Human trafficking, cases of politically and ethnically motivated violence, inefficient judiciary and a great number of internally displaced people represent a serious problem in Kosovo, the US State Department says in its 2009 Human Rights Report on the southern Serbian province, which was published on Thursday evening.

No progress has been made in Kosovo in terms of the return of internally displaced persons to their homes, there have been numerous incidents of violence and discrimination of women, trafficking in persons, particularly girls and women for sexual exploitation.

Societal antipathy against Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church was also evident, the State Department says in the report. From January to November last year, 856 people in Kosovo were victims of violence, and 681 of them were women. In 125 such incidents, the victims were children - 74 girls and 51 boys.

The interim Kosovo institutions did not adopt any law last year which regulates the protection of workers' rights. The average monthly pay was EUR 230 in the public sector and EUR 280 in the private sector, while the minimum wage was EUR 80, says the report.