Kosovo Conflict

KOSOVO
THE CONFLICT
Kosovo is a disputed region in southeast Europe, limiting with Serbia, Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia. It contains over 1.8 million people and diverse ethnic groups, the majority being ethnic Albanians followed by an important minority of Serbs. The status of Kosovo is still controversial. Serbia claims Kosovo is a Serbian autonomous region, based on the Serbian constitution and on resolution 1244 of the Security Council. On the other hand, the provisional government at Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17th 2008. Up to date, 92 countries have recognized the state of Kosovo, having nearly full support of the European Union as well as support from the United States and 90 UN member states.
The conflict in Kosovo has an ethnic nature but can be seen both from the instrumental and symbolic points of view. From a symbolic point of view, the root of the conflict is that Serb nationalists believe that Kosovo is the cradle of the Serbian nation. The Serbian medieval state was located in the Kosovo region and its surroundings. The most important date on the Serb national calendar is the 15th of June (1389) when battle of Kosovo Polje took place. The Serbs were defeated by the Ottoman Empire. During the 500 year reign of the Ottoman Empire over the area Christian Serbs left the region, making Muslims and Albanians the most favored. After the first Balkan wars, Serbia regained control of the Kosovo are from the Turks. Serbs feel that Kosovo is Serb by right and history and so they shall control it even though they are a minority in the region. Ethnic Albanese feel discriminated by this Serbian minority, for over 500 years Kosovo, though under the Turkish empire, was controlled and administered by Albanians. They believe Serbs lost the right to control the territory when they were defeated by the Ottoman Empire and thus have no right to control and discriminate them.
From the instrumentalist point of view, the conflict starts when, after Tito’s death, the demands of the Albanians that Kosovo should become the seventh republic of Yugoslavia started growing. This exacerbated the existing tensions between ethnic Albanese and Serbs. Serbs started rebelling against the Albanian control of the area. Milosevic gave his support to the Serb vindications, obtaining so the support of the whole Serbian population in Yugoslavia. This was not enough to gain him the Yugoslavian presidency. He needed the support of Kosovo so the Albanese leaders of the communist party in Kosovo where arrested. From this point onwards, Kosovo was rid of the little autonomy it had left and the state of emergency was declared. The changes made in the constitution where justified as the only solution to protect the Serb minority against the abuses of the Albanese majority.
Attacks by the Kosovo Liberation Army where becoming more and more frequent and had their turning point when the town of Racak was attacked by the joint forces of the Serbian police and the Yugoslavian Army, 45 Albanians were killed. This attack was considered a massacre in the international community and was charged as awar crime against Milosevic and his officials.
On January 30th 1999, NATO decided to intervene in Kosovo claiming that the situation was unsustainable and that international intervention was needed. UN didn’t support or approve this. NATO’s military intervention ended in the Rambouillet conference where both parts to the conflict had to compromise. The agreement was never signed by Serbia.
UN INVOLVEMENT
After NATO’s present intervention in the conflict the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1244 under Chapter VII of the Charter on the 10th of June of 1999, which authorized member states to establish a security presence in the area to lessen hostilities that may have been in place, as well as demilitarize the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) and help with the safe return of refugees to the area. The resolution also stipulated that the Secretary General must establish an international civil presence in the region – the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). This presence allowed for a make-shift administration to arise in the area so that the citizens could enjoy autonomy and self-government under the protection of the UN as well as a multinational peace-keeping operation lead by NATO called Kosovo Force (KFOR) which dealt with security issues. As a side note the creation of UNMIK led to the end of military NATO intervention as well as the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces.
The UNMIK, once it was establish in the territory, was tasked - by order of the UNSC - the responsibility to overlook all aspects of Kosovo’s territory and citizens, from the legislative to the judiciary powers. Under the resolution very specific responsibilities were entrusted to the mission: * Promoting the establishment, pending a final settlement, of substantial autonomy and self-government in Kosovo; * Performing basic civilian administrative functions where and as long as required; * Organizing and overseeing the development of provisional institutions for democratic and autonomous self-government pending a political settlement, including the holding of elections; * Transferring, as these institutions are established, its administrative responsibilities while overseeing and supporting the consolidation of Kosovo’s local provisional institutions and other peacebuilding activities; * Facilitating a political process designed to determine Kosovo’s future status, taking into account the Rambouillet accords * In a final stage, overseeing the transfer of authority from Kosovo’s provisional institutions to institutions established under a political settlement; * Supporting the reconstruction of key infrastructure and other economic reconstruction; * Supporting, in coordination with international humanitarian organizations, humanitarian and disaster relief aid; * Maintaining civil law and order, including establishing local police forces and meanwhile through the deployment of international police personnel to serve in Kosovo; * Protecting and promoting human rights; * Assuring the safe and unimpeded return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Kosovo
Being the first operation of its kind there was some confusion as to how to run the mission, so it was agreed upon establishing four “pillars” or division to approach the UN leadership on the region. Each pillar focused on a specific issue which must be dealt with by a specific organ, the first two pillars where entrusted to the UN while the other two were given to the EU to supervise over: * Pillar I which at the beginning of the mission dealt with humanitarian aid was entrusted to the UNHCR, but after 2000 when almost all refugees had returned to the territory the pillar was changed to deal with police and justice which is now entrusted to the Kosovo Department of Justice and the UNMIK police, but with supervision of the UN. * Pillar II deals with the civil administration of the region which at the beginning of the mission was led directly by the UN but now it is under the responsibility of the Department of Civil Administration, which as well as pillar I is under UN supervision. * Pillar III deals with developing a democratic government and building a good infrastructure so working and fair institutions can be created; this task was entrusted to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) which even today is working to achieve this goal. * Pillar IV deals with the reconstruction and economic development of the region after a war that left the area basically destroyed, managed directly by the EU it has seen over the year many improvement in both areas creating good foundations for a working economy as well as an improvement in the reconstruction of the area as a whole.
Although all the pillars are entrusted to different institutions the The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Kosovo (Farid Zarif), who is appointed by the Secretary General of the UN, still presides over all the pillars as well as helps to ease Kosovo’s future status.
Since the February 2008 Declaration of Independence made by the Assembly of Kosovo there has been a shift in power of the administration of the region as well as the role the UNMIK plays.
The first change came on the 26th of November of 2008 when the Security Council adopted a Presidential Statement invoking resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1999) and 1244 (1999), which gave the EULEX (European Union Rule of Law in Kosovo) an increasing role in the law sector, always under the supervision and frame-work of the UN, as well as the end of law operation by UNMIK.
These changes lead to the decrease importance of the UNMIK which now a days is only entrusted with the promotion of stability, respect and security of human rights in the region as well as the cooperation and information sharing between all the institutions involved in the administration of the region.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
US department of state: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/100931.htm
CIA Fact-book: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kv.html
Washington College of Law: http://www.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief/06/2kosovo.cfm
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/3550401.stm http://www.portalplanetasedna.com.ar/guerra_balcanes.htm UNMIK: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unmik/mandate.shtml
EULEX: http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/en/front/
Presidential Statement of the Security Council: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/622/50/PDF/N0862250.pdf?OpenElement Resolution 1244: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1244(1999)
UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher/UNMIK.html

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[ 1 ]. UNMIK Mandate

Bibliography: http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N08/622/50/PDF/N0862250.pdf?OpenElement Resolution 1244: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1244(1999)