Vjosa Osmani facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vjosa Osmani
Official portrait, 2021
5th President of Kosovo
Incumbent
Assumed office 4 April 2021
Prime Minister	Albin Kurti
Preceded by	Glauk Konjufca (acting)
Acting 5 November 2020 – 22 March 2021
Prime Minister	Avdullah Hoti
Preceded by	Hashim Thaçi
Succeeded by	Glauk Konjufca (acting)
6th Speaker of the Assembly of Kosovo
In office 3 February 2020 – 22 March 2021
President	Hashim Thaçi
Preceded by	Glauk Konjufca
Succeeded by	Glauk Konjufca
Personal details
Born	Vjosa Osmani (1982-05-17) 17 May 1982 (age 41) Titova Mitrovica, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Political party	Independent (2021–present)
Other political affiliations	Guxo (2021) Democratic League of Kosovo (until 2020)
Spouse	Prindon Sadriu ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2
Education	University of Pristina University of Pittsburgh (LLM, SJD)
Profession	Politician and legal academic
Signature

Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (born 17 May 1982) is a Kosovar Albanian jurist and politician serving as the 5th and current President of Kosovo since 4 April 2021.

Born in Kosovo and raised in the suburb of Zhabar, Mitrovica, Osmani became a political activist and studied law at the University of Pristina and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She worked as an advisor to the then president of Kosovo Fatmir Sejdiu before she was elected to the Assembly. Osmani held the position of Speaker of the Assembly from February 2020 to March 2021, and also served as acting president between November 2020 and March 2021 after the resignation of President Hashim Thaçi. Upon her election as president, Osmani became the second woman to hold the position, as well as the first person to have served as both acting president and president of Kosovo.

Osmani successfully ran on an anti-corruption platform and has expressed a desire to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. Since taking office, Osmani has returned the flag of Dardania as the official symbol of the presidency.

Early life and education

Vjosa Osmani was born on 17 May 1982 in Zhabar, Mitrovica, then a part of Yugoslavia to ethnic Albanian parents. She grew up with four siblings, and completed her primary and secondary education in her hometown. Osmani was a teenager during the Kosovo War, and she once stated that she "can still feel" the barrel of an M70 rifle that a soldier forced into her mouth after her home in Mitrovica had been raided.

Osmani earned her bachelor's degree in law from the University of Prishtina in Kosovo. She continued with graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law), earning a master's degree in law (LLM) in 2005 and a doctorate in juridical science (SJD) in 2015. Her doctoral dissertation addressed the applicability of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) in Kosovo as Kosovo's legal status has evolved since 1988, when the CISG first entered into force.

Career

Osmani with U.S. president Barack Obama in 2009

Academia

Osmani has been a teaching assistant at the University of Pristina, a lecturer at RIT Kosovo, and a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh.

Politics

Meeting with former prime minister Isa Mustafa and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green in 2019

Osmani's political career began in her teens, as an activist for the centre-right Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK). On 27 August 2009, she was elected chief of staff for then president Fatmir Sejdiu. Osmani had also served as legal counsel and foreign policy advisor to the president. She was a member of the Assembly of Kosovo for three terms, and once received the largest number of votes for a female politician in Kosovan parliamentary history.

Osmani contributed to the independence of Kosovo, as the president's representative for the Constitution Commission, the body that prepared the Kosovan constitution. She represented Kosovo in a case at the International Court of Justice, where she defended the legality of Kosovo's independence.

As part of her parliamentary duties, Osmani served as the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Diaspora and Strategic Investments and the Committee on European Integration. She also served as the vice-chair of the Committee on Constitutional Reforms in Kosovo.

In 2014, Osmani clashed with LDK leadership, including party leader Isa Mustafa, when she criticized the LDK for forming a coalition government with its long-time rival party, the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), breaking a previously made pledge. Osmani also boycotted the presidential election in 2016, in which PDK leader Hashim Thaçi was elected president as part of the coalition agreement.

2019 election

Osmani was viewed as a possible prime minister of Kosovo by the LDK in the 2019 snap parliamentary election. While campaigning for the election, she said the Kosovan people were ready for a female prime minister, and that she could fight corruption and make free market reforms for Kosovo. She lost the election to Albin Kurti, leader of the left-wing anti-establishment party Vetëvendosje, and had received 176,016 votes.

On 20 June 2020, Osmani was removed from her position as her party's deputy leader, after LDK leader Mustafa called for her dismissal due to her public opposition of decisions made by the party. Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti replaced her as LDK deputy leader. Osmani later quit the LDK altogether on 7 September 2020, stating that the party had left her no choice, but adding that she would return if the party were reformed.

Acting presidency

In 2020, Osmani was appointed acting president of Kosovo after President Thaçi resigned following an indictment by the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office in The Hague.

In preparation for the 2021 Kosovan parliamentary election, Osmani announced the founding of her own political party, Guxo, on 2 January 2021. She also aligned with Kurti's Vetëvendosje party. Running on an anti-corruption platform, both parties scored landslide victories, and Osmani personally received more than 300,000 votes. The election also gave women a third of the 120-seat parliament and an unprecedented six positions out of fifteen in the cabinet.

In contrast, the LDK, Osmani's former party, did very poorly in the elections, as predicted by LDK members who had publicly criticized the earlier ouster of Osmani in 2020. The LDK lost roughly half of its seats in parliament, and party leader Mustafa resigned on 14 March.

Presidency

Osmani with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (center) and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti (right) in 2022

On 4 April 2021, the assembly elected Osmani as Kosovo's president during its third round of voting. Although the vote was unattended by two opposition parties as well as a party representing the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo, 82 members of the 120-seat parliament cast their votes during the second day of the extraordinary session. She won 71 of the votes, while 11 votes were declared invalid, and was subsequently sworn in for a five-year term later that day, becoming Kosovo's second female president. Osmani said that she hoped to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia, while also calling for Belgrade to apologize for the war that led to Kosovo's declaration of independence and to prosecute those who had committed war crimes.

Before taking the oath of office, Osmani resigned from the leadership of Guxo. Newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Donika Gërvalla replaced her as Guxo's head.

Official visits

World map highlighting countries visited by Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu as president

The number of visits per country where President Osmani traveled as per 8 December 2023 are:

• One visit to Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Panama, Spain, Thailand, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Vatican City.
• Two visits to Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
• Three visits to Austria, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia
• Four visits to Albania
• Five visits to Germany and Turkey
• Six visits to United States

No.	Country	Date	Cities visited	Type of visit	Rf.
1	Albania	17 December 2020	Tirana	Official visit
2	Belgium	12–13 January 2021	Brussels	Official visit
3	Switzerland	2–5 March 2021	Bern	Official visit
4	Slovenia	17 May 2021	Kranj	Brdo-Brijuni Process
5	Estonia	10–11 June 2021	Tallinn	Official visit
6	Turkey	17–18 June 2021	Antalya	SEECP Summit
7	Austria	22 June 2021	Vienna	Official visit
8	Japan	23 July 2021	Tokyo	2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
9	Switzerland	1 September 2021	Interlaken	Swiss Economic Forum
10	Germany	14 September 2021	Berlin	Official visit
11	United States	19–25 September 2021	New York City	Working visit
12		15–16 October 2021		United Nations Securityj Council Meeting
13	Portugal	28–29 October 2021	Lisbon	Official visit
14	Canada	19–24 November 2021	Ottawa and Halifax
15	Germany	18 February 2022	Munich	Munich Security Conference
16	Turkey	26 February–1 March 2022	Ankara and Istanbul	Official visit
17	Malta	2–3 March 2022	Valletta
18	Turkey	11–13 March 2022	Antalya	Antalya Diplomacy Forum
19	Qatar	25–29 March 2022	Doha	Official visit
20	United States	26–30 April 2022	Washington, D.C.	Funeral ceremony of Madeleine Albright
21	Panama	4–6 May 2022	Panama City	Official visit
22	Costa Rica	7–9 May 2022	San José	Inauguration of President Rodrigo Chaves Robles
23	United States	10–11 May 2022	Washington, D.C.	Munich Leaders Meetings
24	Lithuania	12–13 May 2022	Vilnius	Official visit
25	Greece	10–11 June 2022	Athens	SEECP Summit
26	Macedonia	16–17 June 2022	Skopje and Lake Prespa	Official visit and Prespa Forum Dialogue
27	European Union	23 June 2022	Brussels	EU-Western Balkans Summit
28	Thailand	24–26 June 2022	Bangkok	Official visit
29	Singapore	27–28 June 2022	Singapore	Official visit
30	Slovenia	4–5 July 2022	Ljubljana	Official visit
31	Albania	24 July 2022	Tirana	Inauguration of President Bajram Begaj
32	United States	25–27 July 2022	Washington, D.C.	Working visit
33	Czech Republic	30 August – 2 September 2022	Prague	Official visit
34	Slovenia	12 September 2022	Kranj	Brdo-Brijuni Process
35	Germany	15 September 2022	Potsdam	Working visit
36	United Kingdom	19 September 2022	London	State funeral of Elizabeth II
37	United States	20–27 September 2022	New York City	Official visit
38	Czech Republic	6–7 October 2022	Prague	1st European Political Community Summit
39	France	10 November 2022	Paris	Paris Peace Forum
40	Austria	16 November 2022	Vienna	Official visit
41	Tunisia	19–20 November 2022	Djerba	OIF Summit
42	Bulgaria	30 November–1 December 2022	Sofia	Official visit
43	Albania	6 December 2022	Tirana	EU-Western Balkans Summit
44	Vatican City	23 January 2023	Vatican City	Official visit
45	Italy		Rome
46	Iceland	2–3 February 2023	Reykjavik	Working visit
47	Montenegro	7 February 2023	Podgorica	Official visit
48	Germany	18 February 2023	Munich	Munich Security Conference
49	Italy	11 April 2023	Frascineto, Catanzaro and Cosenza	Working visit
50	Macedonia	26 April 2023	Skopje	Official visit
51	United Kingdom	5–6 May 2023	London	Coronation of King Charles III
52	Montenegro	20 May 2023	Podgorica	Inauguration of President Jakov Milatović
53	Moldova	1 June 2023	Chișinău	2nd European Political Community Summit
54	Turkey	3 June 2023	Ankara	Inauguration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
55	France	14 June 2023	Strasbourg	The plenary session of the European Parliament
56	Luxembourg	15 June 2023	Luxembourg City	Official visit
57	Germany	16 June 2023	Berlin	Working visit
58	Montenegro	27 June 2023	Podgorica	SEECP Summit
59	Austria	27 August 2023	Alpbach	2023 European Forum Alpbach
60	Albania	5–6 September 2023	Tirana	Official visit
61	Macedonia	11 September 2023	Skopje	Brdo-Brijuni Process
62	United States	17–23 September 2023	New York City	Working visit
63	Spain	5 October 2023	Granada	3rd European Political Community Summit
64	Croatia	10 October 2023	Zagreb	Official visit
65	United States	23 October 2023	New York City and Des Moines	Working visit
66	Singapore	6 November 2023	Singapore	Working visit
67	Finland	9 November 2023	Helsinki	Funeral ceremony of Martti Ahtisaari
68	Portugal	15 November 2023	Lisbon	Working visit
69	United Arab Emirates	2–4 December 2023	Dubai	Working visit
70	Turkey	8 December 2023	Istanbul	Working visit
71	Qatar	10–11 December 2023	Doha	Doha Forum
72	European Union	13 December 2023	Brussels	EU–Western Balkan Summit

Awards

During Osmani's master's studies at the University of Pittsburgh, the university presented her with the Excellence for the Future Award twice. In 2017, the University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies awarded her the Sheth International Young Alumni Achievement Award for her contribution to democracy and human rights.

On 28 February 2022, Osmani was awarded a Honoris Causa from Ankara University.

Personal life

In 2012, Osmani married Prindon Sadriu, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They have twin daughters. Osmani speaks Albanian, English, Croatian, Serbian, Spanish, and Turkish.

See also

In Spanish: Vjosa Osmani para niños