US lawmakers ask UN to review claims of discrimination against Albanians in Serbia

Members of the US Congress Foreign Affairs Committee have voted late Wednesday to advance a bill that would require the US Secretary of State to prepare a comprehensive report on the treatment of ethnic minorities in Serbia, especially ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley.

With 43 votes for, three against and no abstention passed this bill sponsored by Republican congresswoman Keith Self.

After complete examination, this bill will be reported by the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and sent to the entire House of Representatives for voting.

Later, it must also be approved by the Senate and signed by US President Donald Trump.

The bill seeks to assess issues of importance, including the equipment of Albanian addresses, restrictions on the use of Albanian in public institutions, discrimination in education, including non-recognition of Kosovo diplomas and lack of textbooks in Albanian.

Albanian politicians in Serbia welcomed the committee's decision to advance the bill.

Shaip Kamberi, the only representative of Albanians in Serbia's Parliament, wrote on Facebook that a long and fair battle, today crowned successfully. The United States is seeking legal and political responsibilities from Belgrade for the systematic discrimination of Albanians in the Presevo Valley”.

Presevo Mayor Ardita Sinani described the committee's decision as “clear message for Belgrade”.

This is a big day for the Albanians in the Valley. And signal that injustice is not eternal. A long battle. With patience, persistence and confidence”, she wrote on Facebook.

In Serbia, more than 60,000 Albanians live, who make up the fourth largest minority there, according to the latest population census in 2022.

In international reports, the Presevo Valley, which is used for Presevo, Medvedja and Bujancin, Albanian-run municipality in southern Serbia, is considered completely isolated and is said to receive attention only in election time.

Albanians living in these three municipalities in southern Serbia often complain of discrimination practices by the Serbian state, while officials in the Government of Kosovo have echoed those accusations.

The case of passive display of addresses is an issue they have repeatedly complained about and have taken to the streets to protest.

Assimilation means eliminating citizens from addresses where they've been registered. This step results in the loss of Serbian citizenship, and therefore all civil rights included the right to vote, property, health and pension insurance, and employment.

The issue is also mentioned in the report of the US State Department for Human Rights in Serbia for 2023.

Albanians in this part of Serbia also complain about lack of English-language textbooks, about what the Government of Kosovo has often shared money.

Kosovo has helped them in other areas, such as agriculture, but has complained that Serbia is blocking payments.

Meanwhile, the Serbian government's decision to return mandatory military service has also sparked fear among Albanians there, who say they have bitter experiences from the past.

At the end of last year, MP Kamberi applied for the establishment of a special parliamentary commission to investigate cases of the death of Albanian soldiers in the then Yugoslav Army during the 1980s.

In the request, Kamberi stresses that there is concern in the Presevo Valley for the possible appeal of Albanian youth to carry out military service, “past and its consequences still affect the collective consciousness of Albanians”. / REL/Periscopi/