Written by: Alban Alili

The connection between the six areas. Impoverishment and underdevelopment, obstacles to education and non-recognition of diplomas, non-representation and institutional exclusion as the goal of non-belonging.

The feeling of insecurity, the difficulty of realizing secured rights, and passivization as the last link that ultimately aims to empty the Valley of Albanians.

For an Albanian in the Presevo Valley, the decision to leave often begins long before they set off. It begins when they cannot find work, when their diploma is not recognized, when their professional training does not open the doors of institutions, and when they have to constantly face obstacles for the most ordinary rights.

Over the years, these difficulties accumulate. They affect the family’s income, the children’s education, security and the belief that a future can be built in their homeland. In Preševo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, six areas of discrimination and exclusion intertwine in the same life, making it increasingly difficult to stand still.

The impoverishment and economic underdevelopment of Preševo ​​and Bujanovac are the starting point for much of this confrontation. Both are among the least developed municipalities in Serbia. Even in terms of salaries, in December 2025 they were among the ten municipalities with the lowest salaries: Preševo ​​at the bottom of the ranking, while Bujanovac was fourth from the bottom.

In that month, the average net salary was 78,411 dinars (670 euros) in Preševo ​​and 85,445 (730 euros) in Bujanovac, compared to 109,462 dinars (about 936 euros) at the Serbian level. So, even for those who work, the average salary in Preševo ​​was about 32.5% lower, while in Bujanovac about 27.5% lower than the state average. With this income, the same family needs, education and healthcare have to be met.

Even in Surdulica, the neighboring municipality composed of an absolute majority of ethnic Serbs, the average salary was about 21% higher than in Preševo ​​and 11% higher than in Bujanovac.

The difference is also seen in the basic financing of the municipalities. According to our calculations for 2025, the regular transfer, unchanged for 12 years, was about 11,657 dinars (100 euros) per inhabitant in Preševo ​​and 9,603 (82 euros) in Bujanovac, compared to 14,287 dinars (122 euros) in Surdulica and 17,908 (153 euros) in Medvedja’s neighboring municipality, Lebana. From this source, Lebana had about 54% more funds per inhabitant than Preševo ​​and 86% more than Bujanovac.

These municipalities also have development problems. But the differences show that the situation in Preševo ​​and Bujanovac cannot be explained only by the general poverty of southern Serbia. Unlike neighboring municipalities such as Surdulica or Lebane, where state investors have been brought in, state policy has not brought productive investments to Bujanovac and Preševo ​​on a scale that would create sustainable employment and change the economic situation. The lack of large employers and limited opportunities for business development leave families relying on the income they manage to secure, often including assistance from family members abroad.

For young people, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see an opportunity to build a life in their own country.

Under these conditions, education should have been the main way to change the situation, but obstacles follow the Albanian child during schooling.

The lack of Albanian textbooks for secondary schools forces students and teachers to work with notes, partial materials and temporary solutions. The lack of an Albanian inspector and Albanian professional associates at the level of the Ministry of Education inspectorate weakens the supervision of teaching in Albanian. The arbitrary appointment of principals by the Minister, often without taking into account the position of the Albanian National Council or local institutions, further complicates the functioning of schools.

Added to this is the obstacle to hiring graduates from Kosovo. Schools need staff, while young people who are prepared to teach remain outside of them when their diplomas are not recognized.

Thus, two harms are linked together, weakening the conditions for quality education in Albanian and preventing the involvement of staff who could contribute to its improvement. The family is simultaneously faced with concern for the child’s education and with the uncertainty of whether he will be able to work in his homeland after completing his studies.

According to the National Council of Education data for 2025, out of 756 active Albanian students registered, 419, or 55.4%, were studying in Kosovo. So, for more than half of the young students, the opportunity to practice their profession in their homeland is related to the recognition of their diploma from Kosovo.

The family invests years and resources in education. The young man completes his studies. But when his diploma is not recognized, the path to employment in the profession remains closed.

This consequence has also been recorded by the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, highlighting the reported link between the non-recognition of diplomas from Kosovo and the shortage of Albanian teachers. Opinion on Serbia, 2025.

The community needs professionals, while its own people are prevented from contributing. The education that was supposed to bring development to the Valley ends up pushing young people to leave for places where they can use their degrees.

On the other hand, young people whose diplomas from Albania, North Macedonia or other countries are recognized face the lack of representation and disintegration of Albanians in republican public institutions at the local and regional levels.

In the table for state institutions at the local level, included in the September 2022 integration draft, there are 435 Albanians out of 1,694 employees, or 25.7%. Within the recorded units, there was one Albanian out of 15 employees in the cadastre, none out of five in the pension fund and five out of 60 in the road sector.

According to the records we have established within the framework of the National Health Commission, there are no Albanians employed in the district hospital in Vranje, although Albanians from Presheva and Bujanovac also receive services there. We have also identified the same shortage in the health center in Medveđa.

Albanians depend on health, security, justice and administration institutions, while their inclusion as professionals remains unresolved. This affects job opportunities, communication in Albanian and the community’s trust in institutions.

A large portion of decisions that affect citizens’ lives are made in structures where Albanians have little or no presence.

So, the local economy offers few jobs, the non-recognition of diplomas hinders the practice of the profession, while institutional lack of representation narrows the path to public employment. The young person’s attempt to get an education and work faces successive obstacles.

This situation is aggravated by insecurity and hostile language towards Albanians. The portrayal of Albanians as a threat in parts of the political and media discourse in Serbia undermines the belief that they will be treated as equal citizens.

The excessive presence of security forces, the army and the gendarmerie, coupled with an area that is seen in public discourse in Serbia by politicians and the media as unsafe in terms of security, brings a sense of insecurity.

Meanwhile, the Albanian presence in the police has been steadily declining. Our report shows 107 Albanian police officers in Bujanovac around 2010 to 2012, compared to 56 according to an unofficial estimate of December 2025. In Preševo, the corresponding figures are 125 and 88. In Bujanovac, the comparison shows almost a halving.

On the other hand, the difficulties, to the point of being unbearable for normal living, are compounded by the obstacles to the use of the Albanian language and the exercise of educational, cultural and information rights.

According to the NCC’s findings, submitted to the Equality Commissioner in February 2026, only 20 out of 70 institutions surveyed respected the use of the Albanian language according to the law. All of these were local institutions.

For an Albanian in the Valley, this means asking for help with a procedure, insisting on a right, and complaining about a service that they should normally receive.

Over time, even the most ordinary things and those that are legally theirs become part of a tiring struggle to obtain.

Even support from Kosovo, which aims to alleviate some of these difficulties, has faced obstacles in transferring funds. The case of 1,837,511.16 euros related to a decision that included, among other things, Albanian-language education, culture, institutional development and support for the Albanian community in Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa. . Behind the delays and rejections lie children, families and concrete programs.

In this situation, leaving begins to be seen as a solution to several problems at once: for work, for children’s education, for security, and for a life where rights do not have to be demanded every day.

The Albanian Luginas leaves for Kosovo, North Macedonia or Western countries to make a living. Often with the thought that this is temporary and that they will return.

And here, the deactivation of the address closes the circle for them, leaving them without documents and without the opportunity to rectify the situation.

A citizen can only find out that their address has been deactivated when they request an ID card or exercise a right. They must then request the decision, collect evidence, and initiate procedures to restore the address, which in most cases cannot be completed for years and they are left without any documents or rights.

The YIHR report clearly describes the continuation of these consequences: obstacles in obtaining and renewing documents, in voting, pensions, social benefits and property procedures. It also highlights as particularly vulnerable citizens working in Kosovo due to the lack of opportunities and the problem of diplomas. Some give up on the procedures because they can take years.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia has also treated the passivation as a massive and selective practice, describing it in its 2021 report as a form of ethnic cleansing through administrative means. The organization notes that people living at their addresses have also been affected.

For the person who remains without an active address, without documents and without an effective solution, passivization makes it impossible in practice to return and continue living in the Valley. Citizenship and property are gradually taken away, in most cases with no possibility of return.

Meanwhile, the family has to live. Children start school elsewhere, parents find jobs, and years pass. Temporary departure becomes permanent life, with documents obtained in the Valley, including the right to vote, property rights, or access to services, no longer existing as Albanians in the Valley.

This is the connection between the six areas. Poverty narrows opportunities. Barriers to education and qualifications weaken professional prospects. Lack of representation limits employment and participation in institutions, the sense of belonging. Insecurity and difficulties in obtaining rights make life difficult. Passivation blocks the return of those who are working and temporarily engaged abroad, even if only for day jobs.

Without real opportunities for education, work, security, and the exercise of rights, standing becomes increasingly difficult. And the Valley continues to lose the very people it needs to survive and develop.

The author is a political activist in the Presevo Valley.

The views expressed in this opinion are personal and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position.

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