The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania has expressed grave concern over the ongoing issue of the deactivation of addresses for ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley, particularly in the municipality of Medvegjë. The ministry issued a statement calling this action a violation of human rights and minority protection standards, which deprives Albanians in the region of access to basic services and the exercise of their fundamental rights.
The ministry emphasized that the deactivation of addresses is not just a legal matter but has significant consequences for the daily lives of Albanians in the region, undermining their rights and equality. “This is not only a legal issue; it severely affects the daily lives of Albanians in the region, violating their rights and equality,” the statement reads.
Albania has committed to addressing this issue both in dialogues with Serbian authorities and in international forums. “Through continuous engagement, Albania will continue to advocate for the protection of the rights of Albanians in the Presevo Valley, in accordance with international human rights and minority protection standards,” the statement further added.
Thousands of ethnic Albanians from the southern Serbian municipalities of Medvegjë, Bujanoc, and Presevo have had their addresses marked as “inactive” by Serbian authorities. This designation means they are unable to renew their identification documents or exercise rights that require a valid ID card, such as voting. The issue has sparked numerous protests in the region.
Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister, Besnik Bislimi, also raised the issue this week. Bislimi wrote on social media platform X, stating that the decision by Serbia’s Constitutional Court “legitimizes the practice of systematic discrimination through the deactivation of addresses targeting Albanians.”
Flora Ferati-Sachsenmaier, a lecturer in Society, Politics, and Culture at the University of Göttingen, has calculated that between 2012 and 2019, the number of Albanian voters in Medvegjë dropped from 10,102 to 6,602. She believes that “address deactivation” is the key factor behind this decline. Ferati-Sachsenmaier stressed the need for international pressure to ensure “symmetry in the rights of ethnic minorities in the Western Balkans.”
