Tag Archives: Country: Kosovo

AP: A Canadian man testified Friday that he paid $105,000 ((EURO)80,000) to an Israeli citizen in 2008 to organize a kidney transplant in a Kosovo clinic allegedly used by an international organ trafficking network for dozens of illegal operations.

The Weekly Standard: In Muslim-majority Kosovo last week, as the fasting month of Ramadan came to an end and families prepared for the reopening of public schools, the parliamentary Assembly of the Republic rendered its judgment on a controversy that has agitated the country for more than a year: It voted not to permit the Islamic headscarf (hijab) or any religious instruction in public schools.

Telegraph: Allegations that Kosovo’s prime minister led a criminal gang that sold the organs of prisoners captured during the country’s war of independence against Serbia are to be investigated by an American prosecutor.

Religion Clause: AFP, reporting yesterday on these developments, points out that Kosvo is 90% Muslim, but has a tradition of moderate Islam.

Washington Post: “A prosecutor charged in court Tuesday that seven Kosovans on trial in Pristina were part of an elaborate international network that traded in the organs of people living in extreme poverty.”

Associated Press: “At least seven people, including a former senior health ministry official, are suspected of involvement in an international network that falsely promised poor people payment for their kidneys and then sold the organs for as much as euro100,000 ($137,000).”

Reuters: “Serbian Orthodox Church and political leaders gather on Sunday to enthrone a new patriarch to guide a religion embodying the spirit of Serbia, but the once a generation ceremony will take place on foreign soil in Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but many Serbs still see Kosovo and the monasteries there as the cradle of their Orthodox religion. Old churches and monasteries dot the landscape of the smallest country in the Balkans.”

Interfax: “The handover of Kosovo’s Serbian shrines under the control of the territory’s government may fuel tensions in the region, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko.” | Kosovo police to protect Serb monasteries

Balkan Insight: “NATO’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, has announced it is to start transferring protection of sacred Serbian sites to Kosovo Police. The Gracanica monastery, located in a Serb enclave on the outskirts of Pristina, will be the first shrine to come under the control of the mostly ethnic-Albanian police.”

Independent: “Kosovo scored a significant victory in its struggle to be recognised as a full and legitimate state yesterday when the UN’s highest court ruled that its 2008 declaration of independence did not break international law. Serbia denounced the judgement – more than a decade after it fought a civil war over its former province – and warned the ruling would encourage separatist movements around the world.”

EuroNews: “Serbia launched the legal challenge in the Hague and wants the body to put a stop to the number of countries recognising Kososvo and force Pristina back into talks with Belgrade.”

Balkan Insight: “With the Albanian government’s latest proposal for legalising same-sex marriages, and gay pride cancelled in Belgrade this weekend, gay rights have become a hot topic across the Balkans. But the debate has been strangely muted in Kosovo. And the government has no plans to open up the issue. Government spokesperson Memli Krasniqi told Balkan Insight that this issue doesn’t fall into the government’s current or even future priorities.”

The Alliance Defense Fund has been actively involved in several recent international legal situations to protect families worldwide and protect America from the effects of poor international legal decisions.

ADF attorney has this commentary on Townhall. He writes: . . . The constitution approved by Kosovo’s Parliament without debate on April 9 is a distinct improvement on earlier drafts, and to the casual observer, the document is replete with …

U.S. soldiers stationed at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo may be stunned to find three wooden crosses stripped from the exterior grounds of their chapel in coming weeks – and many never saw it coming.

President Fatmir Sedjiu told the group that he had “trusted the experts” that Kosovo was compelled to include sexual orientation so that Kosovo would have a “contemporary” understanding of international human rights.

A team of legal and human rights experts arrives in Pristina, Kosovo this week to meet with top government officials and religious leaders about the draft constitution . . .

“The draft constitution, which is circulating now, would transform the traditional Muslim and Orthodox Christian society by removing all legal protection from unborn children and granting special rights on the basis of sexual orientation.”