This book, compiled in cooperation with the Institute of Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo, brings together renowned international scholars, legal practitioners, cultural analysts, and transitional justice experts to examine the Kosovo War (1998–1999) through multidisciplinary lenses. This collection provides an academically rigorous analysis of the crimes committed in Kosovo, exploring a range of issues including the destruction of cultural heritage, gender-based violence, legal classifications, mass grave analysis, and methodological approaches to investigating and documenting war crimes. This volume offers unique reflections on researching crimes committed during the war while contributing to broader discussions on transitional justice, collective memory, and sustainable peace.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Furtuna Sheremeti: The Scope of Sorrow: Kosovo’s War Explored Part I: The Scale of the War in Kosovo Chapter 1: Chandler Williams: Even the Books: A Case Study on Attacks on Kosovar Libraries Chapter 2: Rudinë Jakupi: Bodies That Don’t Matter: A Feminist Analysis of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Kosovo Chapter 3: Rozafa Berisha: Fragments of the Everyday: Mourning the Ambiguous Loss of Missing Children in Kosovo Part II: Adjudicating the War in Kosovo Chapter 4: Nevenka Tromp: The Kosovo War as Narrated in the Court Archives Chapter 5: Christian Costamagna: Challenges in Demonstrating the Intent to Expel the Albanian Population from Kosovo through Yugoslav and Serbian State Documents (1998-1999) Chapter 6: Mathias Holvoet: An Inquiry into the Nature of the Crimes Committed During the War in Kosovo Chapter 7: Haki Demolli: (Non)Punishment of Serbian War Criminals in Kosovo Part III: Documenting the War in Kosovo Chapter 8: Diego Renato Nunez, Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Melanie Klinkner: Mass Grave Mapping: A Kosovar Case Study Chapter 9: Atdhe Hetemi, Rona Karahoda and Fehmi Mehmeti: Comprehensive and Interdisciplinary Approaches to War Crimes Documentation: Building the Foundations for Sustainable Peace in Kosovo Chapter 10: Anna Di Lellio: Documenting War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: A Gender-Attentive Strategy for Kosovo Conclusion: Aidan Hehir: Truth, Lies and the Future of Kosovo
About the Author :
Furtuna Sheremeti is a doctoral researcher at KU Leuven’s Institute of Criminology and a lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Prishtina. Her work focuses on harms from crimes committed during the Kosovo War, victims’ needs, and reparations. She also writes legal analyses and contributes to public policy in Kosovo.
Aidan Hehir is Professor of International Relations at the University of Westminster. His research focuses on humanitarian intervention, statebuilding, and transitional justice in Kosovo; he has published 12 books (as both editor and sole author) and over 50 academic journal articles/book chapters.
Review :
“As both a scholarly and moral achievement, this work represents a vital contribution to the fields of human rights, transitional justice, memory studies and beyond. It stands as one indispensable stone within a much larger living mosaic; a testament to resilience, documentation, and the pursuit of justice in the face of unprecedented human rights violations experienced in Kosovo.”
- Arben Hajrullahu, Professor of Politics, University of Prishtina.
“This book highlights the destructive effects of war when directed against civilians and a nation’s culture, as exemplified in the case of Kosovo….We all need this book if we want to rectify the socio-political and legal damages that the world may suffer in the near future.”
- Nora Visoka- Weller, Cultural Heritage Research Centre, University of Cambridge
“Through rigorous analysis and survivor-informed inquiry this volume explores how violence, denial, and fragmented justice continue to shape memory and politics decades later. It argues that truth-telling and remembrance are acts of resistance, and essential steps toward dignity and accountability. At its core, the volume insists that remembrance is not optional; it is the foundation of justice.”
- Sonja Biserko, President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
