UN
envoy urges Security Council to act quickly on Kosovo status
9 July 2007 – The senior United Nations envoy to Kosovo
today urged the Security Council to quickly draw up a roadmap
for determining the status of the province, which the world
body has administered since NATO troops drove out Yugoslav forces
amid inter-ethnic fighting in 1999.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s
Special Representative, Joachim Rücker, told the 15-member
Council in a closed session that the time had come to provide
“a roadmap, a timetable, to assure Kosovo’s two
million inhabitants of where they are headed.”
He praised the achievements
of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
“Out of a humanitarian crisis, an institutional breakdown,
and a complete security vacuum in 1999, UNMIK has put in place
very firmly, together with its international and local partners,
the foundations for a functioning democracy, a functioning rule
of law sector and a functioning market economy,” he said.
At the same time, he cautioned
that the international community must act. “We have reached
a critical point where further progress on the ground depends
on ensuring clarity on Kosovo’s status.”
Mr. Rücker paid tribute
to the people of Kosovo. “But today there is an undercurrent
of anxiety throughout the population and among Kosovo’s
political leaders,” he added. “They fear that the
status process is losing momentum and what had appeared to have
been an imminent resolution of Kosovo status will unravel.”
The envoy briefed the Council
and answered Council members’ questions for about an hour,
according to UNMIK.
“The people deserve
clarity on status. The people need clarity on status,”
he told the members.
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Kosovo’s
progress could falter unless future status finalized, says Ban
Ki-moon
5 July 2007 – Kosovo’s overall progress towards
building a functioning economy and establishing democratic institutions
of self-government has been encouraging, but those advances
could soon unravel unless the Serbian province’s future
status is determined, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says.
In his latest progress report
on the work of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK), Mr. Ban writes that the progress being made
under UN administration is threatened by the continuing tensions
between the province’s ethnic communities.
“Sustaining and consolidating
progress made by Kosovo will require concrete prospects for
the conclusion of the future status process and the active and
constructive cooperation of all involved,” he says, adding
that the determination of Kosovo’s final status should
as such remain a priority of the Security Council and the broader
international community.
In March, a report by the
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the future status
process Martti Ahtisaari found that the only viable option for
Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by
nine to one, was a phased process of independence. Kosovo’s
Albanian leadership support independence but Serbia is opposed.
Mr. Ban notes in his report
that Kosovo’s so-called Provisional Institutions of Self-Government
(PISG) have made “concrete progress” towards meeting
the standards, a set of eight overall targets that include building
democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating
a functioning economy and setting up an impartial legal system.
“The Provisional Institutions
have laid the basis for a peaceful and normal life for all of
the people of Kosovo,” Mr. Ban writes, while observing
that much remains to be done in achieving some of the targets.
UNMIK has run Kosovo since
Western forces drove out Yugoslav forces amid inter-ethnic fighting
in 1999.
The Secretary-General stresses
that reintegrating and reconciling the communities of Kosovo
“remains an uphill challenge.” Kosovo Serbs in particular
feel that the PISG do not represent them, and a large majority
boycott the institutions and rely instead on parallel structures
supported by authorities in Belgrade.
“At the same time, returns
of Kosovo Serbs remain disappointingly low due to uncertain
economic prospects and continuing security-related concerns.”
Mr. Ban’s report,
released ahead of Security Council consultations on Kosovo scheduled
for next Monday, contains a technical assessment of the progress
towards the standards by Joachim Rücker, the Secretary-General’s
Special Representative in the province.
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UN
outlaws use of rubber bullets in Kosovo and consults on possible
wider ban
3 July 2007 – The United Nations Police chief in Kosovo
has banned the use of rubber bullets by any police unit in the
UN-run province, he said today, adding that Member States who
contribute officers are also being consulted about outlawing
their use in all other peacekeeping operations.
Police Commissioner Richard
Monk’s remarks follow the deaths in February of two protesters
who were killed when members of a Romanian Formed Police Unit
(FPU) fired rubber bullets. His comments also come a day after
a UN official investigating the deaths called for a “thorough
review” of the use of rubber bullets.
“As regards the rubber
bullets themselves, shortly after my arrival, I sent to UN Headquarters
in New York a request that rubber bullets be withdrawn from
the armoury of any state supplying Formed Police Units (FPU)
to Kosovo,” Mr. Monk told a press conference organized
by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
“And I received notification
from New York that all police contributing nations are being
consulted with a view to banning their use in peacekeeping missions.
I also directed that all out-of-date rubber bullets be returned
to their respective state or destroyed and I have prohibited
the carriage or use of rubber bullets by any police unit in
Kosovo for whatever purpose.”
Mr. Monk took over in Kosovo
in early March after his predecessor was asked to resign following
the deaths, and he told reporters today that after his arrival
he instituted a “bottom to top review” of UN and
Kosovo Police Services (KPS) policies, procedures and tactics
for dealing with crowd and riot control.
In his press conference yesterday,
UNMIK’s Acting Director of Justice Robert Dean told journalists
that the experience of the UN Police during the demonstration
on 10 February this year showed a “thorough review”
was warranted. In addition, Mr. Dean’s just-completed
second report into the deaths includes six other conclusions
and recommendations.
Mr. Monk said he accepted
all the findings related to the February events, adding that
most of the recommendations have already been implemented and
emphasizing that “police should use only the minimum level
of force necessary to overcome the threat or use of force against
them or the person they are defending.”
“I accept without
qualification the recommendations of the Special Prosecutor
and I am grateful for the findings of the all the other pieces
of work. I am pleased to say that most of the recommendations
have already been implemented into Kosovo Police Service Operations
Planning and applied in the last three public protest marches,”
he said.
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Probe of killing of
Kosovo protesters leads to call for UN review of rubber bullets
2 July 2007 – The United Nations should review whether
rubber bullets should ever be used again for crowd control use
on a UN peacekeeping mission, an official tasked with probing
the killing by UN police of two pro-independence demonstrators
in Kosovo said today.
Robert Dean, the Acting Director
of Justice for the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK), told journalists in Pristina that the experience of
the UN police during the demonstration on 10 February this year
showed a “thorough review” was warranted.
Two people were killed that
day when members of a Romanian formed police unit (FPU) in UNMIK
fired rubber bullets during a rally by the ethnic Albanian Vetëvendosja
group, which wants immediate independence for Kosovo, an Albanian-majority
Serbian province that has been run by UNMIK since 1999.
The demonstration took place
soon after Martti Ahtisaari, the UN envoy for the future status
of Kosovo, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by nine
to one, issued a plan widely seen by both sides as proposing
independence under international supervision.
Aside from the call for a
review of the use of rubber bullets, Mr. Dean’s just-completed
second report into the killings includes six other conclusions
and recommendations to avoid a similar situation occurring again.
“We are fully aware
that the use of rubber bullets is controversial,” he said
during a press briefing. “It is not our intent to defend
or condemn the use of rubber bullets in general. Such policy
decisions are for criminal justice professionals and experts
in crowd control techniques.”
But he said that any review
should examine the type and quality of ammunition, the training
of police in their proper use, as well as the training on clearly
defined decision-making protocols in rubber bullet deployment.
“If rubber bullets are
to be available, clear and concise standards understood by all
in the chain of command is essential. Particular attention should
be paid to how much discretion to give subordinates in this
decision.”
Mr. Dean found there had been
ambiguity in the authorization to deploy the rubber bullets,
a breakdown in the chain of command and in the supervision of
the Romanian forced police unit, and ambiguity in the operational
order for the day of the demonstration. The ammunition used
by the unit was also outdated.
His report further concluded
that Romanian domestic law differs from generally accepted international
law and guiding UN principles on the use of deadly force and
possibly on the use of rubber bullets.
“For instance, Romanian
domestic law considers rubber bullets to be non-lethal. That
proposition is very debatable. Therefore, attention must be
paid to the domestic law of each contributing nation as to deadly
force and rubber bullet deployment.
“Specific training protocols
for each FPU, no matter where the FPU come from, should be carefully
examined to ensure that the deployment will be consistent with
UN-approved standards of usage.”
Mr. Dean reiterated the findings
of his interim first report, from April, which concluded that
the deaths were unjustified and unnecessary and “the facts
gave rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal acts within
the ranks of the Romanian gunners who fired rubber bullets at
the protesters that day.”
But he also found then
that there was insufficient evidence to lodge charges against
any particular officer in the FPU.
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