Kosovo Urged to Address Concerns About Census Amid Serb Boycott

The start of the population census in Kosovo, April 5, 2024. Photo: BIRN

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has called on Kosovo to engage more in raising awareness among non-majority communities, as the census, which started last week, saw its first problems in the field.

“Even at this stage it is important that more is done to provide full information to all communities,” the OSCE Mission said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Low participation could bring further repercussions, including budgetary consequences at municipal level. Ultimately, however, it is for individuals – rather than political parties – to decide on their participation,” it added.

The statement comes days after problems with the census in Serb-majority areas surfaced, as the main Kosovo Serb party, the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista, called for a boycott of the process.

On Monday, Avni Kastrati, Acting Director of Kosovo’s Statistics Agency, said several census collectors had resigned in four Serb-majority municipalities in the north, Leposavic, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and North Mitrovica.

The OSCE said online resources for the census process “are still limited, and relevant information has not always been translated into all official languages”.

“The Office of the Language Commissioner should be consulted on the translation of documents, such as questionnaire itself, into official languages. A systematic and targeted information campaign designed to reach non-majority and vulnerable communities is essential for ensuring those communities’ awareness of the purpose of the census and encouraging their participation,” the OSCE said.

Kosovo Serbs on social media have complained that the translation of the census forms in Serbian is not correct. Kossev, a Serbian-language local Kosovo media outlet, reported on April 8 that the forms “in Serbian are in Latin [script] and contain linguistic irregularities”.

The forms published by the Kosovo Agency of Statistics are only in Albanian, BIRN can confirm.

Kosovo’s second census since the declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008 started on April 5. It will last until May 17.

Parties representing Kosovo Serbs have called for boycott, claiming that participation would only confirm Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government’s “shameful success in expelling Serbs”.

Srpska Lista said at the start of the census that “Kurti wants to use this census to further attack Serbia with some claims for war compensation, which further discourages every Serb from being a part of this process”.

Apart from registering the resident population, the head count will include a separate registration of the Kosovo diaspora as well as of property that was damaged during the war for independence against Serbian forces.

It is the first time that Kosovo has attempted to register its big diaspora, which is estimated to number roughly half a million people.

Kosovo last collected population data in 2011, when the field work was done by the municipalities, not the Agency of Statistics. The Serb-majority municipalities of North Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and Leposavic in the north boycotted the census, as did the municipalities of Gracanica and Strpce/Shterpce in the south a few days later.

There were no reports of fines being imposed against Kosovo Serbs who boycotted at the time, despite a 2010 law providing fines for refusal.

Around 2,700 census collectors are involved in the process, along with about 700 supervisors and around 300 municipal employees.