So many Kosovan women are heroines. Do try looking up the women I have highlighted in bold below, on Google or Wikipedia.
Kosovo is a country of 1.8 million people in south east Europe, in the Western Balkans. The Balkans is the peninsula that lies between the Adriatic Sea to the west and the Black Sea to the east, with Greece at its tip to the south.
Kosovo was a constituent part of Yugoslavia from its formation in 1918 until its collapse in the 1990s.
It is a majority (over 90%) Muslim nation, (strict adherence isn’t very common, for instance alcohol is widely consumed but pork is rarely on the menu) and equally, majority ethnically Albanian, though with significant minorities of Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats, Montenegrins, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians.
Geographically it is roughly diamond in shape and its topography is bowl shaped, with mountainous borders on all sides and a large plain at its heart.
And it is stunningly beautiful.
Throughout the 1990s, and intensifying towards the end of that decade, the Milosevič regime in Serbia/Yugoslavia oppressed the majority Albanian population of Kosovo, waged war, and sought to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the province of Kosovars. More than a million people fled and became refugees in Macedonia, Albania and elsewhere, including thousands who fled to the UK. After the West’s embarrassment/shame at the events of the Bosnian war earlier in the decade, including failing to prevent the Srebrenica genocide and other war crimes, a military coalition was formed, including the USA, UK, Italy and many others, which took action to stop the Serbian aggression and allow Kosovars to return home safely. This is all detailed in John Kampfner’s excellent book ‘Blair’s Wars’.
Pristina, the capital now has a statue of Bill Clinton and streets named after him, Tony Blair and the then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, among others.
I know many Kosovars who have told me about their experiences of the war, and the suffering they went through during that time. It has also been really interesting to talk to Owen, one of my Labour colleagues on Merton Council, who was serving in the British Army, stationed in Kosovo at the time and saw the aftermath of the conflict.
Kosovo was a UN protectorate for many years from the end of the war in 1999, until in 2008 it declared its independence as a sovereign nation with its own President, Prime Minster and Parliament overseeing all aspects of the government of the country. However tensions remain, particularly with the Serbian community who, in the past largely lived in Serbian enclaves, mostly socially cut off from Kosovan society in general, and speaking a different language. This was particularly true in Mitrovica, one of the last divided cities in Europe (like Nicosia, no longer Berlin and hopefully never again, Belfast). The Serbian community mostly live in the north of the city and Kosovars mostly in the south, separated physically by the Ibar river and socially by attitudes and tradition. These divides have lessened in recent years with more mixing, but there remain challenges ahead.
Many crimes were committed during the conflict in Kosovo in the late 1990s, not only by Serb forces but also by those fighting on the Kosovan side. Tribunals and cases in the Hague continue and some officers have been convicted and punished for their crimes.
Many people were killed but for me, some of the most harrowing accounts of from the time, are those of the nearly 20,000 Kosovar women and girls who were raped by Serbian forces, rape being used as a military strategy, ordered from the top. https://www.politico.eu/interactive/a-dark-legacy-the-scars-of-sexual-violence-from-the-kosovo-war/
The memorial in Pristina to the victims of these crimes, entitled ‘Heroinat’ it is the visage of a Kosovan woman, made from 20,000 medals, each symbolising one woman who was raped during the conflict. The stories the surviving women tell are deeply moving. When I visit in May and June, I hope to meet with survivor women’s organisations to learn more, and write a more detailed article/blog about their experiences, and more importantly, about their current work in recognising and seeking redress for the crimes committed against them. One of the first women to speak out about her wartime experience was Vasfije Krasniqi Goodman who, since the election earlier this year is now an MP. https://balkaninsight.com/tag/vasfije-krasniqi-goodman/
Since independence in 2008, Kosovo has been ruled mostly by the LDK and PDK, two parties formed from the military and academic wings of the independence struggle and who, despite their undoubted heroics at that time, more recently became seen to be male dominated, in the case of the PDK, militaristic; and corrupt rulers of the country. In a Valentines Day General Election this year, a newer, younger party LVV (Self Determination) came to power with more than half of the overall vote and an astonishing 63% of the votes of women.
A third of the new cabinet, under the Prime Minister Albin Kurti are women, including Donika Gërvalla-Schwarz as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Second Deputy Prime Minister, and women as ministers for Industry, Trade, Justice, Education and the Economy. Also, Vjosa Osmani was elected as the second woman President in the country’s short history. All of this, I think, bodes well for the future of women’s participation in and influence over politics in Kosovo.
Another meeting I am setting up during my visit to Kosovo later in the month is with women from the Kosovo Women’s Network https://womensnetwork.org/ who do such great work and have recently started a ‘Femicide Census’ tracking cases of women killed by men. This is much like, and in many ways modelled on the tremendous work of Karen Ingala Smith and others here in the UK.
In Kosovo, the Women’s Network have researched the details of 7 cases in the year 2020. A slightly higher number, per capita, than the roughly 140 women killed by men in the UK each year. Continuing to collect this data, year on year, will enable us to see whether 2020 saw an abnormally high number of cases, and to track cases year-on-year to see trends. And, of course to attract public attention in Kosovo to the issue. There are problems with reporting and record keeping, but it may be possible to research years before 2020, from police, court and newspaper records, to attempt to describe the scale of the problem then. We shall see.
I am going to finish on a very positive note. Kosovo is a beautiful, young, vibrant country. The hospitality and friendliness of the people seems to know no bounds. This is in part due to the Muslim faith. The Koran/Qur’an says "It is righteous to […] to spend of your substance […] for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and to the poor.”
Also, “Refusing to offer hospitality is reproved, as is treating guests insultingly or threatening them. Indeed, such behaviour is considered a great shame.”
I have been welcomed so warmly by so many friends, and strangers during my visits to Kosovo. Strangers have become new friends very quickly. Now, with my apartment there and the aim to live there for about a quarter of the year, it is I who will be the host, and who must, and will, show the same generosity and welcome to visitors, including friends and others from the UK.
I hope to see you there one day.
Dave.
Thanks to Drilon and Betim in Kosovo, with their more detailed knowledge of the country, who checked this over for accuracy before publication. And as ever, my usual proof-reader, M.
Kosovo.
Great description but one mistake. The hospitality of kosovan people is deeply rooted on albanian traditions and not religious ones.
Loved this! Thank you for the great piece :D