UNMIK/PR/1010
Tuesday 15 July 2003

I Am Kosovo campaign launched with endorsement of President Clinton and other top US and international officials

Pristina – UNMIK is launching a media campaign entitled I Am Kosovo, which will emphasize the strengths of Kosovo’s rich diversity in culture, language, religion and ethnicity.

I Am Kosovo, is an overarching media campaign which will accompany progress on the ground with regard to living together and returns. The goal of I Am Kosovo is encourage the public to take pride in the fact that Kosovo is home to people of many ethnic groups and faiths who all have a right to live peacefully, harmoniously and without fear in Kosovo.

President Bill Clinton, Secretary Madeleine Albright and other US and European leaders have endorsed the campaign and lent their voices. The campaign consists of billboards across Kosovo and radio and television spots that will air during the coming month.

President Bill Clinton:

“Like America, Kosovo has a wealth of diverse people, cultures and customs it can be proud of, Albanian, Serbian, Montenegran, Turkish, Bosnian, Egyptian, Ashkalia and Roma.

When I was growing up in the American South, we did not have ethnic equality. African Americans couldn’t eat in restaurants or go to school with or sit in the front of a bus with white citizens. This discrimination was shameful and it held us back.

“I hope Kosovo will grow to be a more united society where understanding prevails over hatred, a society that works together to create a more prosperous, more peaceful, safer future for the citizens and all the children. I will always be proud of what I did to end the pressure in Kosovo. I want to urge to you to get beyond the present history and scars; if you do the future is very bright for the new Kosovo.”

Secretary Madeleine Albright:

“The most important message these days is that returning home, cannot mean the return to a bloody past, it must be return to a new future in which you live together, respect each other and believe in the strength that comes from the unity of different kinds of people.

The strength of Kosovo and of the people who live here is the fact that there are many kinds and many groups of people and now you are the ones that have to build a free and multiethnic society. Everybody is free in a free Kosovo.”

For other messages from Javier Solana, Jamie Shea, Senator Bob Dole and others, stay tuned to your local radio stations…