Pristina, November 23 - The Kosovar Center for Security Studies has today published the report "Kosovo Security Barometer: Eighth Edition"
The Kosovo Security Barometer (BKS) is a special program through which the Kosovo Center for Security Studies measures public perceptions. This edition has measured the trust of the citizens of Kosovo towards the main institutions of security and justice in the country.
Security institutions continue to be the most trusted in Kosovo. Citizens of Kosovo trust security institutions more than justice or central institutions.
The Kosovo Security Force has again been ranked as the most reliable institution in Kosovo. 77% of the respondents expressed that they trust the KSF. According to the findings of BKS 2018, the Kosovo Police (KP) continues to be a reliable institution in the eyes of citizens, where 61% of citizens have expressed that they trust this institution. On the other hand, KIA stands as the security institution which enjoys the lowest trust, only 20% of the respondents said that they trust this institution.
Justice institutions continue to have low trust of citizens. Citizens of Kosovo trust the prosecution (31%) more than the courts (27%). It has been observed that women trust justice institutions more than men.
Central institutions such as the Assembly of Kosovo and the Government of Kosovo continue to enjoy the very low trust of citizens. Only 15% of respondents have expressed their trust in the Assembly of Kosovo. In addition, the Government of Kosovo has been ranked as the most unreliable institution for the citizens of Kosovo. Only 14% of citizens have said that they trust the Government of Kosovo. On the other hand, the Barometer has recorded greater trust in local institutions where about 40% of citizens have expressed that they trust these institutions.
As for trust in international institutions, citizens' trust in EULEX continues to be very low compared to KFOR. KFOR is listed as the second most reliable institution in this edition of the Barometer, where 68% of respondents have emphasized that they trust this international institution.
The barometer did not record any major difference in results regarding the correlation between faith and area of residence. Likewise, no major difference has been observed in terms of regions, except in North Mitrovica where trust in Kosovar institutions is significantly lower. Similar to the analysis of the relationship between trust and ethnicity, Kosovar Serbs continue to have low trust in Kosovo's institutions.
In addition to measuring trust in security institutions, BKS 2018 also measured the perceptions of Kosovo's citizens regarding the main internal and external security threats.
The respondents see corruption, unemployment, organized crime as the biggest internal dangers of Kosovo. However, great concern has also been observed about the division of Kosovo and the autonomy of the north. Combined Barometer analyzes have shown that respondents in rural areas are more concerned about internal risks in Kosovo than respondents in urban areas. Likewise, the Kosovar Serb respondents feel less threatened by all national security risks than the Albanian respondents; however, both ethnic groups expressed strong concern about organized crime.
The security perimeter is a very interesting element and indicator of public security in Kosovo. The security perimeter has shown that respondents feel safer in their homes or neighborhoods, compared to the village/city or Kosovo in general. According to this year's data, the citizens of Kosovo feel safest in their homes. 85.5% of respondents said that they feel very safe in their homes. In addition, 84.9% reported that they feel safe in their neighborhood. From the BKS 2018 data, it is clear that the sense of security begins to fade the more citizens leave their home environment, thus increasing the sense of insecurity. 78.8% of the respondents said that they feel very safe in their village or town, while only 52% of the respondents said that they feel safe in Kosovo.
