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7760th Security Council Meeting: Developments in Kosovo
The situation in Kosovo over the past three months had become more stable, but the threat of security and political tensions still lurked beneath the surface, the head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) told the Security Council today.
Presenting his Mission’s latest three-month report, Zahir Tanin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, said that, at the local level, economic, educational, health-care issues, the rule of law and corruption — not interethnic politics — were the dominant concerns. Throughout the former Yugoslavia, he added, the immediate post-conflict generation was reaching voting age and looking for better opportunities. With the European Union perspective as the region’s main driver of reform, he said, leadership from both sides would be as important as pragmatism and commitment going forward.
With around 16,000 people still displaced in Kosovo, and many more outside, the voluntary, safe and dignified return of displaced persons remained a fundamental right, Mr. Tanin said, appealing for the issue to be put back into focus. And while recent months had seen no large-scale interethnic disturbances or significant attacks on cultural sites, vulnerable groups — in particular non-majority communities — had faced higher rates of intimidation. Meanwhile, the fate of more than 1,600 persons still listed as missing from the time of the conflict required attention from all sides, including UNMIK.
Discussing the presence of radical Islamist elements and organizers, he said Kosovo authorities had implemented a strong law enforcement approach that would only succeed if it went hand in hand with efforts to address the socioeconomic drivers of extremism. There, he said, the international community — including the United Nations — needed to play a major role. Given the changing situation in Kosovo, Mr. Tanin added, UNMIK was developing ways to optimize its work, better engage with stakeholders and implement its objectives in a more up-to-date way.
Ivica Dačić, First Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign Affairs of Serbia, said the Secretary-General’s report should be viewed in the broader context of the complexity of the situation. The section related to the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština did not adequately address the importance of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which had yet to be established. The report also made no mention of the situation of the Serbs and other communities living south of the Ibar River, and noted simply that the level of returns was unacceptably low, he said.
While security in Kosovo and Metohija had always been unstable, he said, the radicalization of the political climate and the worsening of the security situation due to the rise of political and religious extremism had only increased such instability. With respect to the size of the population, Kosovo and Metohija Albanians accounted for the largest percentage of those fighting in the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), he said, calling also on all countries that had not recognized Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence to persevere, despite the pressures to which they were exposed.
Vlora Çitaku of Kosovo said that Kosovo was “a young republic” that faced challenges, but not of the kind that required the Council to meet every three months to debate its situation. “Kosovo is ready to move on, but Serbia needs to be ready to let go,” she said, recalling a visit by Hashim Thaçi to two memorials honouring Serbian civilians killed after 1999. She said Kosovo was committed to a European Union-led dialogue in Brussels, but it also believed that the process needed to become more dynamic and results-oriented. Kosovo would implement every agreement reached in Brussels, she said, but Serbia was making that difficult by financing parallel institutions inside Kosovo.
Kosovo would remain an active member of the coalition of nations fighting terrorism, she said, noting that it had adopted measures regarding foreign fighters and radicalization. In the last 12 months, she said, the number of people from Kosovo who had joined ISIL was zero. She concluded by recalling Kosovo’s first Olympic medallist, Majlinda Kelmendi, calling her and others like her Kosovo’s new heroes.
In the ensuing debate, several delegations questioned the need for the Council to continue taking up the situation in Kosovo every three months. Some suggested that briefings every six months would be more appropriate. Others emphasized that resolution 1244 (1999) remained the legal basis for resolving the Kosovo situation.
The Russian Federation’s representative called the situation in Kosovo far from normal, notably for its Serb minority. More robust legal guarantees were needed to protect historical and sacred sites, he said, adding that dialogue between Belgrade and Priština was in a “deep freeze”. He called Kosovo a “grey space” for recruiting and training terrorist fighters and stated that — in light of instability and ongoing interethnic conflict — UNMIK must continue to be resourced and supported.
His counterpart from the United States — one of several delegates who saluted Kosovo’s Olympic Games debut at Rio de Janiero — noted “with some disappointment” a slowdown in the pace of normalization between Belgrade and Priština in the past year. She called upon leaders on both sides to uphold their commitments, and on all Member States to recognize Kosovo as an independent State. To do so, she said, would be good for the international community, as well as “inevitable”,
Representatives of the United Kingdom, China, Japan, Ukraine, Angola, Uruguay, Senegal, Egypt, Venezuela, New Zealand, France, Spain and Malaysia also spoke.
The meeting began at 10:10 a.m. and ended at 12:25 p.m.
