Three months after launching our public advocacy campaign addressing the violation of language rights in Kosovo, it is time to ask has anything changed? The initiative led by NGO Aktiv, Radio Kim, the New Social Initiative (NSI), Radio Goraždevac, and the Advocacy Center for Democratic Culture (ACDC) initially highlighted serious shortcomings in the provision of information in both official languages, particularly on the official websites and social media platforms of certain institutions.
This week, we return to the field with the same question:
Are citizens from communities that rely on the Serbian language now equally informed?
Have previously identified issues been addressed, and are Serbian-language contents now updated, synchronized, accessible, and of equal quality to those in Albanian?
The issue of systematic violations of the Law on the Use of Languages[1] in Kosovo has been raised for years, yet it persists despite a legal framework that guarantees the equal use of Serbian and Albanian. As a result, non-majority communities, in this case, those who communicate in Serbian, continue to be deprived of access to essential information. Moreover, this issue was acknowledged in the 2023 European Commission Report on Kosovo[2] which pointed out the problem in several sections.
This week, our initiative is conducting a follow-up review of the official websites and social media channels of the institutions included in the initial monitoring conducted three months ago. The focus remains on compliance with the Law on the Use of Languages, with particular attention to whether previously identified errors have been corrected, and whether the information for citizens is now updated, synchronized, and equally accessible in both official languages — Serbian and Albanian.
As examples of particularly important institutions, this week we are analyzing the work of the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Kosovo Police, two institutions that play a crucial role in ensuring civil rights and daily communication with the public.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) is an institution of exceptional importance for the functioning of the democratic process in Kosovo. Its role in organizing, conducting, and ensuring the transparency of elections directly affects public trust in institutions and the electoral system. Therefore, compliance with the Law on the Use of Languages, which defines Serbian and Albanian as official languages, is essential to the legitimacy of the CEC’s work.
This obligation becomes even more critical considering that a significant portion of the population, particularly in northern Kosovo, communicates exclusively in Serbian. Any exclusion from the flow of information thus presents a direct obstacle to the realization of their voting rights.
During the parliamentary elections held in February this year, the CEC came under significant pressure and was the target of widespread criticism. The process of publishing results was slow, and data on the official website was updated with considerable delays. Despite the CEC’s €8.7 million budget[3], for the election process, citizens were often deprived of timely and accurate information, especially in the Serbian language.
In addition to technical and organizational issues, the communication component of the campaign, particularly in municipalities with a Serbian majority, was assessed as inadequate and non-transparent. As a result, the CEC was publicly called to account by nearly all relevant stakeholders in Kosovo for failing to ensure equal access to information and full participation of all communities in the electoral process.
Given that new local elections in Kosovo are scheduled for this autumn, it is of utmost importance that all information on the CEC’s official communication channels is updated in a timely manner and linguistically synchronized, ensuring equal access to information in both official languages for all citizens.
In this regard, linguistic accessibility on the CEC’s website and communication channels is not merely a legal obligation, it is a prerequisite for a democratic, inclusive, and fair electoral process. For this reason, the CEC remains a key focus in the new phase of our campaign.
What has (not) changed after three months on the CEC website and social networks?
A renewed analysis of the official website of the Central Election Commission (CEC) shows that, even three months after the previous monitoring[4], no substantial improvements have been made regarding compliance with the Law on the Use of Languages.
A large number of links[5] in the Serbian version of the website remain non-functional, effectively preventing access to key information for citizens who communicate in Serbian. Nearly all Serbian-language content is in a very poor state[6], from technically broken pages to linguistically inconsistent translations and nearly unreadable material.
The organizational chart on the Serbian-language section of the website is still available exclusively in Albanian[7] which directly violates the principle of equal access to information. Particularly concerning is the fact that the “Voting Instructions”[8] section, a key source of information about the voting process is presented only in Albanian within the Serbian version of the site, thereby practically denying full participation to voters who rely on the Serbian language.
Additionally, information about the Kosovo Assembly elections from 2019[9] and 2021[10], as well as about local[11] elections in Serb-majority municipalities[12] (North Mitrovica, Zvečan, Leposavić, and Zubin Potok) is still not available in the Serbian-language version of the website. Particularly problematic is the fact that the results of the most recent parliamentary elections from February 2025[13] have still not been published in Serbian, even though nearly five months have passed since the elections were held.
The same practice continues with employment announcements[14] – all documents, including application forms[15] are available exclusively in Albanian. Neither the archive[16] of previous vacancies nor the sections titled “Electoral Operational Plan and Public Information” and “CEC Meetings and Agendas” are translated or functionally synchronized.
The situation regarding annual reports[17] remains unchanged: the last available report in Serbian dates back to 2016, whereas reports in Albanian have been published up to and including 2022.
The only observed change on the CEC website compared to three months ago concerns the presentation of CEC members[18]. The Serbian-language section has been updated, and all members of the CEC are now presented equally in both Albanian and Serbian.
No improvements in language equality were observed on the CEC’s official social media accounts either. Posts on Facebook[19] continue to be published first in Albanian, then in English, while Serbian, when present at all, appears only as the third language. Although English is not an official language in Kosovo, it is often prioritized over Serbian, further undermining the principle of bilingual official communication.
A similar pattern is evident on Instagram[20], where a significant number of posts have no Serbian-language version at all. Instead, information is provided exclusively in Albanian and English.
On the platform X[21] (formerly Twitter), no changes have been made either: promotional and informational video campaigns are published exclusively in Albanian, while descriptions and accompanying texts appear in English. Serbian is almost entirely omitted.
What has (not) changed after three months on the website and social networks of the Kosovo Police?
Respect for language rights by the Kosovo Police is essential to ensuring equal access to justice and security for all citizens — particularly in northern Kosovo, where many residents have expressed concern over the fact that most Albanian police officers do not speak the Serbian language. Although the Law on Police[22] clearly mandates communication in both official languages, in practice, members of the Serbian community often face language barriers when reporting incidents, seeking information, or exercising their rights before institutions.
The Kosovo Police sends its press releases to some Serbian-language media outlets almost exclusively in Albanian. When translations into Serbian are provided, they typically arrive with several hours of delay and are generally of very poor quality, often nearly unusable. Their representatives in Pristina and Gračanica are rarely available for statements or comments to Serbian-language media outlets south of the Ibar River, in contrast to their colleagues in the north of Kosovo, who generally perform their duties promptly and professionally.
Nevertheless, three months after the previous assessment[23], the official website of the Kosovo Police remains largely non-compliant with the Law on the Use of Languages. A large number of sections in the Serbian version of the site are still available[24] while the existing translations are unclear, stylistically and grammatically incorrect[25], and in some cases nearly unreadable.
Numerous shortcomings remain on the Kosovo Police website, including spelling errors, inadequate translations of border crossing names, regional directorates, and sections of public information campaigns. The video materials section[26] in the Serbian version of the site is even titled in Albanian, which further underscores the neglect of the obligation for bilingual communication.
One of the most persistent and significant problems is the marked disparity in the number of documents available in Serbian compared to Albanian. The number of key documents, such as police regulations, administrative instructions, and informational campaign materials, is roughly half in Serbian, significantly hindering access to public information for Serbian-speaking citizens.
The employment section also remains only partially aligned: some[27] job announcements, application forms, and accompanying documentation are still available only in Albanian, with no Serbian-language versions provided.
Regarding the Kosovo Police’s presence on social media platforms (Facebook[28], X[29], and YouTube[30]), no progress has been observed there either. Posts continue to be monolingual or only partially bilingual, while data, visuals, and video materials remain unsynchronized across languages, perpetuating the violation of the Law on the Use of Languages and disregarding the right of all Kosovo citizens to equal access to information.
Why is this important?
As we have repeatedly emphasized in previous analyses, this new segment of our campaign once again confirms that the systematic neglect of the Serbian language in Kosovo’s institutions remains a serious issue, despite our months-long efforts to raise awareness. Such practices prevent equal access to information for non-majority communities and represent a direct violation of the Law on the Use of Languages.
This law clearly states that both Albanian and Serbian are official languages in Kosovo. However, the years-long practice of ignoring this issue, along with the ongoing silence regarding the continuous violations of language rights, deprives Serbian-speaking citizens and other non-majority communities who rely on Serbian-language information of their constitutionally and legally guaranteed right to equal access to public information.
In light of our recent findings, a series of legitimate questions arises. First and foremost: What are taxpayers in Kosovo actually funding, including those from non-majority communities, such as the Serbian one? How is it possible that public funds, which these communities contribute to equally, are used to support a system that systematically excludes them from public communication? The silence of the Office of the Language Commissioner only deepens these concerns, while the lack of response from political and institutional representatives of Serbian-speaking communities raises serious questions about responsibility and genuine representation.
We also direct a question to the many representatives of the international community: What exactly is being supported and funded in Kosovo when such clear and persistent forms of systemic legal non-compliance are met with silence and no tangible reaction? Finally, it is reasonable to ask: What purpose does the official trilingual website of the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure serve if content in one of the official languages is nearly entirely unavailable, superficial, or merely symbolic, giving the impression of disrespect and, in many cases, outright institutional arrogance?
Silence in the face of such examples is no longer a technical oversight, it becomes a message that equal access to information is not a priority, but a mere formality. This is why it is crucial to replace the current reliance on unqualified translators or Google Translate with qualified professionals capable of delivering accurate and unambiguous Serbian translations. Establishing a functional translation system will ensure unrestricted access to public information and, more importantly, demonstrate the institutions’ real commitment to fully upholding not only language rights but also the fundamental human rights of non-majority communities, rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[31].
While civil society organizations[32], with limited resources, regularly provide trilingual coverage of their activities, institutions such as the Central Election Commission (€8.7 million budget)[33] and the Kosovo Police (€159,736,292.89 budget[34]) with their multimillion-euro resources, certainly have sufficient means to ensure proper translation into Serbian. We therefore once again call on these institutions to urgently begin the process of aligning the language versions of the information published on their websites and social media platforms, and to ensure equal access to key information in both official languages.
We also call on the Office of the Prime Minister to avoid political rhetoric without tangible results and to move beyond declarative commitments to minority rights by instructing all institutions to comply with language standards at every legally mandated level.
At the same time, we renew our appeal to the Office of the Language Commissioner to begin implementing the legal provisions within its mandate. This includes building an institutional environment that respects constitutional and legal obligations and guarantees the protection, promotion, preservation, and enforcement of language rights for all citizens of Kosovo.
Finally, we encourage all citizens to actively participate in this process and report any observed language irregularities to the relevant institutions, such as the Office of the Language Commissioner (zkgj.kpj@gmail.com) and the Ombudsperson Institution (info.oik@oik-rks.org). We also invite citizens, once again, to contact NGO Aktiv (office@ngoaktiv.org) if they come across specific language-related issues, and to join us in calling on the institutions to respect legally established standards.
[1] https://kryeministri.rks-gov.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ZAKON_BR._02_L-37_O_UPOTREBI_JEZIKA1346.pdf
[2] https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/document/download/c790738e-4cf6-4a43-a8a9-43c1b6f01e10_en?filename=Kosovo%20Report%202024.pdf
[3] https://radiokim.net/vesti/drustvo/227956-za-izbore-na-kosovu-planiran-budzet-od-87-miliona-evra/
[4] https://ngoaktiv.org/vesti/pokrecemo-kampanju-za-jezicka-prava/#_ftn7
[5] http://sherbimet-per-votuesit/
[6] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/osnivanje-i-organizacija/
[7] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/organizaciona-sema-cik/
[8] https://kqz-ks.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Posteri-per-votim-jashte-Kosoves.png
[9] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/izbori-za-skupstinu-kosova/izbori-za-skupstinu-kosova-2019/
[10] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/izbori-za-skupstinu-kosova/izbori-za-skupstinu-kosova-2021/
[11] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/izbori-za-predsednike-opstina/zgjedhjet-per-kryetar-komune-2022/
[12] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/izbori-za-skupstine-opstina/zgjedhjet-e-parakohshme-per-kuvendet-e-komunave-zvecan-dhe-leposaviq-2022/
[13] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/rezultati/izbori-za-skupstinu-kosova/
[14] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/otvoreni-konkursi/
[15] https://kqz-ks.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Verifikimi-per-Istog.pdf
[16] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/arhiva-konkursa/
[17] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/godisnji-izvestaji/
[18] https://kqz-ks.org/sr/anetaret-e-kqz-se/
[19] https://www.facebook.com/kqzkosova/posts/pfbid02jLtzc3bowfkUy1gJXG7ujhgnTZUP2zyvrX3nRhCwBHhC9BMmtiVsf8W8pLZH3GXBl?rdid=WLwpHFLa7I1V7Cmo#
[20] https://www.instagram.com/p/DHG8H8ZIrDR/?igsh=MTdueG43bTFhbWN0ZQ%3D%3D
[21] https://x.com/KQZKosova/status/1883817226714628126
[22] https://www.kosovopolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/ZAKON-Br.-04L-076-O-POLICIJI_2.-marta-2012.god_..pdf
[23] https://ngoaktiv.org/vesti/sistematsko-nepostovanje-zakona-o-upotrebi-jezika-kosovska-policija/
[24] https://www.kosovopolice.com/sr/
[25] https://www.kosovopolice.com/sr/departamenti/uprava-podrsnih-sluzbi/
[26] https://www.kosovopolice.com/sr/o-nama/video-galerija/
[27] https://www.kosovopolice.com/sr/oglasi/mogucnosti-zaposljavanja/
[28] https://www.facebook.com/KosovoPolice
[29] https://x.com/Kosovo_Police
[30] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqpmNXbs4ZQMt7FBBVmGung
[31] https://www.ohchr.org/en/human-rights/universal-declaration/translations/serbian-latin-srpski
[32] https://ngoaktiv.org/vesti/sistematsko-nepostovanje-zakona-o-upotrebi-jezika-nvo-kao-standard-u-jezickoj-ravnopravnosti/
[33] https://radiokim.net/vesti/drustvo/227956-za-izbore-na-kosovu-planiran-budzet-od-87-miliona-evra/
[34] https://www.kosovopolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/RAPORTI-I-PUNES-PER-VITIN-2023-SERBISHT.pdf
