Community Consultative Council

One of the main concerns of the ECMI in Kosovo is to establish a working consultative point that would ensure that the rights of the communities and persons belonging to those communities are respected and to provide for their equal participation in the political life of Kosovo. In order to do so an inter-ethnic dialogue should be fostered which would then trigger joint projects at different levels. The key body here is CCC, an establishment comprised of representatives of the communities. The Council includes all community leaders in Kosovo, including the main Serbian party, which until recently has boycotted all activities related to Kosovo institutions. To make this body efficient ECMI supports its institutionalization and further development into the permanent institution within the President Office of Kosovo.

Ever since its establishment in 2005 the Communities Consultative Council has gained significant influence and has progressed towards establishing its permanency within a post-status Kosovo. Following four international workshops and regular consultations in Pristina, the CCC successfully completed the legally based final draft of the ‘Framework for the Protection of Rights of Communities in Kosovo’ that was presented by the Kosovo Delegation in Vienna as part of the status negotiations.

This Framework Document, a multi-layered and interlocking system of constitutional and legal measures, ensures the full protection and enjoyment of individual and community rights for members of the minority communities in Kosovo and thus contains the skeletal structure for the planned Constitutional Law on the Protection of Rights of Communities. This foundational document is the most comprehensive document produced to date in the field of community rights in Kosovo.

The project has generated cross-community and cross-party support and structures for the establishment of the CCC and has created structures to improve the life of minority communities in Kosovo in the long term, with Community Representatives participating on a regular basis. Its success has been illustrated through increased awareness of the CCC within the Kosovo political landscape and an increased commitment of political institutions to continue the work of CCC and to establish it as a permanent body. There has been an improved understanding of the relationship between the CCC and other Kosovo institutions whilst a clear need for effective communication between the CCC and other institutions has been identified, recommending cross-institutional reporting mechanisms.

The project itself was launched in March 2005 and was initially funded by the Danish Neighbourhood Programme of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In June 2005, the project received its first one year funding from the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In August 2006, the Norwegian Ministry also funded the second one year funding for the project. The significant funding support was also provided by Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, who specifically contribute to sponsoring workshops in the region.