UNMIK Media Observer, Morning Edition, December 13, 2021

Serbian minister's statement on Recak continues to draw reactions (media)
Serwer: If Serbia refuses recognition, Kosovo has the right to reject Association (Koha)
Kosovo authorities arrest three persons in connection to Gllogjan shooting (media)
Kurti: Kosovo improving legal framework in efforts to uproot gender-based violence (media)
Haxhiu: Venice Commission supports changes to prosecutorial system (media)
Early marriages, a concern in Kosovo (media)
Three NGOs urge Kurti to remove Egyptians from the RAE group acronym (Telegrafi)
Meta: Republika Srpska actions threaten regional stability (Koha)
North Macedonia eyes 3 million tones of Kosovo coal (Reuters)
COVID-19: Seven new cases, no deaths (media)

Serbian minister's statement on Recak continues to draw reactions (media)

The statement of Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin that the "alleged massacre" against Albanian civilians in Kosovo in the village of Recak, which was a decisive moment for the launch of NATO air strikes on Serbian targets in 1999, is "a big lie and a terrible fabrication", continued to draw condemnations over the weekend.

President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani issued the following statement: "The former spokesman of the wife of criminal Milosevic is trying to change the historical facts with propaganda. Impossible and unattainable. A crime against humanity occurred in Recak. This fact is known and documented worldwide. Vulin's tendencies reveal Serbia’s ambition to change history, this long-standing effort of this country in relation to Kosovo. Such efforts are a continuation of the mentality of the Milosevic regime, from which Vulin is failing to break away as a loyalist. The denial of war facts through the rehabilitation of war criminals is a repeated crime. But the truth about Recak is more powerful than any propaganda of Vulin and his co-thinkers. They can make movies, but in Recak and throughout Kosovo a reality has occurred that has revealed the intention of the Serbian state to exterminate the Albanian people in Kosovo. Precisely because of Recak and other massacres, NATO intervened militarily against Serbia and its military targets in Kosovo to stop the cruelty of a genocidal regime."

The U.S. State Department told Radio Free Europe that the "cruelties that happened in Recak in January of 1999, including the massacre of the civilians, are well documented." It added: "Denial of such fundamental evidence and glorification of war crimes bring pain for the survivors, dishonour the victims and keep alive divisions that continue to hamper sustainable reconciliation, peace and prosperity for the Western Balkans."

William Walker, head of the OSCE verification mission in Kosovo in 1999, said meanwhile that the "attempts of officials in Serbia to present the Recak massacre as a fabricated event is due to some current officials in Belgrade being involved in crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo." Walker told RFE that the Recak massacre cannot be denied or modified by anyone and accused the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of "being involved since the beginning in the attempts to defend what cannot be defended, which is the fact that Serbia's security forces were not only involved in what happened in Recak but in many other massacres and crimes against humanity."

Kosovo's Minister of Defence, Armend Mehaj, said that he was not surprised by Vulin's statement. "We are not surprised at all by such anti-Albanian and inhumane scenarios from the creators of crimes against humanity," Mehaj wrote on Facebook. "The world knows the truth of Vukovar and Srebrenica as it also saw and felt the massacre of Recak," he said, adding that the international community should react to such statements.

Leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) Ramush Haradinaj said in reaction to Vulin's statement that Kosovo was built with a great deal of suffering, pain and sacrifice. "Unfortunately, every now and there are attempts by many personalities to undermine the years-long investment in Kosovo through hate speech, as is the recent case of Serbian minister Vulin," Haradinaj wrote on Facebook. "Finally, I call on Kosovo Serbs to distance themselves from inter-ethnic hate speech and from each person that tries to go back to the past."

Serwer: If Serbia refuses recognition, Kosovo has the right to reject Association (Koha)

Daniel Serwer, U.S. expert on the Balkans, said in an interview with KTV that Kosovo is entitled to reject implementation of the agreement on establishment of the Association of Serb-majority municipalities for as long as Serbia continues to refuse to put recognition of Kosovo at the dialogue table. Serwer also said he doesn't anticipate any progress in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue before presidential elections in Serbia next year.

"I think the current government of Kosovo has made it very clear that they will not implement the association. This is of course harmful for the dialogue, but I have to admit that if Serbia has made it absolutely clear that it will not recognize Kosovo, then there is a logic on the part of Kosovo to maintain its position on the topic of association."

He said he would like to see the U.S. play a greater role in the dialogue. "I think the EU and the U.S. should establish an office similar to the International Civilian Office, which monitored implementation of the Ahtisaari plan after Kosovo independence, so that it would monitor agreements reached in dialogue. Absence of implementation is what has plagued the dialogue more than anything and the EU/U.S. cooperation to monitor that would be a very positive step. Direct U.S. involvement in dialogue is positive too but I think it is less effective because the U.S. is always present in the background and because I fear that the presence of the U.S. in dialogue could lead to the demand for Russia's inclusion as well and this would be more than undesirable."

Asked to comment on the recent insistence of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell towards Kosovo to establish the Association of Serb-majority municipalities, Serwer said: "I think this particular individual is not friendly towards Kosovo and much more friendly towards Serbia and its interest. And I don't think you should assume that he represents the EU positions."

Kosovo authorities arrest three persons in connection to Gllogjan shooting (media)

Three persons have been arrested on Saturday by the Kosovo Police in connection to the triple murder in the village of Gllogjan, Decan municipality, on 26 November.

The chief prosecutor for the Peja region, Agim Kurmehaj, announced the arrests at a news conference. "Following intensive work, under the decision of the prosecutor of the case, three persons have been arrested on suspicion of having carried out the criminal act of serious form of murder," he said. Kurmehaj did not give more information saying that this could harm the investigation process.

Meanwhile, the Basic Court in Peja approved the request of the prosecution and remanded the suspects in custody for a period of 30 days.

Kurti: Kosovo improving legal framework in efforts to uproot gender-based violence (media)

Prime Minister of Kosovo Albin Kurti said that the Government of Kosovo approved a draft law for compensation of victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, rape which enables them to have immediate access to compensation.

"In our efforts to uproot gender-based violence, with the aim of approximating and implementing the obligations arising from the Istanbul Convention, we are improving the legal framework. While there are many useful and progressive articles in our legislation awaiting implementation, we must also work on improving and further enriching our laws. We should never be complacent when it comes to equality efforts," Kurti wrote on Facebook.

Haxhiu: Venice Commission supports changes to prosecutorial system (media)

Kosovo's Minister of Justice, Albulena Haxhiu, has denied reports that the Venice Commission has prepared a draft opinion rejecting Kosovo Government's planned changes to the law on the Prosecutorial Council.

Some media outlets reported quoting what they said was an advanced copy of the draft opinion in question which they claimed it concluded that Government's planned changes would put the council under threat of political influence.

Haxhiu said such news reports are not true. "For several days now some portals continue to report that allegedly the Venice Commission was 'shocked' with the initiative for legal changes to the prosecutorial system and has 'overturned' this initiative launched by the Ministry of Justice. These and other stories are not true and don't have good intentions," Haxhiu wrote on Facebook, adding: "The Venice Commission says 'YES' to these changes. Last Friday, as the Minister of Justice and accompanied by my team, took part in the plenary session of the Venice Commission and once again presented our arguments how this reform through legal initiative should take place. The Ministry of Justice has received the first draft and following our comments on it, new amendments based on our comments."

Haxhiu said that the prosecutorial system reform will be carried out in line with Kosovo's constitutional standards, recommendations of the Venice Commission and best international practices.

Early marriages, a concern in Kosovo (media)

As part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence campaign, two short documentary films - "Romni" and "Like a Real Woman" - were screened in Pristina with the support of UNMIK aimed at increasing awareness for prevention of early marriages in Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities in Kosovo.

Barrie Freeman, Deputy Representative of the UN Secretary General, said that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on increasing instances of early marriages across the world by ten percent. "12 million girls under the age of 18 and girls who marry before the age of 18 will experience domestic violence and not surprisingly girls who marry before the age of 18 do not have as good results as their peers. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation in 2021, with a 10% increase in child marriages. In Kosovo, a dedicated work has been done to reduce the rate of early marriages of children from all communities. The situation remains worrying, especially because of the pandemic situation and socio-economic conditions," Freeman said.

Community activist, Sadete Gashijan said that through dialogue with families they have managed to decrease the cases of early marriages amongst the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian communities while Shpresa Agushi from the Network of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women's Organizations of Kosovo said they are working in enabling the women of these communities to speak about the injustices they face. She said tradition should not be used as a justification behind early marriages as this practice is in violation to the laws of Kosovo.

Driton Berisha, Facilitator for the Roma Education Fund, said that poverty is the main force behind early marriages but that education is the only way forward.

Three NGOs urge Kurti to remove Egyptians from the RAE group acronym (Telegrafi)

Three Kosovo NGOs, run by members of the Egyptian community, have written to Prime Minister Albin Kurti asking him to remove the community from the Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian denomination, commonly referred to as RAE.

The NGOs said that the inclusion of the Egyptian community in the group term has brought no effects and has further denied the members of the community to be declared as a separate ethnic group by treating them as part of a larger, RAE group. "This is completely unacceptable for us as differences amongst us are great and diverse. We did not feel comfortable in our own democratic country with this inclusion as the basic right to be declared as an ethnicity was denied to us," the NGOs said.

Meta: Republika Srpska actions threaten regional stability (Koha)

President of Albania Ilir Meta said he was deeply concerned with the developments in Republika Srpska in light of its parliament approving transfer of powers away from Bosnia and Herzegovina's central institutions.

In a Facebook post, Meta said that the actions of Republika Srpska legislators go against the efforts to strengthen peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina and not only undermine the Dayton Peace Accord but also regional stability.

North Macedonia eyes 3 million tones of Kosovo coal (Reuters)

North Macedonia plans to buy 3 million tonnes of lignite from Kosovo to feed its coal-fired plants as a lack of domestic production and soaring energy prices in Europe leave it facing an energy crisis, the country’s economy minister said on Friday.

“Today we have stated negotiations to import coal from the Republic of Kosovo,” North Macedonian economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi wrote on Facebook after meeting officials from Kosovo’s government and power utility KEK.

Contacted by Reuters, Kosovo officials did not give any further details on the potential deal.

In an interview on Thursday with Skopje-based television Alsat, Bekteshi said the government plans to buy 3 million tonnes of lignite from Kosovo in the next three years.

The government in Skopje declared a state of energy crisis on November 9 as it faced a lack of domestic electricity production, dry seasons which failed to feed its hydro plants and price hikes across Europe.