Hamide has been waiting for her son Fadil to return home for more than twenty years. Having not been seen since his brother Fatmir was murdered by Serbian paramilitaries, his parents worry they will never learn what happened to him. Hamide’s story covers the walls of a corridor in the heart of the parliament building in Pristina alongside dozens of harrowing testimonies from the family members of those who went missing during Kosovo’s conflict with Serbia.

In 1998 violence erupted when the Kosovo Liberation Army launched resistance to Serbian oppression of the ethnically Albanian population in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia. The Serbian-led campaign of genocidal violence which ensued resulted in the displacement of 1.45 million Kosovans according to the OSCE.

The memorial in the capital of now independent Kosovo betrays a lack of closure felt by families who never learned the fate of their loved ones. Efforts to track down the missing have been slow, and the families of over 1,650 missing persons are still awaiting answers.

(‘Hamide holding photographs of her two sons’ taken by Atdhe Mulla and displayed in the ‘Living with the Memories of the Missing’ exhibition in Pristina Ó Integra)

In part, institutional inertia results from the government treating international recognition for Kosovo’s independence as their primary concern: since declaring independence in 2008, only 102 of 193 UN member states have recognised Kosovo. The prevailing attitude amongst government members is that state-building must precede attention to social issues. However, the process of state-building is not separable from the pursuit of justice for victims of the war with Serbia.

In order to achieve recognition amongst the international community, Kosovo must first strike a deal with Serbia which continues to claim sovereignty over the region. This accord will remain a fantasy until cross-border animosity is soothed.

Kosovo’s current foreign policy towards Serbia continues to be dictated by a history of conflict. Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj views Serbia’s attempts to block Kosovo’s accession to the UN and NATO as acts of aggression. His decision to levy a 100% import tariff on Serbian goods was portrayed as a justified retaliation, but it pushes any possible accord further downstream.

Hostilities are heightened by the prevalence of war veterans within the political machinery of both Kosovo and Serbia. Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj was a prominent member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and Serbia still has a warrant out for his arrest. On the Serbian side, Vladimir Lazarevic and Nikola Sainovic have been allowed to return to political life despite having been sentenced by the International Court for war crimes committed in Kosovo.

If Haradinaj does not attend to the suffering of war victims in Kosovo, relations between Kosovans and Serbs could deteriorate further, making a compromise with Serbia politically impossible. Offers of compensation for Kosovo’s victims are therefore welcome, but the government must also ensure that victims are empowered to seek justice.

The reparations scheme for victims of wartime rape is a case in point. Only a handful of women have accepted offers of financial remuneration, fearing stigmatisation. While Kosovan authorities believe 20,000 women were raped during the war only three cases have led to a conviction in Kosovan courts, with each resulting in an acquittal after appeal.

Conversely, members of the Serbian minority in Kosovo feel that there is little accountability for the crimes committed against them. A 2017 report by Amnesty International criticised the Kosovan government for imposing a cut-off date of 20th of June 1999 which prevents many Serbian and Roma women from accessing the scheme.

The Kosovan government deny that these rapes took place and maintain that no more than ten Serbian women were sexually assaulted in Kosovo during the War. This is perhaps because treating allegations of post-war rape seriously would require an investigation into the record of the Kosovan Liberation Army during the demilitarization process.

Despite these obstacles, pursuing justice for victims on both sides of the conflict will be key to securing a deal between Kosovo and Serbia, without which Kosovo will be unable to achieve international recognition and begin its accession to multilateral institutions such as the EU. There is also a moral imperative for the government to aid the predominantly civilian war victims in Kosovo who have suffered rape, torture and unimaginable loss.

Twenty years on, it is clear that wounds created by genocidal violence in Kosovo cannot heal until a meaningful peacebuilding process takes place. Progress in this arena will require social development and may involve addressing the culpability of both Serbia and Kosovo’s political elite.