Tuesday, 14 February 2006

SRSG addresses the United Nations Security Council

PRISTINA - Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Kosovo (SRSG) Søren Jessen-Petersen today addressed the UN Security Council meeting in New York.
Following is the text of his address:

Mr President,
May I begin by thanking you, Mr President, and the Council as a whole, for allowing time for this session and for agreeing that I be accompanied today by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Mr Bajram Kosumi.

Since my last report to you on 24 October last year there have been three majo issues defining politics in Kosovo. The first, and most recent, is the tragic loss of President Ibrahim Rugova and the orderly and dignified transition to the election of a new President. The second is the opening of the status process. The third is the continuing, indeed revitalised, push for progress on standards implementation, on decentralisation and on the full inclusion of all minority communities in the creation of Kosovo’s future.

Mr President, last Friday the Assembly of Kosovo met and, by a large majority, elected Mr Fatmir Sejdiu as President of Kosovo. President Sejdiu has already sent a letter to you, Mr President, and I understand that this has been distributed to the members of the Council.

The election of President Sejdiu followed the tragic death of President Ibrahim Rugova.

Throughout his life, President Rugova maintained a vision of a free, tolerant and democratic Kosovo – and it is around this vision that others can unify, in order to achieve its realisation.

The loss of such a pivotal figure is hard for any society, and it was hard for Kosovo. But Kosovo’s people and institutions responded with dignity, resolve and maturity – a maturity that was remarked on by many, both locals and internationals, who attended the memorial service and funeral on 26 January.

I would like to express my appreciation for the response of the international community in sending impressive delegations to the memorial ceremony in Pristina. This was not only a gesture of respect for the late President, but also demonstrated your continued engagement and strong support to Kosovo as it moves towards resolution of the status.

The arrangements for this sombre event were in the hands of the local authorities – and they deserve enormous credit. Theirs was an achievement of which any society could be justly proud. Let me thank today KFOR and its Commander for their superb support during this event – as well as over the last months.

Though I am reluctant to single out any one institution, when so many contributed, I do feel bound to salute the performance of the Kosovo Police Service. The KPS was solely responsible for front-line security and crowd-management on the day of President Rugova’s funeral. The 3500 officers on duty that day showed professionalism and sensitivity in coping with masses of mourners numbering into the hundreds of thousands, as well as a large number of important visitors from abroad. And these officers came from all communities in Kosovo – more than 10% of the KPS’s strength is made up of Kosovo Serbs, out of a total minority representation of 16.2%. At senior levels the proportion of minorities rises to approximately 20% - considerably higher than most estimates of the proportion of minorities in Kosovo’s population as a whole.

Mr President, Kosovo’s political response to the loss of Ibrahim Rugova has been as mature and dignified as was the management of his funeral. Just after the mourning period, the Assembly of Kosovo rapidly scheduled a session to elect the new President Mr Fatmir Sejdiu, which was secured, with votes from a very large proportion of the Members of the Assembly of Kosovo, and that happened last Friday.

The very next day, the President convened his colleagues on Kosovo’s Negotiating Team – Assembly President Nexhat Daci, Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi, PDK Leader Hashim Thaci and ORA leader Veton Surroi – in order to take forward President Rugova’s positive vision through the status process. At that meeting, the Team approved a negotiating platform on decentralisation in advance of a meeting between Pristina and Belgrade to take place in Vienna under the auspices of Status Envoy Martti Ahtisaari on 20 February.

As the Security Council has acknowledged in the past, the status quo is not sustainable. It follows that the status process should not become a continuation of that status quo. The acceleration of the status process is the best contribution that can be made now to ensuring political stability in Kosovo and in the wider region. But as has been made clear by the Status Envoy, Mr Ahtisaari, and as was reiterated by the Foreign Ministers of the Contact Group in London a fortnight ago, the pace of progress in the status process is largely up to the institutions and people of Kosovo themselves, through a greater commitment to the implementation of Standards – notably those that are essential for the building of a truly multi-ethnic society.

The Secretary General’s recent report and my own Technical Assessment of 6 January, covering the period up to 15 December, have both made it clear that there was, in the latter part of last year, a noticeable slow-down in the pace of implementation of standards in Kosovo. The most worrying of the slow-downs noted in my Technical Assessment was in the field of minority rights. This is an area where, with the status process now underway, and with the PISG’s stance on its outcome being well-known, Kosovo’s leaders cannot afford to show anything less than complete commitment, sincerity and action.

The critical observations made in these reports – and directly by UNMIK and myself to the Kosovo authorities – have had an effect. From mid December we have noticed fresh initiatives to push standards implementation forward through short-term, resultsorientated governmental action plans – the next of which is expected to be adopted at next week’s government session and to cover the coming three months. The pace and commitment demonstrated in the latest Action Plan must be maintained, and efforts redoubled, in the months ahead. Standards, as a political priority, cannot be subsumed by status. Symbolic gestures – genuinely important though they are – are not sufficient. Actions must be substantive and serious. They must also be sustained. The incorporation of Standards into the latest European Partnership document has ensured that the policies that have helped to guide Kosovo into the status process will continue to guide Kosovo’s future even after a status settlement.

Meanwhile decentralisation remains a key issue and one with both a current and a future importance, not least in terms of minority rights. As such, it is a touchstone of the seriousness of the Kosovo Albanians’ political leadership in demonstrating what kind of society they wish Kosovo to be. The Vienna meeting on decentralisation, convened by the Status Envoy, will present an opportunity to demonstrate that the concerns expressed by minorities are being met on the Kosovo Albanian side with understanding on substance and generosity in spirit. The indications that I have received make me hopeful that it is an opportunity that will be seized.

Mr President, decentralisation is only one of many areas where it is vital that we – Kosovo’s institutions and the international community – reach out as much as possible to the Kosovo Serbs. For Kosovo Albanians the status process inspires hope. But for many Kosovo Serbs it inspires fear. Every possible effort must be made by every political actor to reconcile the hopes of the majority and the fears of the Kosovo Serb minority.

The best way of ensuring that the Kosovo Serbs have a voice, and that it is heard, would be for the Kosovo Serbs to engage directly with, and ideally in, Kosovo’s institutions.

Belgrade’s continuing refusal to countenance this does nothing to improve conditions for Serbs in Kosovo, and it does everything to worsen their already acute political isolation.

How can we – how can any of us – reassure the Kosovo Serbs today about their future in Kosovo if they are discouraged from participating directly in the design of that future? The Contact Group has made plain that the eventual status settlement must include significant provisions for minority rights. If Kosovo’s representatives in the status process are proactive in themselves arguing for such verifiable provisions they will be doing Kosovo a favour, for justifiable dispensations willingly offered are clearly a better foundation for the future than intransigent positions grudgingly abandoned.

In the meantime, though, there is ample scope for co-operation between Kosovo’s Serbs and the majority community in Kosovo on a wide range of practical issues – electricity supply being an example high on everybody’s mind at the moment. Such co-operation would be easier, and more productive, if it came with the acceptance and support of Belgrade. The refusal of such support is rooted in politics – but its effects are damaging to the welfare of individual Serbs in Kosovo, and it is they who have to cope with the consequences.

Mr President, with the beginning of the status process, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo has entered its most critical phase. Now, as in the past, our focus must remain on building in Kosovo a society that is democratic, multi-ethnic, inclusive and tolerant; a society which is internally at ease with its own diversity; a society which is outwardlooking, committed to a future of peace and co-operation, alongside all its neighbours, in an integrated Europe.

I have been convinced after long service with UNMIK, that Kosovo – its people and its institutions – is committed to moving in this direction. Much has been achieved – much more must and will be done. The next months offer an opportunity for Kosovo’s leaders to redouble their efforts, to reach out to Kosovo’s Serbs and to the other minorities, and to register solid and substantive progress. But it is equally a period when the Kosovo Serbs must seize the opportunity provided by the status talks and take an active part in the central and municipal institutions in Kosovo, if they wish, to shape the future of a truly multi-ethnic Kosovo. Finally, it is a period in which Belgrade must encourage and support such Kosovo Serb participation in the institutions.

Mr President, in the Western Balkans, the appalling politics of the nineties had human suffering, ethnic cleansing and forcible displacement as their goal, and not merely their consequence. Our goal must now be to make good the political wrongs of the past, with a focus on the rights of all people – of individuals and families – for the future.

The majority in Kosovo, who suffered so much as a minority themselves in the past, has a right to expect that their aspirations will be met when Kosovo’s status is decided. The minorities, who have in turn suffered revenge and isolation, have a right to expect that their concerns will be just as seriously heard and addressed. My hope as Special Representative of the Secretary General in Kosovo over the past 18 months is that with a settlement of the status issue, the people of Kosovo can finally leave the past behind and set out as one on the journey toward the Euro-Atlantic family of nations.
Thank you Mr President.

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