The Acting President of Kosovo, Albulena Haxhiu, has issued a formal appeal to the international community to prioritize the human rights of Albanians living in the Preševo Valley. In a statement released on Thursday, Haxhiu called on global monitoring bodies to hold Serbia accountable for what she described as systemic discrimination in the municipalities of Preševo, Medveđa, and Bujanovac.
Haxhiu’s remarks follow the latest findings by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which recently issued concluding observations regarding Serbia’s treatment of its minority populations.
UN Findings Confirm Long-Standing Concerns
According to Haxhiu, the CERD report confirms years of grievances raised by both local Albanian leaders in the Valley and the institutions of Kosovo.
- Address Passivization: A central issue highlighted is the “passivization” of residential addresses—a process by which Serbian authorities remove Albanians from civil registries.
- Legal Erasure: Haxhiu argued that this practice constitutes a violation of legal presence, effectively stripping citizens of their right to obtain identity documents, access public services, and receive equal protection under the law.
Institutional Response from Kosovo
The Acting President noted that Kosovo has already elevated this issue to a matter of state responsibility. On April 24, 2026, the Assembly of Kosovo adopted a resolution specifically aimed at advancing institutional care for Albanians in the Preševo Valley.
“The rights of Albanians in the Valley must not remain on the margins of international reports,” Haxhiu stated. “They must be an integral part of political dialogue, international monitoring, and processes related to the rule of law and minority treatment.”
A Call to Global Partners
Haxhiu explicitly called on the following organizations to intervene and demand Serbia’s full implementation of the UN recommendations:
- The United Nations (UN)
- The European Union (EU)
- The OSCE
- The Council of Europe
Strategic Context
The plight of the Preševo Valley Albanians remains a highly sensitive topic in the ongoing normalization talks between Pristina and Belgrade. By framing the issue through the lens of a UN committee report, Kosovo’s leadership is seeking to move the discussion from a bilateral dispute to a broader human rights and rule-of-law framework.
Acting President Haxhiu emphasized that regional stability depends on the fair and equal treatment of minorities, urging that international pressure be applied to ensure that the Albanian population in Serbia is no longer subjected to administrative displacement.
