Filling the Vacuum: Ensuring Protection and Legal Remedies for Minorities in Kosovo

Since Kosovo’s declaration of independence on 17 February 2008, there has been a vacuum in effective international protection for minorities in Kosovo. A lack of certainty over the status of the territory has limited the practical application of international human rights law. There is a danger that the new international organizations operating in Kosovo will compound the failure of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo to ensure a tolerant, multi-ethnic society in which equality, non-discrimination and the rights of minority groups are protected.