Kosovo – from theory of human rights protection and monitoring to the complex realities on the ground By Güler Alkan, student representative

What was our Kosovo field trip about and what did we learn from the experience on the ground? Was it a "journey" into a post-conflict country, a "tour" of international organizations, a great opportunity to talk to top-level diplomats and politicians, both national and international ones, and to hear from civil society and local NGOs? It was all of that and even more.

The list of organizations, speakers and venues is too long to name them all – from the headquarters of UNMIK, EULEX or the OSCE mission in Pristina to visits to the Kosovo Assembly or official bodies like the Kosovo Judicial Centre as well as meetings with representatives from local NGOs, media and oppositional politicians.

Every speaker was very eager to answer our questions – from the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, to Igballe Rogova, the founder of Kosovo Women's Network who shared with us her personal experiences and the daily struggle for women's and LGBT rights in Kosovo, to Albin Kurti, a political activist with whom we discussed lively about issues of self-determination, about how far one can go when protesting on the streets and about the limits of authorities repressing street protests.

Our Kosovo trip went beyond purely academic or legal matters. We gained invaluable insights into the various dimensions of human rights issues in a post-conflict environment . We realized that establishing a functioning rule of law system is not only about adopting laws but also about the implementation of the provisions and the challenges faced in practice. The right to fair trial for instance is ineffective when there are not enough resources at municipal level and cases of property restitution are pending for years.

We started to ask ourselves (and the international experts) how the protection of human rights and the monitoring of human rights standards can be ensured within the complex interplay of political interests, nationalism and international mandates that might not always fully take into account – with or without intention – the wishes and needs of the local population. We raised the question of the lacking liability of international organizations.

We got to know the practical dimension of field work at the community level when visiting the OSCE field office in Prizren or the OSCE regional office in the city of Peja/Pec. At times we felt the tension, like on our last day in Mitrovica, a city in the north of Kosovo that is not united, but divided by a bridge, and where Kosovo Serbs still maintain blockades.

We realized that it is impossible to take one side or not to listen to both sides – the Kosovo- Serbs and the Kosovo-Albanians. The claims of each group are justified: The Kosovo- Albanians who want to be part of Albania or simply aim at full international state recognition and at visa-free travelling out of their country. And the Kosovo Serbs who still feel like being part of Serbia. Then, there are more than two sides in every story: there are Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Bosniak and Turk minorities or the often unmentioned Jewish, Derwish and Gorani communities.

So, with every day, we asked ourselves how we would conduct a field mission where there are so many voices that need to be listened to and so many human rights issues – from political to economic, social and cultural rights – that need to be addressed. 'How to keep the balance, which topic is more pressing and should be addressed first – institution building, women's rights, minority rights or unemployment, insufficient education and poverty?' Ideally, all of them at the same time and with the same eagerness, but what we also learnt during the trip is that the international community also suffers from limited resources and capacities.

And then there are the local people , their stories and concerns. From the Serb taxi driver in the city of Gracanica who told us about his fears for the future of the Kosovo-Serbs. Or Kosovo-Albanians who recounted their experience during war when they had to live in the woods for months when fleeing from Serb soldiers.

We also had the unique experience of becoming part of the daily lives of our local guest families for one week. We witnessed their daily struggles with power shortages or no running water. We heard about the dissatisfaction with local politicians and authorities, about corruption scandals and the lack of employment opportunities or the problems with unaffordable health care. But then, some guest families were also better off.

There is more to Kosovo than tension, ethnic enmity (sparked by extremists on both sides), poverty and frustration. Kosovo is more than a post-conflict country, more than personal war stories that are sometimes (mis)used when the sufferings, losses, and fears of each group are weighed against each other.

Kosovo is literally a young state – we ran across so many young people there that back in Austria we had to get used to see so many old people on the streets again. And those young people are aspiring to see the world, to have careers, to have a decent way of living despite all the frustration. They are engaging in arts, in political and civil society activities, in music, in fashion and much more. We met local people in numerous bars and restaurants and our topic of discussion was not always the war or if people really hate each other that much.

Kosovo also means drinking Slivovitz in a bar in Gracanica after having visited the Serbian- Orthodox monastery there. Kosovo also means visiting century-old monasteries, churches, mosques and other cultural and religious heritages across the country. And Kosovo is also all that: concerts, exhibitions, independent theatres, Macedonian bands singing "Sweet Home Alabama" in a jazz club in Pristina, good drinking and food, young people that want to have fun – like in every other city of the world.

Did we feel unsafe at any time? No, not at all. Some of our friends and family had ungrounded concerns. Did we feel comfortable? Yes, our guest families were very hospitable. Was the Kosovo trip challenging? Yes, we had a heavy schedule. But our experiences and talks in Kosovo enriched us in so many ways – from the theory of how field missions should be to the reality on the ground, from diplomatic speech at headquarters to practical approaches in the field work, from top-level politicians to the average citizen. We learned so much from all those encounters for our future careers as human rights practitioners. All in all, the trip offered us a great opportunity to get out of the class room and into the field – with all the challenges and complexities that theory alone can never prepare you for.