Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content

Conflicting interpretations of Williamson’s report (Danas)

Report of the Head of the Special team for investigation of the allegations on human organ trafficking, Clint Williamson, has sparked mixed reactions in the world and the public, but also completely different interpretations.

The families of the killed and missing persons are disappointed by the fact that the American prosecutor, during a three-year investigation, failed to find evidence on trafficking in human organs. They are particularly disappointed with his statement that trafficking in organs obviously happened, but “to a handful individuals”, the victims of this heinous crime.

On the other hand, the Kosovo Government was abstained, stating that Mr. Williamson's report will be "taken into account". This statement is a product of the claim of the Special Prosecutor that special team will be able to file charges against the KLA for "crimes against humanity and war crimes" because they "intentionally killed, robbed and persecuted Serbs, Roma, other minorities in Kosovo and the Albanians opposed to the KLA leadership.

Predrag Simic, president of the Forum for International Relations, estimates that Williamson’s report was politically correct. “I would put politically correct under quotation marks. It was designed not to cause tensions and cracks in Kosovo, or in Serbia. Those who are expecting specific information may be disappointed. They are missing and I think that we will not see them for a long time, if the current leaders in Kosovo do not understand it as a message and warning,” said Simic. The final report, he added, is the product of "Western policy at this time."

“The report is a warning to the authorities in Pristina that they must be careful, or they will not enjoy the privileges which were allowed them in The Hague tribunal (ICTY). So the report is basically another tool for political control of Western Balkans,” says Simic.

The expert for the Western Balkan James Hooper said that the report of Clint Williamson, although talking about the past of Kosovo, in fact, is a report on its future. In an interview for the Albanian Service of Voice of America he said that "the point is not in the independence of Kosovo, but its ability to become a country that respects the rule of law." He added that the same issue worries when it comes to intimidation of witnesses, "about which prosecutor Williamson talks in the report." Hooper greeted the establishment of the Special Court for Kosovo, stressing that the court should not be identified with the ICTY. He said that the U.S. government attaches great importance to this Court and that for Kosovo would be "very risky" not to consider it seriously, "if the people of Kosovo want to maintain good relations with the United States."