Presentation subhead

March 14, 2012

CJ412: Role of Criminal Justice In Peacekeeping Operations Unit 7

Seminar Topic• The Rebuilding of the Kosovo Judicial Sector

• The judiciary is the criminal justice sector institution that ensures the rule of law is applied throughout the post-disruption regime. It decides guilt and innocence, and it also serves as a check and balance to the police, military, corrections, and civilian-legal portions of the justice sector. When the criminal justice sector is completely destroyed by war, its rebuilding and reforming is a long-term, expensive, and arduous process.

• In this week’s seminar, we will discuss the following:

• Understand the general history of the Kosovo conflict

• The current status of the Kosovo judicial sector

• The means by which the rule of law is practiced in the Kosovo judicial sector

• How peacekeepers participate in the rebuilding of the Kosovo judicial sector

Seminar Topic• Kosovo: a history of events

• With its largely Albanian and Muslim population, Kosovo has long had a tense relationship with the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities.

• During Marshall Tito's regime, Kosovo was granted substantial autonomy by the Yugoslav Constitution of 1974.

• After Tito's death, however, ethnic tensions between Kosovo's Albanian majority and Serb minority increased, with many Serb residents of Kosovo charging that the province's Albanian leaders discriminated against the Serbs.

• How can tensions like these affect human rights and lead to violence?

Seminar Topic

• In 1989, Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic ended Kosovo's autonomy within Yugoslavia, despite massive protests by Kosovo Albanians.

• By the end of 1990, the Serbian parliament had passed laws effectively dissolving Kosovo's largely Albanian government, using both police and the Yugoslav army to enforce its decrees. Most Kosovar Albanians were dismissed from public sector jobs, and a decade of Serb repression of Albanians began.

• How does this type of takeover feed a rebellion?

Seminar Topic

• During the 1990s, the Serbian authorities eliminated Albanian language education and dismissed thousands of Kosovar Albanians, including teachers, university professors, doctors, judges, postal workers, broadcasters and police from their jobs.

• Official publications in Albanian were forbidden, and most Albanian cultural activities were suppressed.

• Despite the repression, Kosovar Albanians organized a sophisticated parallel government, running Albanian language schools, libraries, and other civil services in a semi underground fashion.

• How could this parallel government assist to re-build after the peacekeeping operation took place?

Seminar Topic

• Organized military opposition to Serbian authority increased, and by 1998 clashes between Serbian police and army units and the pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) were frequent

• The discovery of massacres of Kosovar civilians by Serb forces increased the urgency.

• What could have happened if there was no military action at this point?

Seminar Topic• Amidst increasing reports of Serb mistreatment and killings of

Kosovar Albanian civilians, NATO began an air campaign against Serbia on March 24,1999.

• Within a few months, close to a million Kosovar Albanians had fled from the advance of Serb troops, becoming refugees in Albania, Macedonia and other neighboring regions, and another 500,000 people were displaced within Kosovo. In June, the Serbian president agreed to withdraw all Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo and the UN established an international civilian administration.

• Although a self sustaining government was the ultimate goal after this operation, there are several challenges to face first. What are some of them?

Seminar Topic

• Kosovar Albanian refugees began to flood back into Kosovo much faster than international authorities had anticipated. Within two months, ninety percent of those who had fled had returned.

• They returned to a ravaged landscape, however: in much of Kosovo, sixty to seventy percent of all housing stock had been badly damaged or destroyed, including schools and hospitals. Bombs had damaged military installations, factories, bridges, and railroad lines, creating a need for urgent rehabilitation of both housing and infrastructure

• What are the immediate concerns of the refugees upon their return?

Seminar Topic

• Four "pillars" were created to implement the rehabilitation, democratization, and reformation of Kosovo, and assigned each international agency a pillar:

• Pillar 1: humanitarian assistance

• Pillar 2: civil administration

• Pillar 3: democratization and institution-building

• Pillar 4: economic reconstruction

What are some of the things each pillar focused on?

Seminar Topic

• Kosovo suffered a Serbian invasion, culturally, institutionally, and militarily, which resulted in the destruction of much of its justice sector infrastructure.

• For a decade prior to the military conflict, Serbia influenced the justice sector by disallowing the education of new lawyers and the certification of existing lawyers. The judiciary in Kosovo was essentially dismantled by the conflict. Kosovo has since become a United Nations mandate with the rebuilding of the justice sector, including the judiciary, a primary objective.

• Can Kosovo rebuild its judiciary by utilizing lawyers that were previously certified and educated?

Seminar Topic

General Principles of the Kosovo Judicial System

1. Judicial power in the Republic of Kosovo is exercised by the courts.

2. The judicial power is unique, independent, fair, apolitical, and impartial and ensures equal access to the courts.

3. Courts shall adjudicate based on the Constitution and the law.

4. Judges shall be independent and impartial in exercising their functions.

5. The right to appeal a judicial decision is guaranteed unless otherwise provided by law. The right to extraordinary legal remedies is regulated by law. The law may allow the right to refer a case directly to the Supreme Court, in which case there would be no right of appeal.

•Does this system sound like ours?

Seminar Topic

• Organization and Jurisdiction of Kosovo Courts

– Organization, functioning, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and other courts shall be regulated by law.

– The Supreme Court of Kosovo is the highest judicial authority.

– At least fifteen percent (15%) of the judges of the Supreme Court, but not fewer than three (3) judges, shall be from Communities that are not in the majority in Kosovo.

– The President of the Supreme Court of Kosovo shall be appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic of Kosovo from among the judges of the Supreme Court for a non-renewable term of seven (7) years upon proposal by the Kosovo Judicial Council for the appointment or dismissal.

What do you think of this non-renewable term? What are the positives? What problems could this type of term lead to?

Seminar Topic

• Organization and Jurisdiction of Kosovo Courts– Presidents of all other courts shall be appointed in the

manner provided by law.– At least fifteen percent (15%) of the judges from any other

court established with appeal jurisdiction, but not fewer than two (2) judges, shall be from Communities that are not in the majority in Kosovo.

– Specialized courts may be established by law when necessary, but no extraordinary court may ever be created.

• What is the intent of these rules?

Seminar Topic

Appointment and Removal of Kosovo Judges

1. The President of the Republic of Kosovo shall appoint, reappoint, and dismiss judges upon  the proposal of the Kosovo Judicial Council.

2. The composition of the judiciary shall reflect the ethnic diversity of Kosovo and internationally recognized principles of gender equality.

Why is number 2 important?

Seminar Topic

1. Judges may be removed from office upon conviction of a serious criminal offense or for serious neglect of duties.

2. A judge has the right to directly appeal a decision of dismissal to the Kosovo Supreme Court.

3. Judges may not be transferred against their will unless otherwise provided by law for the efficient operation of the judiciary or disciplinary measures.

Why are these work rules important?

Seminar Topic

• Some problems with the judiciary system in Kosovo include:

– Kosovo has far too few judges and prosecutors– The judges and prosecutors it has tend to be

underpaid and without social prestige or authority, demoralized and poorly trained

– What are other problems?

Seminar Topic

•COURTS

•For a small country, Kosovo has a multitude of courts: constitutional, supreme and commercial, all with countrywide jurisdiction and 24 municipal courts, plus courts for minor offenses (misdemeanors).

•While there are many courts, there also many problems with the court system.

•What are some of them?.

Seminar Topic

•Even though Kosovo has some of the basic components of a justice system, it is not effective.

•What are some of the problems?

•What will happen if these problems are not addressed?

Kosovo Today

• In 2010, the UN handed over daily government operations to the newly elected president of Kosovo with hopes that they could maintain democratic stability. Many of the challenges that we discussed today and more remain after the peacekeeping operation and re-building efforts by the international community. Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe