The West Balkan region consists of Albania and the former states of Yugoslavia (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/ FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo). Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February 2008. To this date it has been recognized by 70 states, including the United States. Five EU member states, including Greece, have not recognized Kosovo's independence.
Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995 and the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999, the countries of the Western Balkans have faced a new challenge of promoting human security. Human security was first defined by former Special Advisor to the United Nations Development Program Administrator, Dr. Mahbub ul Haq, as encompassing seven basic needs: economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security. Under the rubric of human security, this paper assesses the challenges of displacement, discrimination, poverty, health standards, and environmental protection.
The effects of the wars of the 1990s still linger in the Western Balkans, especially in the areas of statelessness, displaced persons, and returnees. European officials have expressed concern over ethnic and religious discrimination, homophobia, women's rights, and hate crimes. The Roma community alone presents a tremendous challenge. A significant portion of the population of the Western Balkans lives below the poverty line. Access to healthcare is uneven, health and safety standards remain unimplemented, and responses to global flu outbreaks have been insufficient. Finally, initiatives to preserve air and water quality, combat climate change, and protect the environment have been sluggish.