SRSG Hans Haekerrup takes over

Hans Haekkerup is no stranger to the Balkans.
In early 1998, when world attention was focused elsewhere, as Denmark's Minister of Defence he was warning EU and NATO leaders that Kosovo was building up to "a crisis that could set the whole Balkans aflame again".

In July of 1999, when UNMIK was still finding its feet, he observed that "we have to be there for quite a long time, and we are prepared to do that".
Now, one-and-a-half years later, as he takes over as the head of UN administration, he has indicated he is prepared to stay for a few years to help bring Kosovo further along the road of democracy and tolerance.

Already familiar with top officials in Europe and around the world from his eight-plus years as Defence Minister, Mr Haekkerup spent the time between his appointment in early December and officially taking over on 15 January travelling to the capitals of Security Council countries.
In Moscow, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said afterwards that he is hoping for a successful working relationship with the UN Administration in Kosovo "with the aim of implementing UN resolution 1244". The new SRSG's fluent Russian will help.

Hans Haekkerup brings a wealth of experience well beyond his military background. He held senior posts in Denmark's Ministries of Education and Labour. An economics post-graduate from the University of Copenhagen, he was an economist with Denmark's Civil Servants Organisation. And as a former professor at the Danish School of Administration, he is considered to have the right tools to help Kosovo establish a firm and lasting civil administration structure and to help Kosovars assume responsibility for self-governance of Kosovo.

Upon the announcement of his appointment, Mr Haekkerup said he wanted "to contribute with the international community to bring back security to the region, re-establish the rule of law and put Kosovo on the right path". As an acknowledged expert on security, the new SRSG expects to work closely with KFOR to make Kosovo safer for all of its inhabitants.

On general elections, Mr Haekkerup says that "for elections to make sense, we have to know what kind of powers such a legislature would receive". One of his first actions will be a low-key tour of Kosovo to discuss such matters with the parties involved.

Kouchner's final message, "Stop the killings, stop the violence"

The Kouchner era is over. After more than a year and a half as UN Envoy in Kosovo and head of the UN-led mission with UNHCR, OSCE and EU, Dr. Bernard Kouchner flew out of Pristina on Saturday.

Before leaving, he again called on the people of Kosovo to "reject intolerance and isolate the extremists".

The man who headed what was dubbed a "mission impossible" by sceptics around the world was able to hand over a far different Kosovo to his successor, incoming SRSG Hans Haekkerup, than the place he found in July 1999. Nevertheless he concedes that Kosovo and the UN mission still have much to accomplish.

During his farewell address to UNMIK, Dr. Kouchner praised Kosovars and UNMIK staff for making the "impossible" possible. "We did it in the dark, literally," he said with reference to power outages that plagued his tenure.

He recalled the dire situation he faced when his team arrived, when there were shootings and bombings every day in Pristina. But although violence was now less frequent, he warned, it was not a true victory. Unfortunately many members of targeted minority groups felt compelled to leave rather than to live in fear. "There are no good or bad victims-just victims," Kouchner underlined.

He warned Kosovo Albanians that the future of Kosovo was still in great danger, "In the eyes of the outside world, the victims have, in a way, become the oppressors." Having come to such a view, countries and donors would not be eager to support Kosovo politically or financially in the years to come.

The fact that the Albanian community suffered under an apartheid system was no justification for random acts of violence against Serbs, he said. The vast majority of those who   remained were innocent, he insisted. They should not be made to pay for the crimes of others.

Dr. Kouchner therefore called on all of the people of Kosovo to begin once more talking to their neighbours. "The duty of survivors is to ensure it will never happen again."

Reflecting on the high points of his time in Kosovo, the former SRSG highlighted the successful elections held in conjunction with the OSCE, the reconstruction of homes, the re-establishment of a system of justice, the formation of the Joint Interim Administration, setting up the the Administrative Departments, the demilitarization of the KLA and the formation of the Kosovo Police Service.

Equally important, though, was getting people holding radically different views to talk to one another. At first, he recalled, Ibrahim Rugova and Hashim Thaci were totally unwilling to work together. An even bigger challenge was getting members of different ethnic groups to discuss issues that concerned all Kosovars. Today, in the Kosovo Transitional Council, Mr Rugova and Mr Thaci sit next to each other, at the same table with Kosovo Serbs and other minority representatives, Kouchner points out

That these leaders meet and discuss is positive for the future. But while minority leaders still need to travel to these discussions in armoured cars protected by KFOR, there remains a long way to go, he underlines.

Briefs . . . .

The Official Gazette-three volumes of all the UNMIK regulations signed into law since June 1999-has been launched. The Gazette, available in English, Albanian and Serbian, can be purchased at post offices. It will also be sent to all public libraries and municipal administrations. Outgoing SRSG Bernard Kouchner called the publication a "milestone for Kosovo and visible evidence of the implementation of Security Council mandate under resolution 1244". He said "societies need not only laws, but also transparency concerning everything to do with laws themselves. This is an important requirement of good governance and the reason why most modern and democratic societies have official gazettes." Through the Gazette, UNMIK will publish legislative acts it has issued, including regulations and subsidiary instruments which implement them.

A report by international lawyers gives a positive assessment of efforts being undertaken by the international community to create a working legal and judicial system in Kosovo. Describing the territory as a "huge laboratory for an international legal state", three lawyers from the Court of Appeals of Paris note that what the international administration has undertaken in Kosovo "goes beyond anything that was done or even envisaged before in comparable circumstances". Their report, which will be sent to the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, the Council of Europe and the European Union, also recognizes that the considerable task of introducing new rules of positive law over the entire territory of Kosovo is in theory supplied by "highly civilized legal tools that are features of the best exercises in democracy". Three recommendations for change focus on the use of the executive actions, executive orders and the exclusion orders. They are now being studied by the Department of Judicial Affairs.

Major changes in Kosovo's Code of Criminal Procedure have been recommended by the Joint Advisory Council on Legislative Matters, following extensive internal and external consultations. The proposals-which would restructure the general part of the Code, develop a new pre-trial investigative model, entitle detained defendants to defense council, extend the period of habeas corpus, improve the position of victims, increase protection for witnesses and draw up a separate code for juvenile justice-were reviewed at a two-day conference on New Legislation for Kosovo last week.

The broadcasting regulation, due to be promulgated in January, will establish an interim media commission (IMC). The IMC will largely be administered by Kosovars, and take over from the OSCE-related Temporary Media Commissioner as the independent media regulatory body in Kosovo. Another regulation, also expected in January, will make the public broadcasting service RTK fully independent from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, in keeping with its goal of a viable pluralistic media landscape. The OSCE will develop the concept of a media fund to be generated by income from a system of license fees, to be introduced early in 2001.

Many health clinics have complained about getting expired drugs from some NGOs, in spite of explicit guidelines from the Department of Health and Social Welfare. Kosovo Drug Regulatory Agency and WHO completed a pilot project on the separation and disposal of such drugs in seven health clinics in the Pristina region. It included actual identification and separation of the drugs for safe disposal and on-the-job training of the local health staff. The Department's new Administrative Instruction 28/2000 on the implementation of UNMIK Regulation 2000/52 on the Manufacture, Sale and Distribution of Pharmaceutical Products specifies new and more effective importation approval procedures.

A one-off winterization payment of DM 100 will be made to each family approved as beneficiaries under the Social Assistance Scheme by 22 December 2000, the Department of Health and Social Welfare has announced. The cash payment-to be provided during the month of January at the same time as the regular cash assistance payments-is intended to help these vulnerable families support the additional winter costs of fuel and other non-food items.

Five working groups to support the decentralization of primary health care to the municipalities have been established by the Department of Health and Social Welfare. The groups cover health education, immunization, food and nutrition; maternal and child health care, basic treatment and oral health; mental health; drug supply; and minority issues. Their members are Kosovar experts, the Department's central and field staff, and WHO field officers. The task is to define the responsibilities of the municipalities, identify the necessary human resources, and advise the municipalities in the implementation of their responsibilities.

The Kosovo Art Gallery in coordination with the Department of Culture published a Monograph of Figurative Art. This voluminous book is a collection of figurative works by Kosovar artists for the last 50 years. The Department of Culture also received musical instruments for the Kosovo Philharmonic Orchestra, thanks to a fund-raising campaign by the community of Gulpen in The Netherlands. The initiator was an ex-KFOR Press Officer. General Reinhardt, former KFOR Commander, guaranteed the transport.

The first phase of the "Kosovarization" of the Department of Labour and Employment is complete. Local counterparts are now working with internationals in all key positions, such as the head of employment, the vocational training specialist, and the labour law/labour relations specialist. All of the appointments were internal involving individuals who have been working in the Department for several months.

To provide more transparency, UNMIK has begun closed-circuit transmissions of the Kosovo Transitional Council to monitors outside in the press lobby of the Government Building. Provided with Albanian, English and Serbian sound channels, the system makes the meetings of an interim administrative body public for the first time.

Future changes in the civil service discussed by the JIAS Council of Co-Heads last week anticipate the involvement of democratically elected representatives (as opposed to appointed ones), working in partnership with UNMIK at all levels of the interim administration. All JIAS departments will therefore initiate a gradual transition where control over most of the administrative functions will devolve from international to local control, with international oversight. Deputy SRSG Tom Koenigs set out the conditions necessary for such a transition: secure and stable environment; clearly defined roles, responsibilities and powers of institutions; mechanisms to ensure representation and services of minorities; the holding of elections in accordance with resolution 1244; and a reform and restructuring of the existing departments.