21 years of peace?

11 June 2020

By Rosalie de Kerf

Today, the 11^th of June, has been a very exciting day in online Kosovo! Exactly 21 years ago, on the 11^th of June 1999, the Kosovo war ended. The meetings we had today shed light on the importance of the conflict, that ended more than two decades ago, on today’s Kosovar life. In this blogpost I will guide you through the meetings and presentations we had today and the ways in which they connected to the Kosovo war. 

The first meeting we had today took us back in time, to the war, but was also highly relevant for Kosovo today. During this meeting we were able to speak with representatives of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) located in the Hague, the Netherlands. As they are located in the Netherlands we would not have met these people if we would have actually been in Kosovo. This shows that our online Kosovo experience has some upsides beside the downside of not being in Kosovo in person. 

The Specialist Chambers were set up in 2015 in order to convict people who have committed war crimes in Kosovo or against Kosovar people during the Kosovar war and in the aftermath of the war. Even though this war ended 21 years ago, it is still important to get a sense of justice for the people that have been affected by war crimes committed.  

After we spoke to the KSC, we met with Noe. An AUC 3rd year who wrote a capstone on peacebuilding in (post-)conflict areas. This beautifully transitioned us away from a focus on the war to a focus on peace, moving from 1999 to 2020 in just a couple of minutes. Noe was able to beautifully illustrate the importance of young people and youth in peacebuilding efforts. The presentation explained that there are certain transition points that youth need in order to have a voice and agency in decision making. One of these transitions is “becoming vulnerable”, being able to open up and share your personal beliefs and stories. When growing up in a conflict environment, it is important for the youth to start speaking to the “enemy” . Once they are vulnerable and open up, it is possible to feel and express empathy which helps these people connect and communicate. Starting to communicate, will show the similarities they might have with someone that seems to be their polar opposite when just looking at the persisting (non-)violent conflict. 

Not only did Noe identify this importance, Ilen expressed this too. Ilen is an AUC alumnus that continued to study/work on the basis of his interest in peacebuilding and Kosovo. In his presentation, Ilen talked about his internship at the OSCE in Kosovo. The department at OSCE he was involved with focused on minority groups, in which youth was considered to be very important. Their work in Kosovo often focused on inter-ethnic dialogue, during which Ilen noticed that the most important thing is to facilitate a “stage” for the youth to meet each other. Once they are together, they will connect and interact without the help of others. By providing the youth that attended the OSCE events with the tools to teach the youth in their own communities, they were able to start a transition. The importance of vulnerability discussed by Noe, was put into practice by Ilen during his internship. 

Ilen and Noe were not the only people to notice that it is important to involve youth in order to resolve inter-ethnic tensions resulting from the historic formation of Kosovo and the Kosovo war. Someone else that points to this is Petrit Selimi, the CEO of the Millennium Foundation Kosovo. During our last meeting of the day with Selimi, we focused on empowering the new generation in order to shape Kosovo’s future. He mentioned that “there cannot be reconciliation without justice”. In order for the Kosovar society to move on, it is important to settle the disagreement with Serbia as soon as possible. He fears that if the Serbs and Kosovars are not able to agree on Kosovo’s independence, the “window of opportunity” (Anne's term) might close, leading to even higher tensions in the region. One of the things that might “close this window”, is the protests taking place in Hong Kong, as China might not support the existence of Kosovo for much longer. He expects that this might happen, as Kosovo’s independence is often not supported by states struggling with the rights/independence of a large minority population. Yet, by educating people and bringing the youth together, change can be made. 

So, even though the actual fighting has ended 21 years ago, there is still no positive, structural peace in Kosovo. Resolving the inter-ethnic tensions is needed in order to truly put a stop to the persistent conflict in a country that is considered to have been at peace for 21 years already.