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

a witness in a small area like Kosovo, without removing him from the country and giving him
a new identity. Additionally, in a strong family system like in Kosovo, not only the witness,
but also his whole family is targeted for intimidation. Consequently, to get a witness to
cooperate, one would have to protect not only the witness, but also his family. The reluctance
of western countries to give asylum to witnesses is therefore counterproductive for crime
prosecution in Kosovo.
The strong family system additionally contributes to difficulties in getting individual
opinions. Witnesses tell their family’s opinion instead.
Koster listed certain measures to strengthen and improve the judicial system in Kosovo. To
strengthen the judges and fight corruption, he claims an increase in salaries makes additional
money less tempting. Nevertheless, this can only be a crucial
starting point and not the only measure. Even more important,
he argues, is the creation of circumstances that promote a
common identity of the judges. They should begin to perceive
themselves as a particular group and to understand that the
foundation of their strength is to never give away their power
to rule.
But Koster points out that a mentality-changing process is not
only important for the members of the judicial system. He claims that the Kosovar people as a
whole must also move away from their strong familial affiliations and change their mentality
that order is established by a family relationship system and executed by self judging. But he
also admits that, considering the history of Kosovo and the constant mistrust of its population
towards official institutions, it is very hard to break the vicious circle of mistrust in a not-yet
functioning judicial system, one which can function only if people put their trust in it and
hand over responsibility to judges and prosecutors.
In the discussion that followed there were two questions
posed concerning the structure and the functioning of the
judicial system. Koster explained that the UNMIK
administration introduced a new judicial system, which
causes difficulties, because it has not yet been adopted.
This situation is accompanied by the fact that the
international judges all stem from different legal systems
and are used to totally different procedures. Due to these
difficulties, Koster concludes, it sometimes is not even
clear of what exactly a court file should consist.
Holger Engelmann, OSCE
Holger Engelmann has gained a lot of working experience in Kosovo. From 1999 untill 2002
he worked as a legal system monitor in Prizren. He then returned to Kosovo at the beginning
of 2005. In his presentation he introduced the work of the OSCE in Kosovo.
The OSCE’s main mission in Kosovo is the monitoring of human rights in the different
regional centers. It is divided in three specialized sections: a legal system monitoring section,
a security issue section (mainly concerned with the police system), and a capacity-building
section.
The OSCE mission is structured in municipal teams consisting of groups of five nationals and
internationals. An exception to that structure is the Prishtina team of 10 members.
11