Acting director of the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK), Avni Kastrati, said on Monday that all communities in Kosovo are participating in the population census process, although some problems have appeared in the northern part. The process started on April 5 and will last until May 17. “All communities are participating in the registration, without overlooking any community, and we believe that we will continue this way until the end of the registration process”, he said in a press conference. However, Kastrati has admitted that some of the registrars in the northern part have withdrawn from the process.
He said that he personally met members of the Serbian community in the north of Kosovo, the day before, and that KAS has provided a “solid number” of registrars to register the population of this region within the time limits. According to him, the registrars are from the northern area and not from other areas inhabited by Serb majority within Kosovo, and that he has seen the willingness of the Serbian community to register. On April 5, Lista Serbe, the largest Serb party in Kosovo – which enjoys the support of official Belgrade – said that Kosovo Serbs will not participate in the census.
Lista Serbe has said that participation in the “processes organized by [Kosovo Prime Minister Albin] Kurti would be the greatest humiliation for our people, at a time when he denied the right to pensions and salaries to Serbs, prevented the normal functioning of health and social benefits, took away the right to vote, arrested and persecuted Serbs, occupied municipalities by force, militarized the north of Kosovo…”. In the last population census process – carried out in 2011 – the northern Serbs did not participate, at the request of the Belgrade authorities. According to the 2011 census, Kosovo has about 1.8 million inhabitants, and 25,000 of them are Serbs. However, civil society organizations believe that around 100,000 members of this community live in this country. According to the Law on population, household and housing registration, any person can be fined from 30 to 2,000 euros if they refuse to provide the information requested by the registrar. The fines are even greater for businesses and go up to 20,000 euros./REL
