UNMIK/PR/967
Thursday, 15 May 2003

SRSG Issues Declaration on Kosovo Assembly Resolutionon War Values

PRISTINA - SRSG Michael Steiner today a Declaration on the Kosovo Assembly resolution on war values. The Declaration is attached:

Declaration of the SRSG Michael Steiner
on the Assembly Resolution on war values

As I said in my 7 May message to the leaders of the major parties in the Assembly, the International Community intervened in Kosovo in 1999 because of the widespread violations of fundamental human rights, particularly the denial of the rights of Kosovo’s majority community. We are fully aware that repression in Kosovo gave rise to its people’s struggle for justice.

Recognizing the sacrifices of Kosovo’s people is therefore right and proper. It is, however, equally critical to recognize that Kosovo’s future peace and prosperity depends on upholding the principle that was trampled on during the 1990’s, that is, respect for the rights and interests of all Kosovo’s communities. Failure to understand this lesson of history causes the International Community to question whether Kosovo’s leaders have learned the lessons of that conflict.

Therefore, the International Community expects the Assembly to act in a manner that builds into the future and does not drag Kosovo into the past. Instead, the resolution adopted today is divisive and is against the reconciliatory spirit enshrined in Security Council Resolution 1244 and the Constitutional Framework. Already, it has had a divisive effect within the Assembly.

I have talked to NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson, the EU’s High Representative, Javier Solana, Stability Pact Coordinator Erhard Busek, the Chairman of the EU Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok, and international representatives in Pristina. They all share this assessment.

Following these talks, I have to announce that the hosts of the three forthcoming international meetings

– of the NATO Council on 21 May in Brussels,
– of the Stability Pact Parliamentary Conference on 21, 22 May in Brussels,
– of the EU/NATO/OSCE/Stability Pact Regional Conference in Ohrid on 22, 23 May

under these circumstances no longer consider it appropriate that the Provisional Institutions (President, Assembly and the Government respectively) are represented in the UNMIK delegations to these meetings.

Pristina, 15 May 2003