The past two days (19 and 20 June) are a story my future children will hear about, whether they want it or not. I see it as a slide progression of contrasting pictures. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, sat between two Kosovar flags in a Zoom window, and the serious yet fascinated faces of my classmates surrounding him on the screen. Postcard-like Den Haag glowing with the light of Dutch June’s most favourable weather. The cold and sterile court room of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC). The hot sand of the beach and fresh strawberries immediately after.
I thought nothing could possibly beat the experience of hearing perhaps the most important person in Kosovo flawlessly and with hypnotising conviction reference Albert Camus and Pierre Bourdieu in response to our questions about creating a peaceful society of equals. But it was still visiting the KSC that brought me the closest to Kosovo that I have ever been, even though different financial priorities at Amsterdam University College regrettably stopped this semester’s Peace Lab from seeing the country in person.
The Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Den Haag
We had the privilege of being invited to an extensive meeting with a public relations person in a setting similar to that of a real press briefing. There we learned about the KSC’s mandate and its inner workings straight from the source. The Kosovo Specialist Chambers is a court established to investigate and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Kosovo War, between 1998 and 2000. The most notable and contentious case up to date is that of Hashim Thaçi, the former president of Kosovo. While the court operates under Kosovo law, it is staffed by international judges. The reasoning behind that hiring policy centres around mitigating political influences and ensuring impartiality. My classmates and I demonstrated the interviewing skills we have developed over the few weeks of Peace Lab by asking a number of critical, nuanced questions, amongst others about the inclusion of Kosovar Albanians and Serbs directly in the restorative justice process, the neocolonial perspective on international organisations, and the community outreach efforts in Pristina. That riveting experience further fuelled my passion for qualitative research and journalism. It also made me reflect on how much more personal it feels to talk to officials in person as opposed to via a video conference. Additionally, I believe hearing the public relations person’s insightful advice regarding building a career in the field of social justice was very inspiring for all the driven young people present. What possibly made the biggest impression on me was sitting in the same exact place where the families of the people indicted for war crimes do during trials, from above watching their detained loved ones stand in front of the judges and defend themselves against organ harvesting and torture allegations. I wish I will one day have the opportunity to visit this room again during an active hearing. Even after leaving the official part of the excursion, many of us stayed together as we simply could not stop discussing our impressions all the way until the late evening. Some even described the KSC visit as a “before and after” moment in their lives. I could not shake off the feeling that while we came close to themes which make one question how depraved human nature can appear at times, we also, against all odds, saw something very uplifting. While the overall effectiveness of institutions such as the KSC or the International Court of Justice (ICJ) can be constructively questioned, they do exist and keep standing as a tangible representation of society’s ultimate quest for justice, materialising our unwavering commitment to collectively bringing about a better future. |
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