Promoting language rights in Kosovo
Tung, zdravo, merhaba, hello! You will hear greetings in Albanian, Serbian, Turkish, Romani, Bosnian, and many other languages walking in downtown Prishtinë/Priština during the noon rush hour. This is now, in 2014. Back in 1999 the situation was not the same. Speaking local languages other than Albanian in Prishtinë/Priština could have had dire consequences.
In 1999 Kosovo suffered an inter-ethnic conflict that saw many thousands of people killed, raped, gone missing, and displaced. Inter-ethnic relations, mainly between Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs, were disintegrating. There was little respect for each other’s culture, language, and heritage.
Post-conflict rehabilitation in Kosovo, in which the OSCE Mission played and still plays a major role, has given a great number of positive results. Improved respect for language rights is one of them.
Ensuring equality
The Law on Use of Languages adopted in 2006 gave the Albanian and Serbian languages equal status as official languages in Kosovo. In addition to the two official languages, the law also recognized other languages spoken by more than three percent of population at the municipal level or based on tradition as official or languages in official use. According to the law, in these municipalities services must be provided in these languages if requested.
These provisions are very important, as the ability of one community to access services and participate in decision-making process in their mother tongue is crucial for reconciliation, for community rights protection, and for the preservation of identity. However, the existence of legal provisions is not enough.
Language Commissioner
In 2007, following the adoption of the Law on Use of Languages, Kosovo’s government established the Language Commission to oversee its implementation. However, this mechanism lacked a budget and permanent staff. Assisting the government in language policy reform, the Mission advocated for the establishment of an office of a language commissioner, an institution that would have permanent staff, financial resources and political backing to oversee the work of public institutions and help them comply with the legal requirements.
The Office of the Language Commissioner was established in 2012, and Slaviša Mladenović was appointed as the Language Commissioner.
What followed was a series of training sessions for Office staff, along with information campaigns informing the public of their language rights and of their right to complain to the Office of the Language Commissioner if public institutions are not complying with the law and providing their services in all official languages.
The latest in the series of media products promoting language rights in Kosovo and the role of the Office of the Language Commissioner is a 15-minute long film that will air on two channels of the public broadcaster RTK and will be screened at institutions and schools.
Progress is evident
In the first year of operation the Office received a total of four complaints. In 2013 that number rose to ten. As the Office grew stronger and its promotion increased, the number of complaints in the first half of 2014 reached 46. An encouraging sign is that 36 cases have already been resolved in favor of plaintiffs.
Kosovo institutions want to comply with the Law on Use of Languages and to provide their services in Albanian, Serbian, and other languages as appropriate, but they simply lack language skills or resources to do so, and the problem persists.
Slaviša Mladenović, Language Commissioner
We strongly support and advocate for language rights protection and we believe that the Office of the Language Commissioner is the right mechanism to ensure that language rights are protected. That is why we have been and will continue to support the Office and the Commissioner.
“We will continue assisting institutions and we will continue drawing their attention to the need to provide services in all official languages,” said Mladenović.