The effectiveness of UNMIK and EULEX in the pursuit of criminal justice in Kosovo

Abstract

In parallel with the ICTY, Kosovo’s local judiciary has been, and still is, empowered to investigate and prosecute war crimes in Kosovo. In this chapter I initially present a chronology of the judicial system, noting how these trials were handled by international missions in Kosovo (UNMIK, EULEX) and then by the local courts. I include various statistics which reflect all cases prosecuted for war crimes in Kosovo. I then discuss the challenges the Kosovo judiciary has continuously faced with regards to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes, mainly by focusing on the frozen political situation between Kosovo and Serbia Kosovo which has paralysed the war victims’ quest for justice. I end the chapter by arguing that Kosovar society, as a war-torn society with many victims, should motivate empathy not only for victims we acknowledge but also for those that we have not recognised or acknowledged; to date, if a witness testifies against their own “heroes” in these proceedings, they may legally have the status of a witness or injured party, but in the public, they are labelled as “traitors”, even though they were in most cases testifying to the abuse that they and their families have suffered.