the reasons why the image of the security problems is multi-colored,” says Sovrlic.
Respondents, according to the results of the survey, have the highest trust in KFOR, while at the second place is the Kosovo Police.
Access to personal documents is another segment within this research.
Sovrlic says that there is still a category of people who cannot exercise this right, but the research was more about what documents citizens possess, since here we have Serbian and Kosovo IDs, passports and driving licenses.
“A general assessment turned out, lets say, that respondents from the south of Kosovo possess at a greater extent Kosovo’s documents compering to those from the North, and that this percentage of Serbian documents held by citizens from the north is higher than those from the south”, she said.
The project “Whether the Brussels Agreement Has Forgotten Citizens” and the results of research on the quality of life of citizens in the north and south of Kosovo within the framework of topics of security, energy, sport, rule of law and access to personal documents and availability of information were presented at the EU Info Center in North Mitrovica.
The project was implemented by the NGO “Black and White World” and TV Mir from Leposavic, and it was supported by the Kosovo Foundation for an Open Society (KFOS).
