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Human Rights Watch urges all stakeholders in the status
negotiations process to firmly place accountability issues, including for
political violence, attacks on minorities, and war crimes, at the top of their
agenda. (For a full list of recommendations by institution see section
“Recommendations,” below.) Key recommendations include:
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Take immediate steps to put into place procedures that will
ensure genuine oversight of the judiciary. Clarify publicly the role of each
institution—international and national—involved in achieving this goal.
Oversight should include the mandated use of a computerized database and case
management tools in all courts.
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Develop an action plan with a timeframe, in consultation with the
international and national police and prosecutors, to establish a judicial
police branch to work directly with investigative prosecutors in the
investigation of criminal cases, as required under the law. The action plan
should include intensive theoretical and field-based training components for
police and prosecutors.
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Develop concrete programs for collaboration between national and
international prosecutors and judges, aimed at ending their segregated
functioning, and improving professional standards among national prosecutors
and judges.
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Conduct an outreach and public information campaign, in collaboration
with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government and justice system, to
ensure that the public is aware of the outcome of important cases, may access
overall statistics on conviction rates, and understands whom to approach with
information about investigations or prosecutions, and that members of the
public are able to obtain information on the status of cases in which they are
a party or witness.
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Take immediate steps to reinvigorate and prioritize Kosovo’s
witness protection programs, including legislative amendments and the adoption
of new protocols where necessary.
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High-level government officials should publicly support police
and prosecutorial efforts to achieve success in solving serious, political, and
inter-ethnic crime, including by emphasizing the duty of members of the public
to cooperate with such investigations and prosecutions as part of their civic
responsibilities.
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Establish a central computerized caseload management system for
all courts in Kosovo, in consultation with judges, prosecutors, the PISG
Department of Judicial Administration, the Kosovo Judicial Council, and the
UNMIK Department of Justice.
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Carry out an evaluation to determine whether consolidation of the
number of courts in Kosovo would deliver a more efficient justice system and
facilitate monitoring of its operation.
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Ensure that a functioning criminal justice system, including
accountability for violence against minorities and war crimes, is accepted by
all parties as integral to the successful resolution of status for Kosovo.
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The European Union should condition ongoing financial support to
the criminal justice system to observable improvements in policing,
prosecutions, and the work of the courts. Regular progress reports from the
U.N. and PISG should be supplemented by E.U. auditing and evaluation.
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Provide the material support necessary to enable the creation of
an effective system for witness relocation and protection, including by making
a public commitment to relocate witnesses from Kosovo.
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