Appeal for Peace: Two Years Later

On this day, 3 June 2023, a group of 163 prominent individuals from the K-Serb community in Kosovo - including intellectuals, journalists, civil society activists, professors, artists, teachers, and other respected members of society - issued a joint Appeal for Peace, directed at representatives of the international community, with particular emphasis on the European Union and the Quint countries. The full text of the original statement is available here. 

The warnings and concerns expressed by the signatories regarding the pressures facing the K-Serb community have, regrettably, largely been confirmed by subsequent developments. However, the expectations that those who recognized Kosovo’s independence - while promoting the creation of a democratic and multiethnic society and supporting Kosovo’s institutional development - would take a determined stance to protect peace and security for the K-Serb population have not materialized. Moreover, there has been a lack of essential pressure on the Government of Kosovo to halt unilateral, uncoordinated, and sometimes unlawful actions undertaken by the Kosovo Police and other institutions targeting the K-Serb community and its institutions.

We take this opportunity to recall the range of pressures the K-Serb community has endured over the past two years since the Appeal for Peace was first issued:
•    Repeated violations of policing standards have been documented in northern Kosovo, including the excessive use of force - on several occasions with elements amounting to ill-treatment - against members of the K-Serb community, including minors.
•    Incidents of sexual harassment targeting women in northern Kosovo have increased. While the Kosovo Police only recently acknowledged this issue and initiated certain preventive measures, a comprehensive and appropriate response from the judiciary remains absent.
•    The practice of selective arrests of K-Serb individuals - often conducted without prosecutorial orders -has persisted.
•    The discontinuation of the dinar as a means of payment, along with the closure of banking and postal services, has significantly affected living conditions and curtailed economic activity within K-Serb communities.
•    Institutions and public services financed from Serbia - many of which address gaps not covered by Kosovo’s institutions, particularly in the fields of culture and sport - have been closed. These closures disproportionately affect young people and reduce access to essential community services.
•    A ban on the import of goods from Serbia remains effectively in place, albeit in a modified institutional form.
•    The unlawful expropriation of private land continues for the purpose of constructing police outposts and fortified bases in the north of Kosovo.
•    Under the pretext of promoting the “rule of law,” certain legal measures are being applied selectively in a manner that undermines ethnic balance, depletes social and economic resources in K-Serb communities, and creates systemic pressures that encourage emigration and political disengagement among Serbs who remain.
•    Mayors in northern municipalities - elected from the K-Albanian community with voter turnout of around 3% - have adopted decisions that directly and adversely affect the well-being of the K-Serb majority in those municipalities.
•    Religious sites have not been spared institutional interference. The unlawful seizure of two churches belonging to the Diocese of Raška and Prizren, denial of access to clergy, prohibition of maintenance work, and destruction of church property represent serious violations of religious rights and cultural heritage protections.
•    We also recall that the Peace Appeal was issued more than one hundred days prior to the armed incident in Banjska, out of a clear understanding that some may choose confrontation over peaceful endurance. However, our commitment remains firmly anchored in peace.

In light of these concerns, we once again call upon the representatives of the European Union, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom to take the necessary and immediate steps to preserve peace and create conditions for the sustainable coexistence of Albanians, Serbs, and other communities in Kosovo - free from institutional violence and disproportionate measures imposed by central authorities in Pristina.

As emphasized in the original Appeal for Peace, the international actors who have supported Kosovo’s independence and democratic development bear a historic and moral responsibility for the fate of the K-Serb community in Kosovo. Our future depends on your resolve. The preservation of peace depends on the urgency of your response. History will record the actions that follow. We therefore once again appeal to you to act in line with the values of democracy and multiethnic coexistence that underpin the Western democratic tradition.

Signatories of the Peace Appeal