UNMIK/PR/590
PRESS RELEASE - 6 June 2001

KTC Discusses the Statement of Principles for Returns

PRISTINA - The Kosovo Transitional Council today took up the statement of principles for the return of displaced people from Kosovo, especially Serbs, following discussions in the Interim Administrative Council yesterday.

UNMIK and UNHCR have been seeking an endorsement of basic principles to guide these returns so that they can start the process of bringing back displaced Serbs to their homes in Kosovo.
 
KTC members by and large supported the idea of returns. Most Kosovo Albanian members, however, had reservations on how and when to implement the principles. As a KTC member, Mr. Ylber Hysa said a strategy and transparency were needed and that it was necessary first to initiate some confidence building measures to prepare the people in Kosovo for the returns.

Some Kosovo Albanian members said that the returns should not be confined to the Serb minorities, and that Albanians displaced over the last 10 years should be assisted in this process. Other members felt that the situation in Kosovo wasn't secure or economically conducive for returns of minorities and that more reconstruction was needed.

SRSG Hans Haekkerup responded, saying that the principle of returns applied to all ethnic groups, and would be implemented gradually. "But the first thing is that these principles must be accepted and that is the problem." He said both sides were responsible for committing atrocities but now the international community was trying to create conditions to allow the different communities to live together. "This statement of principles is part of that process", he said.

Mr. Haekkerup warned the members that the international community was looking at what Kosovars were doing. "Next weekend the Security Council is visiting Kosovo and they will ask us our policy on returns and it is important that we send the right signals. This issue is important for the future of Kosovo".
 
Earlier Lennart  Kotsalainen, UNHCR Chief of Mission, said that while great challenges and obstacles were involved in the return of the Serbs, it was necessary to have an inter-ethnic dialogue at all levels. He said the UNHCR and other authorities had registered nearly 230,000 Serbs and other minorities in Serbia and Montenegro and "only a limited number can come back for now".