Kosovar Foreign Fighters: From Ideology to Radicalization and Back to Human Rights Violations (PDF)

Diploma Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - Topic: Public International Law and Human Rights, grade: 8, University of Sarajevo (ERMA), language: English, abstract: The Independence was followed by a new shift in Albanian Kosovar's ideology. Once the national agenda had been achieved, the created sociopolitical gap was rapidly filled with a new religious ideology. Kosovar foreign fighters became a hot topic in fighting back the radicalization in Kosovo. Many citizens were arrested and brought before the Courts on suspicions related to terrorism. These prosecutions in fighting back foreign fighters brought distortions and violations of the foreign fighters' human rights.

The cases analyzed in this study do speak about the violation of the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair and other procedural rights violations. The overall situation on the issue of fighting back the Kosovar foreign fighters and extremist radicalization within Kosovo speaks of a lack of competencies by the Kosovar authorities. No matter what an individual is accused of, the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial should always prevail. It is up to the Kosovar authorities in the first place to show the good practice that such fundamental principles and rights are not only envisaged but embedded in daily proceedings.