The EU and US have questioned Kosovo’s commitment to dialogue with Serbia after it closed six Serb bank offices under a ban on cash transactions in any currency other than the euro. Kosovo faced a chorus of criticism on Tuesday for closing six Serbian bank offices, a move the United States and European Union said…
In pursuit of its policy of outlawing the continued use of the Serbian currency in Kosovo, police on Monday closed six offices of the Serbia-run Post Saving Bank in the north. Kosovo Police closed six offices of the Serbia-run financial institutions in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north on Monday one week after Kosovo’s Central…
As Kosovo gets closer to Council of Europe membership, bringing access to the ECHR, experts tell BIRN that it must take notes from Croatia’s mistakes in conducting war crime trials without the presence of defendants. The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, ruled in February 2015 that Croatia did not give former Serb paramilitary Mile…
Germany has described Kosovo’s latest move to secure Council of Europe membership this week as insufficient, saying the ‘heavy lifting’ it had expected ‘has still not happened’ Kosovo’s government made a final push on Thursday to convince Western countries to include its Council of Europe application on the agenda for the organisation’s ministerial meeting on…
Kurti and members of his cabinet joined hundreds of people who gathered at the war memorial in Qyshk/Cuska to commemorate 138 Albanian civilians killed in 1999by Serbian forces in the village and in three neighbouring settlements, Lubeniq/Ljubenic, Pavlan/Pavljan, Zahaq/Zahac. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti speaks at the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the massacre…
BIRN journalists Jeta Xharra and Mediana Halili were recognized by the D4D Institute for their reporting on discrimination against women at Radio Television of Kosova regarding leadership positions. BIRN journalists Jeta Xharra and Mediana Halili were awarded second prize by the Democracy for Development, D4D, institute on Tuesday for their investigative reporting exposing discrimination against…
The Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency claims that, despite identifying significant wealth among public officials, courts and prosecutors have failed to take decisive action such as asset confiscation or thorough investigation of criminal complaints. Hundreds of public officials annually report their wealth to the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency, APK, yet the justice authorities have not carried out any…
Some of the University of Prishtina medical faculty students, who demanded the dismissal of the mathematics professor on sexual harassment claims, are facing a denigrating campaign on social media, with the surface of several accounts in support of the professor. Some University of Prishtina students are facing a smear online campaign as different social media…
Kosovo’s second population census since the war is facing significant challenges such as mass resignation of registrars, a lack of informative campaigns , and boycotts by residents of Serbian-majority municipalities. Kosovo is also attempting to register its diaspora, including those not born in the country. Kosovo’s Agency of Statistics said on Monday that over 1.4…
A documentary produced in Bosnia, Kosovo and Montenegro explores the scale of Kremlin-backed disinformation in these countries and its dangerous influence on the public. [embedded content] A Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, documentary, launched on Friday, shows how Western Balkan countries audiences have become vulnerable to disinformation from Russian-backed channels, especially since the start of…