Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s independence and encouraged Serbs to participate in the parliamentary ballot, despite objections from the United Nations.
Serbian churches have expressed concerns that they will face even less protection in Kosovo than before independence, when several Christian institutions were attacked despite the presence of thousands of NATO-led peacekeepers.
The attacks has been blamed on revenge seeking mobs of Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority, which was oppressed under late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Serb troops were forced to leave Kosovo in 1999 following 78 days of NATO bombardments.
Minority Serbs and Serbia have also been angered over the United Nation Tribunal’s acquittal in March of ex-Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, a rebel leader who was cleared of all charges of killing Serbs during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.
NEW PROSECUTOR
The new chief UN prosecutor of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, Serge Brammertz, has said his office may appeal the acquittal. Despite concerns, Kosovo’s current Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has said it is time to look towards the future. He said the constitution, adopted last month by Kosovo’s leaders, which guarantees the rights of minorities and is proof of Kosovo’s commitment to treat all its citizens equally.
"This constitution is a document that guarantees freedom," Thaci said during the signing ceremony. "This constitution creates equal opportunities for all of Kosovo’s citizens." He said that protection of minorities should satisfy many of Kosovo’s Serbs in the region, which is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
Yet not everyone is pleased with the constitution. A team of predominantly Christian and conservative legal and human rights experts arrived in Pristina from the United States and Europe last month to meet with top government officials and religious leaders to discuss the constitution.
"MORAL VALUES"
They are especially concerned about what they view as the lack of morals of the constitution.
The group said the draft constitution could be misinterpreted to promote special rights for "sexual orientation" leading to same-sex "marriage" and "remove any ability of Kosovo to determine its own moral values relating to sexual behavior."
They also criticized "a claim of a right to abortion" and said the constitution could "violate the rights of conscience of Kosovar professionals, and limit speech, media, assembly, and association, preventing any public expression of unpopular viewpoints – the viewpoints that most need constitutional protection."
