majority and minority group in kosovo
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Main languages: Albanian, Serbian, also Turkish, Romani, Bosnian.
Main religions: Islam, Orthodox Christianity, also Roman Catholicism
Minority and indigenous communities: According to the 2011 census (excluding North Kosovo) the main minority groups are Bosniaks (1.6 per cent), Serbs (1.5 per cent), Turkish (1.1 per cent), Askhali (0.9 per cent), Egyptian (0.7 per cent), Gorani (0.6 per cent), and Roma (0.5 per cent).
However, because North Kosovo was excluded from the census, the true proportion of some minorities – particularly Serbs, who in some areas of the north comprise the majority of the population – may be under-estimated in these figures. It should be noted that in Kosovo minority groups have often been referred to as ‘communities’, defined in the new Kosovo Constitution as ‘inhabitants belonging to the same national or ethnic, linguistic or religious group traditionally present on the territory of Kosovo’. This terminology is used as the term ‘minority’ is shunned, particularly by Serbs, many of whom see Kosovo as part of Serbia and accordingly do not believe they are a minority.
Kosovo has a population of approximately two million. Ethnic Albanians form the overall majority with 92.9 per cent. Most Albanians are Muslim and speak Albanian. The last census in Kosovo took place in 2011, excluding North Kosovo. The Serbs, the largest minority group in Kosovo, speak Serbian and are predominantly Orthodox Christians. The 2011 census left out the Serbs in North Kosovo where many of them reside. According to estimates based on 2010 and 2013 OSCE data, there were 146,128 Serbs living in Kosovo, making up 7.8 per cent of the total population, a much larger proportion than the 1.5 per cent estimate in the 2011 census: of these, 70,430 were in northern Kosovo and 75,698 in southern Kosovo, with a total of 10 municipalities where Serbs are a majority. Smaller communities include Roma, Ashkalia, Egyptians, Bosniaks, Turks, and Gorani. Within Serb compact settlements, Albanians are effectively a minority.
Important demographic changes took place during the 1998-1999 war and subsequent ethnic violence. Exercising the right to self-identification is difficult in Kosovo, mainly because people are afraid to openly state their ethnicity for fear of discrimination, but also because others do not necessarily respect people’s identity, for example international and local actors often grouping Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptians into one. The size of the Serbian population has dropped dramatically since the end of the war in 1999 and notably in the wake of the Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February 2008.
Most Ashkalia (estimated at 15,436 in the 2011 census, excluding North Kosovo) speak Albanian as their first language and practice Islam. Until the 1990s most Ashkalia identified themselves as Roma, when they began to identify themselves as a distinct group. However, they have not been accepted by the Albanian community: they face widespread discrimination and exclusion from economic life. Although the Ashkalia have one reserved seat in the Kosovo Assembly, they have been excluded from meaningful participation in political life.
A similar situation is experienced by Kosovo’s Egyptians (numbering 11,524 in the 2011 census, excluding North Kosovo). They also speak Albanian as their first language and practice Islam. Identifying as Roma until the 1990s, they now trace their origins back to Egypt and identify themselves as a distinct group. Like the Ashkalia, they suffer widespread social exclusion and economic marginalization. Although the Egyptians have one reserved seat in the Kosovo Assembly, they too have been excluded from any real participation in political life.
Answer:
.In this context, the promotion of equal opportunities at all levels for people belonging to a national minority is particularly important, since it empowers communities and promotes the exercise of individual freedoms. Central to the rights of minorities are the promotion and protection of their identity.
2.Majority rule is limited in order to protect minority rights, because if it were unchecked it probably would be used to oppress persons holding unpopular views. Unlimited majority rule in a democracy is potentially just as despotic as the unchecked rule of an autocrat or an elitist minority political party.