The University of Priština, temporarily seated in Kosovska Mitrovica (UPKM), is today in real danger of disappearing. More than 7,000 students and over 1,000 employees have found themselves under repression by the self-proclaimed, false state of “Kosovo,” established on the territory of Serbia as a result of NATO aggression and the occupation of the southern Serbian province in 1999. Contrary to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244, which constitutes the legal basis of the current status of Kosovo and Metohija, the secessionists in Priština have adopted the so-called “Law on Foreigners,” under which Serbs, whose ancestors have lived in Kosovo and Metohija since ancient times and who do not possess personal documents issued by the false state of “Kosovo”, are declared foreigners in their own homeland. Moreover, professors and students of UPKM, in order to continue working and studying at their university, are additionally required to provide proof of “accreditation within the system” of “Kosovo.” This quasi-state, of course, does not recognize UPKM, although it is recognized within the European academic area, having been a full member of the European University Association since 2008.
The consequence of these repressive measures will be the departure of a vast number of professors and students from UPKM. Since the beginning of the occupation in 1999 until today, Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have been killed, wounded, arbitrarily arrested, humiliated, robbed, expelled, and have had their cemeteries destroyed. UPKM is one of the last strongholds of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija. Together with its students and professors, a new wave of Serbian families will leave the southern Serbian province. The persecution of UPKM is part of a calculated process aimed at extinguishing the last remaining Serbian institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, education and healthcare.
The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and his associates, through agreements with the so-called “Kosovo” and the European Union (the Brussels Agreement of 2013 and the Brussels–Ohrid Agreement of 2023), are complicit in the withdrawal of Serbian institutions from Kosovo and Metohija. Furthermore, through their representatives in the southern Serbian province, they have expressed readiness to meet the demands of Priština and to merge UPKM into the “system” of “Kosovo” (Declaration adopted at the Faculty of Technical Sciences of UPKM on 12 February 2026). In doing so, both UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia have been violated.
We demand that the institutions of the Republic of Serbia, and we appeal to the institutions of the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro, undertake concrete steps to prevent this violation of law and academic norms. The question of the trampling of Resolution 1244 must be raised before the United Nations Security Council. Instead of yielding to the NATO states that attacked the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and occupied part of the territory of the Republic of Serbia, and which had previously attacked the Republic of Srpska and devastated the Republic of Serbian Krajina, diplomatic and legal assistance and support must be sought from the great powers and members of the UN Security Council who adhere to justice and international law in the Kosovo issue.
We call upon all universities, institutes, and academic institutions in Serbia, the Republic of Srpska, and Montenegro, as well as all academic institutions, professors, and researchers worldwide, to break their silence and speak out against the unprecedented violence being carried out against the University of Priština, expelled to Kosovska Mitrovica.
Prof. Dr. Slobodan Antonić
Prof. Dr. Slobodan Vladušić
Prof. Dr. Miloš Ković
Prof. Dr. Časlav Koprivica
Prof. Dr. Mitra Reljić
Prof. Dr. Slobodan Samardžić
You can sign the appeal for the defense of UPCM HERE.
