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UÇKHistory and Memory

7 September 1990 · 1989–1995

The Kaçanik Constitution

On 7 September 1990 Albanian delegates of the suspended Assembly met secretly in Kaçanik and adopted a Constitution of the Republic of Kosova; a clandestine legislature and government followed.
Evidence status: Documented. Supported by contemporaneous documents, institutional reports or independent studies that corroborate one another.Before the warPoliticsPeaceful resistance
The town of Kaçanik with red roofs in a valley, seen from a hill; two people sitting with their backs to the camera.
Panoramic view of Kaçanik, the town where the Kaçanik Constitution was adopted on 7 September 1990; photographed in 2009.Photo: Fidania 2001 Fidan Bela · 2009 · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Serbian authorities treated it as illegal: according to Helsinki Watch, on 17 September 1990, 111 delegates and 6 government members were charged with “counter-revolutionary activity” [1]. Serbia's new constitution of 28 September 1990 formally ended provincial autonomy [2].

Sources

  1. [1]Helsinki Watch (Human Rights Watch). Yugoslavia: Human Rights Abuses in Kosovo 1990–1992. 1992-10. https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/y/yugoslav/yugo92o.pdf. Accessed 2026-09-16.
  2. [2]Fred Abrahams, Benjamin Ward. Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo. 2001-10-26. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. Accessed 2026-09-16.

Editorial status: Awaiting verificationDrafted from the cited sources; not yet fully reviewed by the editors.

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