In
step forward, Kosovo Government takes over minority transportation
from UN
31 August 2006 – In a step forward towards fulfilling international
goals for Kosovo, which the United Nations has administered
since 1999, the world body has turned over responsibility for
transportation services for minorities to the local Government.
Patricia Waring of the UN
Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the province’s
Minister of Transport and Communications, Qemajl Ahmeti, today
signed an agreement governing the transfer of UNMIK’s competency
to provide humanitarian transportation for the minorities in
Kosovo to the Ministry.
Ms. Waring voiced confidence
that the Kosovo Government “will fulfil all its political, administrative
and financial commitments to ensure the freedom of movement
to all of Kosovo’s communities.”
She added that the transfer
would not change or disrupt existing services.
Since 2001 UNMIK has been
operating the “Freedom of Movement Train” from Leposavic to
Skopje and a humanitarian bus service for minority communities
throughout Kosovo.
For the past four months,
representatives from Kosovo, the UN and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have been working
to ensure the freedom of movement for all of Kosovo’s communities
including their direct participation in any decision to change
humanitarian transportation services.
Ms. Waring stressed
that in signing the agreement, the Provisional Institutions
of Self-Government in Kosovo are fulfilling one of the priorities
for implementing the so-called Standards, a set of eight targets
that include building democratic institutions, enforcing minority
rights, creating a functioning economy and setting up an impartial
legal system. The Standards framework is considered key to achieving
progress on the issue of the status of the ethnically divided
Serbian province.
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UN
marks ‘Day of Disappeared’ with calls for action on missing
persons
30 August 2006 – Marking the International Day of the Disappeared,
United Nations officials today voiced concern about the plight
of persons who have been forced to go missing and called for
action to help them.
The Geneva-based UN Working
Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which since
its establishment in 1980 has submitted more than 50,000 individual
cases to Governments in more than 90 countries, today issued
a statement decrying the problem.
“The Working Group is deeply
concerned about the large number of reports of enforced disappearances
that have been submitted over the past year. Many reports have
been received of the disappearance of children and, in a few
cases, of people with physical and mental disabilities.”
The five-member Group also
called attention to threats against human rights defenders,
relatives of disappeared persons, witnesses and legal counsel,
and said that anti -terrorist activities “are being used by
an increasing number of States as an excuse for not respecting
the obligations of the Declaration on the Protection of all
Persons from Disappearance.”
Certain mechanisms aimed at
promoting “truth and reconciliation” have given rise to the
enactment of amnesty laws and the implementation of other measures
that lead to impunity, the Group said.
Voicing concern that very
few States have created a specific criminal offence of enforced
disappearance, the Group urged States to treat all acts of enforced
disappearance as offences under criminal law punishable by appropriate
penalties. It also welcomed a draft treaty on the issue and
recommended that the UN General Assembly adopt it.
Meanwhile in Kosovo, the Acting
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Steven Schook,
took the occasion to call on all concerned to join together
in efforts to determine the fate of persons still missing from
the conflict in that province, where NATO troops drove out Yugoslav
forces in 1999.
“As family members of persons
missing from the conflict in Kosovo join voices with thousands
of others across the world to mark the International Day of
the Disappeared, resolving the issue of missing persons remains
a top priority for us,” he said.
While considerable progress
has been made in reducing the number of missing in Kosovo by
half, approximately 2,300 persons are still physically unaccounted
for, according to the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Mr. Schook said UNMIK
will continue to support the Kosovo Ministry of Justice in carrying
out investigations of events of disappearance and more thorough
searches for the unidentified.
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Kosovo:
UN official condemns grenade attack in Mitrovica
27 August 2006 – A senior United Nations official in Kosovo
has strongly condemned Saturday night's grenade attack in North
Mitrovica, where nine civilians were injured when an explosive
device was thrown at a local café bar.
“I am outraged and
disappointed at this incident,” said Acting Special Representative
of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo Steve Schook.
Looking to the broader implications
of the attack, he said the “senseless act of violence?
can serve no one's interest and jeopardize the future of the
people of Kosovo.” The UN has administered the province
since 1999 when NATO drove out Yugoslav troops amid ethnic fighting.
Mr. Schook congratulated
the Police for having quickly apprehended a suspect and expressed
appreciation to the leaders of North Mitrovica for assisting
law enforcement officials in maintaining calm among the community.
“I understand that on Saturday night in critical moments
the leadership of the Serbian National Council helped UNMIK
Police to keep the situation under control and defuse the tension,”
he said.
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New
head of UN Kosovo mission optimistic about a status settlement
15 August 2006 – In his first public comments since being
named Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative
in Kosovo yesterday, the new envoy said he expects to be the
last person to hold that position because he believes a resolution
of the province’s final political status can soon be reached.
Speaking at the headquarters
of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in
Pristina yesterday, Joachim Rücker said work would focus
on preparing for the operation’s departure and the handover
of Kosovo to the appropriate authorities, as determined by a
final status settlement.
The UN has run Kosovo, an
Albanian-majority Serbian province, since international forces
drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting. Independence
and autonomy are among options that have been mentioned for
its final status.
“I recognize and I respect
that minority communities in Kosovo, especially the Kosovo Serb
community, need special reassurances, and I would emphasize
that the majority population has an obligation and responsibility
to reach out to the minorities more than ever before,”
said Mr. Rücker, who assumes his post on 1 September and
said he expects to be the Secretary-General’s “last”
Special Representative there.
He said the key tasks ahead
included the creation of stable institutions, a peaceful and
secure environment, economic development, and minority participation
in Kosovo’s life.
“I have great faith
in the people of Kosovo, and in particular I have great faith
in Kosovo’s young generation, a generation that has the
opportunity to live in peace and prosperity,” he said.
Mr. Rücker added that
UNMIK would work to leave behind a united Kosovo, despite the
fact that Serbia rejects the idea of independence and Kosovo’s
Serbs have been boycotting the province’s local government.
“We cannot and
we will not accept partition as an option,” he said. “Engagement
with UNMIK and with the Kosovo Institutions is the only method
of ensuring that the Kosovo Serb concerns are addressed and
an acceptable solution is found.”
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German
official serving with UN Kosovo mission promoted to top post
14 August 2006 – The Secretary-General has informed the
Security Council of his plans to appoint Ambassador Joachim
Rücker from Germany as his Special Representative and Head
of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK), effective 1 September.
Mr. Rücker was previously
UNMIK’s Deputy Special Representative and Head of the
Economic Reconstruction component. He has also held several
positions in the German Foreign Ministry.
Mr. Rücker would replace
Mr. Søren Jessen-Petersen of Denmark, whose term ended
earlier this year.
The UN has run Kosovo,
an Albanian-majority Serbian province, since international forces
drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting.
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