Kosovo

Formerly behind the Iron Curtain as a part of Yugoslavia, Kosovo made headlines in the late 1990s when tensions between its two divided communities — Serbs and ethnic Albanians — erupted into ethnic cleansing and war. In 1999, Serb and Yugoslav forces invaded the province to suppress Albanian separatists, prompting a NATO-led air strike. The Kosovo conflict killed thousands and displaced many more.

During the worst of the fighting, Catholic Relief Services managed refugee camps in Macedonia and Albania that accommodated thousands of Kosovar refugees fleeing the fighting. After the cease-fire in early June 1999, CRS returned to Kosovo along with the returning refugees to find a society largely destroyed, and deeply divided along ethnic lines.

Today, CRS works with partners in Kosovo — amid continuing political and economic instability — to build peace between Serbian and Albanian young people, prevent human trafficking, and reduce the dropout rate among girls from at-risk communities.

CRS currently maintains an office in Prishtina and one in Mitrovica. CRS Kosovo has 14 staff members.