UNMIK Media Observer, Afternoon Edition, August 9, 2024

Albanian Language Media:

Presidency: In no country in the world do they take phone of head of state for scanning (media)
North Macedonia’s Civil Aviation Agency issues official report on incident with Kosovo president (ekonomia)
Murati: We are supporting businesses in the north, for new jobs (RTK)
Ministry of Internal Affairs issues new notice on conversion of driver's licenses (Reporteri)
Maqedonci: KSF is capable of protecting the territory (media)
MFA: Forensic procedures being carried out to identify person killed in Loznica (Koha)
Fejza: Government has not taken any action to create counterposition with USA (Koha)
Musliu-Shoshi: Kurti aims to keep Kosovo isolated and condemned (media)

Serbian Language Media:

Between southern and northern Mitrovica, traffic over two bridges functions without problems (Danas, Beta)
Kabasic: Placement of cameras in the north is political control of the people (Kosovo Online)
Residents of the North on police surveillance cameras: It's a lie that they do it for security reasons (Kosovo Online)
Popov: Kurti is forcing Serbs to leave the north of Kosovo; if the reactions were sharper, Kurti would have behaved differently (Danas, Blic)
The body of Faton Hajrizi handed over at the Merdare crossing (N1, KoSSev, media)

Opinion:

‘Open Secret’: The Growing Scourge of Labour Exploitation in the Western Balkans (Balkan Insight)

International:

Kosovo Further Alienates Minority Serbs, Straining Status As 'Reliable Partner' (RFE)
Analysts predict that About half a Million People will leave Kosovo this Year (Sarajevo Times)

Albanian Language Media

Presidency: In no country in the world do they take phone of head of state for scanning (media)

The Presidency of Kosovo has said that the incident at Skopje Airport was an unprecedented case and a violation of international rules. "In no country in the world is the head of state asked to hand over the phone for scanning," said the representatives of the Presidency. "We have enough experience from other trips, and we have never come across such a request. In most countries, neither the personal luggage, nor the bag, nor the phone of the head of state are checked", the Presidency said.

Moreover, the Presidency has emphasized that North Macedonia is the only country that has refused to implement the international right and conventions that apply to the head of state. "As we have stated several times, the president checked her bag, and she passed the scanner. Any other statement is propaganda for political purposes. There is nothing professional about the behavior of a security who walks up to a head of state and blocks her movement after she has placed her bag in the scanner. RNM has violated the international rules that are applied everywhere in the world by requesting the scanning of the phone of the President of another country, which would present a potential threat to national security", it is further stated in the statement of the Presidency about.

In its reaction, the Presidency emphasized that because of these events, President Vjosa Osmani changed her travel itinerary and did not return to Kosovo through Skopje Airport.

North Macedonia’s Civil Aviation Agency issues official report on incident with Kosovo president (ekonomia)

The team of inspectors of the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA), led by director Dragi Stojanoski, has reviewed the evidence and made an extraordinary check at TAV Macedonia, regarding the incident in which the president of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, was involved. CAA announces that during the initial inspection it was found that the airport services responsible for security controls, in accordance with their work responsibilities, acted professionally and respected the rules established according to the international regulations implemented, not allowing the standards to be circumvented and the procedure even under the pressure of the people accompanying the passenger.

"The refusal to perform the standard security checks with the same passengers, according to the data, also happened in 2022 and 2023 when the security checks were accepted only after the pilot of the plane refused to admit passengers to the aircraft without a security check. If the officials in TAV Macedonia would act differently from the established rules and would allow omissions and avoidance of the foreseen procedures, they would face serious sanctions from the Civil Aviation Agency as the body responsible for their regulation", CAA emphasized. Since these are generally accepted international standards, if anyone suspects their reliability, they recommend applying the same practice in one of the European international airports, in order to be sure of their implementation.

Murati: We are supporting businesses in the north, for new jobs (RTK)

Kosovo’s Minister of Finance, Hekuran Murati, has announced that the government of Kosovo is supporting all new and existing businesses in the four municipalities in the north for the opening of up to two thousand new jobs, through wage subsidies for workers.

In a post on Facebook, Murati said that all those who are interested can go to the offices of the Employment Agency.

"With the restoration of law and order in the four northern municipalities of the country, we are now seeing day by day the opening of new businesses and the increase of business activity in that part.

The government is supporting all new and existing businesses in the four municipalities in the north for the opening of up to two thousand new jobs, through wage subsidies for workers.

For more information, it is enough to go to the offices of the Employment Agency, which are already located in the premises of the municipal buildings", wrote Murati.

Ministry of Internal Affairs issues new notice on conversion of driver's licenses (Reporteri)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that after numerous requests from residents to apply for the conversion of driver's licenses from Serbian ones to drivers' licenses of Kosovo, as well as the request for an extension of the conversion deadline, the deadline has been extended until August 23, 2024.

In a press release, the Ministry of Internal Affairs informs that all residents who possess a driver's license issued by Serbian structures can apply for an official driver's license of Kosovo at all Document Equipment Centers in Kosovo.

"Since May 9 with the entry into force of this decision until now, 5,787 citizens from the ranks of the Serb community have applied for the conversion of driver's licenses from those issued by illegal Serbian institutions to official drivers' licenses of the Republic of Kosovo", it is stated in notification.

Maqedonci: KSF is capable of protecting the territory (media)

Kosovo’s Minister of Defense, Ejup Maqedonci, has stated that the Kosovo Security Force is capable of combat tasks to protect the territory of Kosovo.

"Every member of the Kosovo Security Force has completed basic military courses and other courses that enable them to be ready for combat operations. With all the capacities we currently have, we are capable of operating and developing various tasks, among them combat tasks of protecting the territory", said Maqedonci.

The minister added that the training and equipment of the Kosovo Security Force are according to NATO standards.

"The motive is very high, the preparation is very high, our equipment, weapons systems are systems that are procured mainly from NATO countries, and according to the country-by-country system communicating with the relevant ministries of NATO countries, mainly from the USA , but also other countries", Maqedonci said.

MFA: Forensic procedures being carried out to identify person killed in Loznica (Koha)

Kosovo’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the relevant institutions of Kosovo are carrying out further forensic procedures for the identification and verification of the dead body of the person killed in Loznica, Serbia.

"After the arrival of the dead body of the citizen of Kosovo, the relevant institutions of the Republic of Kosovo are carrying out further forensic procedures for his identification and verification", it is stated in the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the early hours of Friday, the body was brought to Kosovo. Family members and friends of Hajrizi were waiting at the border point in Merdar.

Hajrizi was reportedly killed on July 19 near the border between Serbia and Bosnia. A day earlier, he allegedly killed a Serbian policeman and wounded another. Faton Hajrizi escaped from Smrekonica prison on July 6.

Later on, the director of the Department of Forensic Laboratories at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Agron Thaci said that Faton Hajrizi's body has already been identified by his family members.

Fejza: Government has not taken any action to create counterposition with USA (Koha)

Vetevendosje Movement MP Arjeta Fejza, has said that the actions and decisions of the government have never been an attempt to create a counter position with the United States of America.

"I believe that the government led by Vetevendosje is fully responsible for the obligations it has in relation to the implementation of the law and the constitutional order of the Republic of Kosovo. The results also speak for themselves. Our friendship with the USA is very important, the role of the USA for Kosovo is vital, no one ever denies such a thing. In none of the government's actions and decisions has there been an attempt to create any counterposition with the United States of America. Friendship with the USA is unbreakable, it is not something that can be broken. I don't think there is anyone in the Republic who in any way contests such a thing", said Fejza.

Asked about the opening of the Iber Bridge, Fejza said that the government is responsible for the obligations it has in relation to the implementation of the law and the constitutional order.

"I can't say it's a misunderstanding, maybe it's confusion about the time when the action is being carried out, but it's important that we have an assessment of the security institutions regarding the security situation. There has been no tendency at any moment to in any way violate any citizen or order or create tensions, on the contrary", she said.

Musliu-Shoshi: Kurti aims to keep Kosovo isolated and condemned (media)

The European Union has warned of new measures against Kosovo, if the situation in the north of Mitrovica does not change. Regarding this, PDK MP Ariana Musliu-Shoshi, in a statement for Blic newspaper, said that Kurti wants to develop populism with sensitive topics.

According to her, Kurti wants Kosovo to be under the measures, isolated and convicted. "Kurti does not appreciate the prosperity of Kosovo in any field of internal or external development! It is important for him to develop populism with sensitive topics that do not lead us anywhere. The Iber Bridge is in Kosovo and will remain in Kosovo! And it appears that Kurti’s goal is for Kosovo to be under measures punished and isolated", Ariana Musliu-Shoshi said.

Serbian Language Media

Between southern and northern Mitrovica, traffic over two bridges functions without problems (Danas, Beta)

Political analysts in Kosovo believe that Kosovo PM Albin Kurti's insistence on the opening of the main Ibar bridge was expressed only for the sake of collecting political points and securing votes for the parliamentary elections that will be held early next year, reported Danas, citing Beta agency.

Such evaluations are primarily based on the fact that two bridges between the southern and northern parts of Mitrovica are fully functional and used for traffic, which is unknown to a part of the public in Kosovo and beyond.

Those two bridges are two kilometers apart on the west and east sides of the main bridge on the Ibar.

One is called the bridge for Suvi Do, it is located west of the main bridge, while the other is called the bridge for Bosnjacka Mahala, and it is located on the east side. Both are used for both pedestrians and for the traffic of all kinds of vehicles.

From those bridges, there are passages next to the main bridge in the northern part of the city, right next to the pedestrian zone, and there, too, traffic flows without any problems.

The Government in Pristina previously announced that the opening of the bridge will be preceded by technical procedures that will require "a lot of time" - from testing the infrastructural stability to the "revitalization" of certain parts of the bridge.

According to the first results, the controls that were conducted on the main Ibar bridge showed that all the conditions for it to be used for motor vehicle traffic were met, Beta learned from the team of university professors who supervised the expertise, reported Danas.

According to those sources, the expertise was done with the most modern devices that exist in Europe, while the expert who supervised it is known for his experience in bridge expertise at the Balkan level and is one of the most famous in that field.

According to them, there is now a further procedure of reading the results that have been recorded and comparing them with the theoretical results that determine the stability of the bridges.

According to Beta's interlocutors, that work would last up to ten days.

Regardless of the announcements of the opening of the bridge, neither Kosovo PM Albin Kurti nor other Kosovo officials mentioned a precise date when it could happen.

In addition to technical checks, they announced talks with citizens and associations and a "comprehensive campaign on the benefits and goals" of opening that bridge.

One such meeting was held in the building of the North Mitrovica Municipality Assembly.

Representatives of the international community, the EU, the USA, KFOR and representatives of Serbia's institutions, as well as local Serbs, strongly opposed the opening of the bridge on the Ibar.

Kabasic: Placement of cameras in the north is political control of the people (Kosovo Online)

The former judge of the High Court in Mitrovica, Nikola Kabasic told Kosovo Online that the Kosovo police have the right to install video surveillance in a public space if there is a legal reason for it, but that the fact that a large number of cameras have recently been installed in North Mitrovica does not mean that citizens feel safer. As he said, one can rather talk about the political control of the people in one territory.

“This is understood as a form of pressure. Citizens are being sent a message: you are under surveillance, we are watching you, and whatever you do, you can be held accountable for a criminal offense,” said Kabasic.

He stated that there are two laws in Kosovo that regulate the matter of video surveillance and that the Law on Police in Article 24 states that there must be a purpose for recording and that the population must be clearly informed about the reasons for installing of the cameras, the duration of the recording, and what will be done with data which is obtained in this way.

“The same regulation”, he added, “also stipulates that cameras can be placed in places where criminal acts have often been committed in the past or where there is a well-founded suspicion that criminal acts may be committed.

The general law that regulates this issue was written by the Information and Privacy Agency and it regulates in detail the manner in which cameras and video surveillance can be installed, whether it is done by the police, business entities or citizens, i.e. what are the restrictions in order to ensure the right of citizens to privacy. On the one hand, there is a general interest in the safety of citizens, in the reduction of crime, the detection of criminal acts and the perpetrators of criminal acts, which is legitimate in any territory and that the police have the right to do, and on the other hand, there must be reasons and proportionality,” stated Kabasic.

He recalls that in April, a series of cameras were installed at several main intersections in North Mitrovica, and that it was said at the time that the reasons were to increase the safety of citizens and fight against crime.

“However, they did not uphold the law because that decision must be in writing and the residents must be publicly informed, so that the purpose of the recording is explained. We do not know if there are legal reasons for recording, the police did not publicly inform the residents, they only said how many cameras will be installed. Also, whether this measure of increased security could have been achieved in some other way, and not by installation of cameras, for example by increasing the public lighting, by increasing the number of police patrols or by similar means. That didn’t happen. On none of these lampposts, on which the cameras are placed, there is a public sign-explanation, notice or board that says ‘this territory is under video surveillance’, which is a legal obligation,” said Kabasic.

He pointed out that it is the duty of everyone who installs cameras in the police to take strict care in handling of the recordings that would be made, because the recordings violate everyone’s right to privacy, and it is not known whether they are directed only at the streets or at the apartments.

“We had experiences with Lune and Orlovic, who were filmed by police cameras, and then those videos showing them in a very humiliating position were published in the Albanian media. Citizens are very worried about what will be done with the videos if they are walking on the street. The police must clearly say which persons will manage that data, for what purpose and within which period it will be deleted. The Law on Police says within 15 days, and the Law on Privacy and Information up to 30 days. However, the Law on Police gives them the option, if the recording can lead to the detection of a crime, that they can indeed use the recordings. These are cameras that have a high resolution and there is probably some software for facial and car recognition, and later with some programs they can combine those footage with others, and match those, who was where and with whom,” he said.

According to Kabasic, the situation is similar in other municipalities in the north and that there are a total of 18 checkpoints.

“We also have occasional patrols and plainclothes police officers. That sense of surveillance, that sense of control over the population goes far beyond the reasons that have been publicly announced - that it is about the fight against crime. More can be said here about the political control of the people and the daily control of freedom. The experiences we have with the police show that there are arrests for anything and everything in the north: either you are a war criminal, or you are a participant in an attack on the police, on KFOR or you incite racial and national hatred. Anyone can find themselves under attack. So, we do not consider these cameras at all a measure that the police use to make us safer. Because we are not,” Kabasic said.

He also stated that with the increased presence of police and cameras in the north, a greater number of Albanians come to the north solely to provoke and insult.

“Young Albanians are coming to the city, driving provocatively with Albanian flags, with loud national music blasting from the car, moving around the roundabout, shouting obscene expressions at girls and women in both Serbian and Albanian, swearing at them... The police are present there, but nothing is being done to prevent it and to sanction such behavior. Cameras do not make citizens feel safe, there is a kind of resistance to it. There is no interaction between the police and citizens. The police do not want to explain any of their actions to the citizens, and in the north, they went beyond their mandate a long time ago. They function as construction inspection, sanitary and market inspection. They preemptively search apartments and houses with the excuse that they don’t need a warrant because the neighbors reported that you have cryptocurrency mining equipment in the apartment. Or your neighbors reported that you have weapons in your apartment. Here, the police is an extended arm of the politics of the current government of Kosovo,” Kabasic concluded.

Residents of the North on police surveillance cameras: It's a lie that they do it for security reasons (Kosovo Online)

The Kosovo Police are installing an increasing number of surveillance cameras in the municipalities of northern Kosovo, but residents of North Mitrovica and Zubin Potok told Kosovo Online reporters that they did not believe the cameras were being installed for security reasons, reported Kosovo Online in English.

In North Mitrovica, citizens often point out that these cameras could infringe on their privacy.

"We don't need this, we lived well without cameras. If they enjoy having cameras so much, let them have them, just don't point them toward bedrooms and intimate spaces. We can't do anything to them, and they can't do anything to us. Let them do their job, and we'll do ours," one Mitrovica resident told us.

Many have expressed that under police surveillance, they feel like they are part of a reality show.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/2w5t6xy8

Popov: Kurti is forcing Serbs to leave the north of Kosovo; if the reactions were sharper, Kurti would have behaved differently (Danas, Blic)

Director of the Center for Regionalism Aleksandar Popov says that Kosovo PM Albin Kurti wants to force the Serbs to leave the north step by step, writes Blic.

"And he has lined up move by move in favor of that. The whole situation around the bridge on the Ibar, and Kurti's actions before that, can be interpreted as intimidation of the Serbs," says Popov.

The European Union has warned that it will tighten the measures against Pristina that are still in force, but Popov says that the Kosovo prime minister does not care about it.

"He has shown that countless times so far. If there had been a sharper reaction, Kurti would have behaved differently because it would have been a sign that he would be left without the support of the electorate. Things must be resolved in Brussels, but that is not happening and everything goes to the detriment of the Serbs," says Popov

The body of Faton Hajrizi handed over at the Merdare crossing (N1, KoSSev, media)

The body of the murdered Kosovo Albanian Faton Hajrizi was handed over to family members early this morning at the Merdare crossing. The hearse carrying Hajziri's body arrived in Kosovo two hours after midnight.

The body was then handed over to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, reported N1, citing KoSSev.

"Now they are continuing with further procedures. There will be additional examinations, it is the responsibility of the prosecutor, I believe that by Monday or Tuesday all will be completed. I submitted all the documents I had to our prosecutor's office, to the police, so we had excellent coordination. The Office of Kosovo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs helped us a lot," said Arijanit Koci, the lawyer of the Hajrizi family, who oversaw taking over the body, reports Koha.

Kosovo's MSP also announced this morning after they announced yesterday that Belgrade had given permission for the transport of bodies to Kosovo.

They confirmed that the body was handed over in the early hours of the morning.

Opinion

‘Open Secret’: The Growing Scourge of Labour Exploitation in the Western Balkans (Balkan Insight)

The exploitation of workers – locals as well as migrants – is a growing concern in the Western Balkans. Despite its prevalence, the scourge too often goes unreported and unaddressed.

The Western Balkans faces a troubling yet often overlooked issue: labour exploitation. Defined as workplace abuse for profit, it amounts to employers benefiting from the unethical or illegal treatment of workers. In this region, labour exploitation includes non-payment or underpayment of wages, excessive working hours and unsafe conditions.

The Western Balkans is a region of origin, transit and destination for victims, and despite economic progress, it remains vulnerable to this phenomenon. Efforts to combat it have fallen short, as revealed in a new report from the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, GI-TOC.

Read more at: https://tinyurl.com/4tfv3225

International

Kosovo Further Alienates Minority Serbs, Straining Status As 'Reliable Partner' (RFE)

NORTH MITROVICA, Kosovo -- Fears of ethnically charged strife have flared up in the Balkans this week as Kosovo dramatically intensified its pressure on tens of thousands of local Serbs to abandon aspects of daily life tied to Serbia, shutting post offices used by Serbs and preparing a controversial reopening of a bridge separating ethnic Serb and Albanian communities.

Tensions between Kosovo's government and the minority Serbs are a near-constant problem in Kosovo, but the rapid-fire pace of Pristina's current clampdown could threaten to drag it toward confrontation with neighboring Serbia.