On Wednesday, the Government of Kosovo approved a proposal to establish the Museum of Genocide and Struggle for Freedom which will serve as a public institution to commemorate the atrocities committed by Serbia and former Yugoslavia, while also honoring the resilience and sacrifices of the people of Kosovo.

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti described the museum as “the institutionalisation of the collective memory and a testament to both the monstrous crimes of genocidal Serbia and the triumph and resilience of the Republic of Kosovo.”

Minister of Culture Hajrulla Çeku explained that “the Museum of Genocide and Struggle for Freedom seeks to document the crimes committed by former Yugoslavia and Serbia against Albanians and others in Kosovo. The museum will focus on education, remembrance, and honouring past generations. It aims to present and preserve the experiences of survivors and promote sustainable peace by ensuring the violent past is thoroughly documented.”

For the time being, the museum will function as a specialised unit within the National Museum of Kosovo. 

“Once the law on museums comes into effect, it will operate as an independent national museum institution,” he emphasised.

The museum will be located in the building of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports, at “Mother Teresa” Square in the capital Prishtina.

“Meanwhile, we will proceed with plans to relocate the ministry’s administration to another building or a newly constructed facility,” Çeku explained.

Nenad Rasic, the Minister for Communities and Returns, was the only minister who abstained from voting, and the rest of PM Albin Kurti’s cabinet voted in favour of the museum. 

During the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, more than 13,000 civilians were killed, and thousands of others went missing.

More than 1,600 persons remain unaccounted for, the majority of whom are ethnic Albanians.

In May 2021, Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti pledged to launch an international court case against Serbia for alleged genocide during the 1998-99 war, despite experts’ warnings that it was unlikely to succeed. Kurti had promoted this idea even during the previous February 2021 parliamentary elections campaign, which his Vetevendosje party won by a landslide. 

Kosovo will hold the next parliamentary elections in February 2025.

In 2019, Kadri Veseli, the former Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo, proposed the establishment of a genocide and displacement museum to commemorate the victims and crimes perpetrated by the Serbian state during the Kosovo War in 1998 and 1999. 

But Veseli’s proposal was described as political opportunism by opponents within Kosovo, and dismissed by international experts as impractical and extremely unlikely to succeed.  Currently, Veseli is facing war crimes and crimes against humanity charges at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in the Hague, alongside former Kosovo President, Hashim Thaci, and two others. They all have pleaded not guilty.