Illegal Serbian Structures in the Republic of Kosovo Why these structures are illegal and not paralel?

• Author: Behar Selimi
• Position: Faculty of Law, UBT, Kosovo
• Pages: 115-126

115

IIPCCL Publishing, Tirana-Albania

Academic Journal of Business, Administration, Law and Social Sciences Vol. 1 No. 3

November 2015

ISSN 2410-3918

Acces online at www.iipccl.org

Illegal Serbian Structures in the Republic of Kosovo

Why these structures are illegal and not paralel?

Behar Selimi

Faculty of Law, UBT, Kosovo

Abstract

This paper argues that Serb structures, operating in Kosovo after the forced withdrawal under

NATO intervention of Serb-Yugoslav mechanisms of power from Kosovo in June 1999 which

marks the end of the war and at the same time the beginning of a new process of peace building,

do not represent parallel structures, rather they represent illegal structures. This paper argues

that these kinds of structures achieved to be established and being continuesly strengthened

due to multi-dimensional support of the Republic of Serbia which for its interest needed them

to undermine the establishment of functional governance overall in Kosovo but predominantly

in the Serb enclaves, and also due to UN Interim Administration in Kosovo which’s main

interest was peace and stability not functionality of governance. In this paper, it is also argued

that these Serb structures do not represent the majority of Serbs living in Kosovo because they

are incorporated into the constitutional institutions of the Rrepublic of Kosovo. Through

comparing main domestic and international documents by which UN Interim Administration

and National Institutions of Governance were established and also data gathered in the field

through different reports, this paper concludes that: these structures are unconstitutional

structures, and therefore illegal, rather than parallel structures; consideration of them as

parallel by UN Interim Administration was a mistake which negatively affected integration,

development, and democratization of a part of the Serbian community in Kosovo’s northern

municipalities; they are also supported by criminal structures which seriously impede the

exercise of state power, the legal system, and the development of democracy predominantly

in the northern part of Kosovo; and beside of political and diplomatic efforts, a state organized

force with an international support is the only answer to criminal structures.

Keywords: Illegal Structures, Parallel Structures, Serb Structures, Security, Integration,

Legitimacy.

Introduction

Since the end of the Kosovo war (1999) until today, a multidimensional major problem

continues to be the full integration of the Serb minority in the new Kosovar society. While

the absolute majority of the community in other municipalities of Kosovo has become

part of institutions and new life, the rest in the north of Kosovo continues to resist all

efforts, both domestic and international, for their integration in the Republic of Kosovo.

One of the main obstacles to the realization of the integration process continues to be

access to illegal, even criminal, structures1 subsequently considered to be parallel

structures and as such tolerated on the assumption that tolerance and cooperation

with them helps keep the peace and stability.

It is precisely the origin of these structures and the dilemmas on how to name them

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1 Criminal Structures are not an object of research, although they, in various ways, have been supporting illegal

structures, in particular those under the dependency of illegal authorities of northern municipalities of Kosovo.