Minority Rights Protection and Human Rights Policies in ... - IFSH

values were accepted because of international presence in Kosovo, consequently good
conditions were created, but the legal system needs further development. Good environment
for such law under the international standards is needed and the government is trying to create
it with the help of the EU presence.
Speaking about the question of teaching Serbians in the kosovanian educational system Kuqi
accepted that this is a governmental issue, but at the moment the political system of Kosovo
doesn’t allow creating conditions for such interaction, though statesmen express hope the
situation will change. This also concerns the
situation concerning learning foreign languages,
(e.g. Bosnian language for Kosovo-albanians)
since in order to be engaged in government, for
example, one should know all languages of the
region. But at the moment no one has any solution
to this issue, as no one knows how to make it more
interesting for people to learn the local languages.
Panel on Minority Rights Protection and Human Rights Issues in Kosovo, Part 1
Local and International Officials
Minutes taken by Katharina Montens
Norbert Koster, International Judge of UNMIK
Norbert Koster worked for 15 years as a judge in Germany focusing on corruption and
organized crime. In October 2005 he then began his new task in Kosovo as an international
judge for the UNMIK administration.
In his presentation he gave a brief introduction of the main obstacles that the judicial system
in Kosovo is facing. Currently there are thirteen international judges working in Kosovo, ten
of them occupied with criminal cases. They are fully integrated into the judiciary system and
with their local colleagues and support the construction of an independent, impartial and
multi-ethnic local judiciary.
He named three main obstacles that impede the work of the local judges.
First, the judicial system has to deal with about 13.000 cases. This amount of cases far
overburdens available structures and personnel.
The second obstacle concerns the intimidation of judges. The threats they are exposed to lead
to a constant feeling of insecurity and restrained mobility. A lot of them do not risk using
public transport and organize protection or wish to be armed themselves.
The third obstacle, which is a prevalent problem throughout all areas of administration and
society in Kosovo, is corruption. With an income of only 350 to 450 euros per month, Koster
argues, it is very easy to bribe local judges. Consequently, in
many cases it is doubtful if impartiality is guaranteed.
But as Koster explains, intimidation and corruption defeats the
work of judges in other ways. The intimidation of witnesses
makes the establishment of cases very difficult. The problem
with witness statements has its origin on the one hand in the
inability of official institutions to guarantee witness protection
and on the other hand in local society, which is largely based
on family ties. To Koster it seems nearly impossible to protect
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