In a lecture organized by the Faculty of Economics, OSCE Ambassador to Kosovo Jan Braatthu spoke with AAB students about the history, role and international investment in Kosovo, and in particular the OSCE mission.
Braathu explained that OSCE in Kosovo marks its 20th anniversary this year, and that this is the third mission of this international organization. The first mission set up in 1992 to monitor the situation in Vojvodina, Sandzak, and in particular in Kosovo, and was withdrawn after eight months at a time when wars and tensions were raging in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
The second mission was deployed in 1998, when in the spring of this year the situation in Kosovo again became dangerous. According to the UNHCR in August 1998, there were 350,000 displaced persons fleeing Serbian paramilitary and military forces.
The mission was called the Kosovo Verification Mission, which had about 2,000 persons, and was deployed in October 1998, following the US ceasefire agreement with the then Yugoslav president Milosevic.
Ambassador Braathu then spoke about the current OSCE mission, showing how it operated within the 57 member states.
According to him, the primary task of the mission in Kosovo has been to help establish institutions and they have done just that.
“The Kosovo Parliament is established by the OSCE, thus helping to establish government institutions, and supporting independent institutions such as the Ombudsman, the Election Commission, RTK, the Independent Media Commission, the Kosovo Police (training around 7000 persons), etc. Now we work together with these institutions to get them to do their job better” Braathu said.
Speaking about the current composition of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, Ambassador Braathu said that although this body is international, out of 504 people, only 117 of them are foreigners.
“I am very proud of my Kosovar colleagues, the people who have worked here for 20 years because they are great,” he said.
The OSCE ambassador emphasized that the recently organized elections in Kosovo were the best elections in the region, where people maintained their peace, voted, respected the procedures and everything went well.
While speaking about education in our country, he commended AAB College for the investments made, emphasizing that this is a reinvestment in the quality of education.
