Achieving human security after intra-state conflict: The lessons of Kosovo

Abstract:

Following the 1999 conflict in the Kosovo, the task of building a future for the province fell to the international community in the form of the United Nations Interim Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and NATO. Almost immediately, the challenges of building a secure environment for a population divided by ethnic conflict became apparent, as did the diversity of these problems. Human security is affected by many imperatives and every one impacts on the perception of the population as to its safety. Despite good intensions, the international community often delays the return to normalcy and local ownership of the security sector and, therefore, security sector reform (SSR) becomes difficult to achieve. This article examines the efforts of the international community to resolve the security problems of Kosovo, over the last six years, and points to the conflicting SSR agendas which occurred. It examines how UNMIK and NATO tried to contain the problems in the province and, as the decision on the final status of Kosovo draws near, suggests how the EU might learn from what has gone before.