@LadySLO:) my son has lots of friends who are from Kosovo (at least 10!) They were born in Finland but their parents came here as refugees during the war. Many were teenagers when they arrived here. What is the current situation of Kosovo? How does Slovenia ”view” them? If I undestood correctly there is tension with Serbia? My son went on holiday to Kosovo with his friends last year and he really liked it, but at the same time Finnish newspapers were writing about armed (?!) conflicts at the North border with Serbia and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign affairs was saying it’s not safe there. I think the situation has still not improved over the last year? I was just wondering because he wants to go there in December again.
”Interesting fact”: Our former president Martti Ahtisaari was involved in the Kosovo peace deal. (He died in October)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahtisaari_Plan
Wow, interesting, I didn't know many people from Kosovo emmigrated to Finland! I knew there's a lot of them in UK! Interesting!
So yeah, there is still tension in Kosovo. Albanians are the major population (95%), then there's Serbs and some others. To put it in very very simplistic terms, Kosovo wants to be independent, and Serbia won't let them go. This may sound crazy, but the root of their conflict goes to medieval times. Literally. There are some Serbian (Orthodox) monasteries in Kosovo that hold great importance for the Serbs. There was a legendary battle between Serbs and Turks (Ottoman) in the 14th century (which Serbs lost btw) that happened somewhere in Kosovo, and that land is sacred for them. The NATO peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo since the 90s. I have a number of friends/acquintances who at some point served there (as Slovenian military also participates in those NATO troops). For the most part, they are (luckily) bored there as nothing happens. It could be their whole 6-month mission that there's nothing. And then one day, an incident happens and you hear about it in the news, like you mentioned.
The conflict is limited to the North Kosovo, so if your son is going somewhere else, there's probably nothing to worry about (though I understand as a parent you are concerned nevertheless).
Slovenia supports Kosovo's independence ( we were in the exact same situation 3 decades ago). There's also people from Kosovo who emmigrated to Slovenia and they are actually still coming for economic reasons. They are a bit of a challenge, as they often don't really adjust to the Slovenian society and often keep to themselves. In my opinion, Slovenian people are more accepting towards Bosnians, Serbs etc than Kosovars. There are some Kosovar kids living down my street and I see some of the neighbours' "looks", for example, when they hear them speak Albanian. Albanian language is completely different from Slovenian (or even Serbian), so it's difficult for them to learn Slovenian. I have acquintances who teach Slovenian for foreigners and they say most participants are from Kosovo at the moment, but they typically don't finish the courses. It's a problem for kids too, as they don't speak a word of Slovenian, but after the move, they need to go to a Slovenian school right away.