Non-governmental organizations from Kosovo and Serbia have condemned the hate speech against Albanians used by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin. In a joint statement signed by 24 organizations, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Bernabic is asked to react.
“We, the civil society organizations from Kosovo and Serbia signed below, strongly condemn the insulting and humiliating language of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, towards Albanians. We call on the Serbian government, namely the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, to react and condemn the use of such hate speech by Minister Vulin and to appeal against the use of the word ‘siptar’,” the statement says.
On May 20, 2022, Minister Vulin used the word “siptar” repeatedly to refer to Albanians, and his statement to the media was published on the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia. In 2018, the Serbian judiciary found the word ‘siptar’ offensive and regarded as hate speech.
Despite this, Minister Vulin has used the word actively and continuously when referring to Albanians and continues to do so without any consequences in his public position.
“Public officials who use hate speech have no place in government. Hate speech undermines the spread of European values in our societies, including the normative framework for human rights, the rule of law and the functioning of a democratic and tolerant society. Moreover, when hate speech is freely used by senior government officials to target a particular ethnic group, it can have devastating consequences, as it incites discrimination, ethno-political radicalization, and potentially leads to violence. The rhetoric used by Minister Vulin in his speech is the same rhetoric used by the media and officials during the 1990s to dehumanize the Albanian population and incite ill-treatment, human rights violations and, finally, war crimes in Kosovo”, it is said in the reaction of the organizations.
According to them, the use of hate speech by senior government officials, as is the case with Minister Vulin, encourages our societies to work against peace and normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, and ultimately against a European future for all the countries of our region.
The signatory organizations are: Aktiv, The Balkan Forum, Balkans Policy Research Group (BPRG), Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCBP), Civic Initiatives, Center for Peace and Tolerance (CPT), Democracy Plus (D +), BFPE Foundation For a Responsible Society, The Human Rights Council – Bujanovac, InTER, Jelena Lončar, Academic, University of Belgrade, Kosovar Center for Security Studies (KCSS), Kosova Democratic Institute (KDI), Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights ( YUCOM), New Social Initiative (NSI), Mitrovica
Rahim Salihi, Civil Society Activist, Bujanovac, Valon Arifi, Civil Society Activist, Vjollca Krasniqi, Academic, University of Pristina, Voice of Rome, Ashkali and Egyptians (VoRAE), Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Serbia (YIHR Serbia) and Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo (YIHR KS).
