Mass atrocity, forced displacement and international response in Kosovo, 1998–1999

This article examines the crimes committed against civilians and the forced displacement of Kosovo Albanians during the 1998–1999 war, and reassesses their significance for international politics. It argues that killings, village destruction, sexual violence, intimidation and mass expulsion were not incidental by-products of counter-insurgency but instruments of coercive demographic engineering. The article advances a single integrated argument: that the political effects of such violence extended beyond the domestic level because its visibility transformed it into a catalyst for international intervention. Drawing on reports by the OSCE, UNHCR and Human Rights Watch, ICTY judgments and recent scholarship, it shows how the deterioration of civilian protection produced large-scale displacement while simultaneously generating visible patterns of abuse that entered diplomatic calculation. The Reçak massacre and the escalating refugee crisis are analysed as key moments through which local violence was translated into international political urgency. The article concludes by reflecting on the durability of Kosovo’s significance and its implications for debates on humanitarian intervention and accountability.