Crime in Kosovo

rdf:langString Crime in Kosovo

rdf:langString Kosovo within communist Yugoslavia had the lowest rate of crime in the whole country. Following the Kosovo War (1999), the region had become a significant center of organized crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking and organ theft. There is also an ongoing ethnic conflict between Kosovar Albanians and Kosovan Serbs. The large Kosovar diaspora which had built up in Western Europe during the 1990s, combined with the political instability, created ideal conditions for Kosovo to become "Europe's crime hub"; well into the 2000s, Kosovo remained associated with both ethnic conflict and organized crime.A Kosovo Police service has been built up under UN administration, beginning in 1999. It had an operational force of 7,000 officers in 2004, and further expanded to 9,000 by 2010.The deplorable crime rate led to an additional deployment of civilian law enforcement resources of the European Union to Kosovo, under the name of European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo in 2008.Originally scheduled for two years, the duration of the deployment was extended twice, as of September 2012 scheduled to last until 2014. According to the "Kosovo 2012 Crime and Safety Report" by the US Department of State (intended as an advisory to US nationals travelling abroad), "High unemployment and other economic factors encourage criminal activity in Kosovo. Kosovo is rated as HIGH for residential and non-residential crime. Street crimes consisting of theft and purse snatchings are serious problems in Kosovo, especially in Pristina. Criminals often commit crimes while armed with handguns, as weapons are fairly easy to obtain."