Mitrovica: Two Realities, One City
INTRODUCTION
Amidst the political stand-off between Prishtina and Belgrade about who controls and governs Kosova north of the Ibėr River, the people of Mitrovica are easily forgotten. Until today the debate on Mitrovica has focused on everything but on everyday needs and concerns of citizens. Too little is known regarding daily needs of the people living there and how realities differ and resemble north and south of Ibėr River.
It is for this reason that IKS has taken on the task of identifying through snapshot analyses the ‘actual realities’ on the ground. There are many shared needs that could provide the basis for a different kind of dialogue between both communities – one that unites rather than divides.
It is to this debate that these six policy briefs aim to contribute. What the research has revealed is that these six areas cut across people’s lives indiscriminately. In Mitrovica, university graduates, facing unemployment and frustration, leave the city. Albanians go to Prishtina in search for jobs and better lives, and Serbs likewise go to Serbia. In either case Mitrovica is abandoned by the same people who claim to be ready to defend it with their lives.
As it turns out, the biggest enemy of Mitrovica is not ethnic division but unemployment, poverty, lack of economic perspective, and poor public services, among others. When combined, these problems make living - in what was once the most industrial city in Kosova - hard to bear. The division of the natural economic area has resulted in two small compressed markets forcing businesses on both sides to close down. Children of Mitrovica study in schools in three shifts, without labs and receiving poor education. The divided city has another common problem: lead poisoning. Mitrovica was described by WHO as “one of the most serious lead-related environmental health disasters in the world and history.” Though health institutions continue being divided, health problems remain stubbornly united.
The problems enlisted above notwithstanding, are not meant to show how life in Mitrovica is grim and hopeless. Rather, it is to show that for common problems, common solutions exist and beyond politics and everyday rhetoric there are common grounds, however minimal, for cooperation. The briefs contain suggestions on how to boost economy; how to integrate health sector; increase the mutual trust and facilitate the return; steps for better education; how to improve the governance, amongst the few to mention. The Kosovar Government needs to come forward assertively to accommodate the needs of Mitrovica people. EU needs to show determined leadership and increase its visibility in the north.
Problems in Mitrovica are deep and, in a larger view, they are Kosova’s problems and one can claim even the region’s, thus very difficult to solve. Therefore through these briefs IKS hopes to contribute modestly to solving concrete everyday life issues of Mitrovica citizens, away from power politics. These six snapshots are only the tip of iceberg, by which we hope to pave the way for a meaningful debate.
Disorderly Conduct: Government in Mitrovica
The Returns Process in Mitrovica
Mitrovica's Heritage: Shared Asset or Liability?