"Dear President of the Security Council,
Esteemed members of the Security Council,
Dear Special Representative of the Secretary-General,
Allow me, before I move to the Report we are speaking about today, to remind you that on 19 April was exactly 11 years since the most important Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina on the path of normalization of relations was adopted in Brussels. One of the signatories was also the EU. Eleven years later, even though Serbs met all the difficult obligations from the mentioned Agreement, the Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities and its formation are not even on the horizon. For all the Serbs living in K&M, for the entire Serbia, these 11 years have been 11 years of undelivered promises, daily excuses and untruths; 11 years of accidental or intentional inability of the EU- as the guarantor of the respective Agreement, to move things from square one. Of course, all that resulted in what we can call today the legal violence and physical harassment of Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija.
First and foremost, I extend my gratitude to Secretary-General Guterres and Special Representative Ziadeh, for their dedication to fulfilling the UNMIK mandate as outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 1244. Therefore, while the subject report may not fully capture the severity of the situation on the ground, it factually documents nearly all significant events during the reporting period, and this holds considerable value for member states. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of this report, I wish to highlight certain critical points for the esteemed members of this body to consider.
The Report on UNMIK’S work that is before us today, is being discussed month and a half since this distinguished body held the special session on situation in Kosovo and Metohija on 8 February. Let me remind you that this urgent session was held upon submission by the Republic of Serbia that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Kosovo and Metohija, led by the Albanian leadership, are jeopardizing international peace and stability.
To that submission, the Republic of Serbia also enclosed the detailed explanation of actions by which the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government lead by Kosovo-Metohija Albanians continuously and intentionally created the unbearable living conditions for Serbs and other non-Albanians. Additionally, the Republic of Serbia presented to the Security Council all the actions by which those institutions carry out well-planned, widespread and systematic harassment against Serb civilians, including continuous legal violence, physical violence and selective targeting.
Urgent Security Council session on 8 February was held thanks to the fact that all members of the Security Council evaluated that our arguments in the submitted complaint had been based on facts and in accordance with that, they approved our request. I specially emphasize that the majority, which accepted our argumentation, consisted here of the countries that do not respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia in a way envisaged by the Provisions of the legally binding UN SC Resolution 1244. Thereby, it is much more important that such a structure of the SC member states respected our arguments and took into consideration on this important session the ethnically motivated, intentional creation of unbearable living conditions for Serbs, as well as the campaign of well-planned, widespread and systematic harassment against Serb civilians, and their persecution by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in K&M.
I will remind you that almost all members of this distinguished body expressed profound concern for the position of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija, and had urged for the Dialogue. During those discussions, special emphasis was placed on the acute measure of abolishing cash transactions in dinars, whereby Pristina ‘s regime dramatically and additionally made daily life of Serbs and other non-Albanians difficult, given that they predominantly receive their income in dinars. This issue was discussed in the context of denying them access to even basic social services such as healthcare, education, etc.
However, said measure to abolish the use of dinar—representing the culmination of prolonged, comprehensive and ethnically motivated campaign of widespread and systematic attacks against non-Albanian civilians by Pristina’s institutions—is still effective. If you remember Albin Kurti was speaking here in front all of you that he was giving to Serbs the three-month transitional period in which no Serb rights would be abused regarding giving and accepting dinars as a currency. Of course, since the moment session ended no one in Pristina or in the international community has ever mentioned three-month transitional periods, and all the measures against Serbs related to dinar started being implemented immediately. That is why Serbs and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo-Metohija remains unable to get their pensions, salaries, social giving, child allowances and all other payments, and why the work of schools, kindergartens, medical, social and all other institutions is practically disrupted. Employees of these institutions, those that are still operating, face daily fears from groundless apprehensions, which Kurti’s regime is carrying out on a mass scale, under false charges. This situation profoundly affects children in kindergartens, pensioners, single mothers and severely ill persons in rural environments, but also everyone else. This issue stands out as one of the few where Pristina authorities demonstrate lack of discrimination, affecting everyone equally, regardless of their age or gender, as long as they are non-Albanians and do not endorse their chauvinistic agenda aimed at realizing the Greater Albanian concept.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
I would like to take this opportunity to inform all member states, who have sincerely and with good intentions called for dialogue, that from February 8, 2024, to the present day, five rounds of discussion have been held in Brussels, based on UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and General Assembly Resolution 64/298 (2010). The only tangible outcome of these deliberations has been the exposure of Pristina’s true motives. Pristina’s head negotiator, Bislimi, Albin Kurti's deputy and his partner in the persecution of the civilian population, confirmed that their unilateral and escalatory decision to effectively abolish the dinar in Kosovo-Metohija has profoundly affected the people. Unlike Kurti’s assertions, made before this esteemed body that Serbia’s accusation was false and that no one, including Serbs, was impacted by their decision, Bislimi’s sincerity acknowledged the actual intentions to eradicate all Serbian presence in Kosovo-Metohija. Therefore, he, like Kurti, remained committed to Greater Albanian hegemonic aspirations, which preclude any negotiations with Serbia and coexistence with Serbs. His conduct in the dialogue process, characterized by a strategy of "sabotage through presence", underscored his reluctance to pursue a compromise solution, as had been advocated by this esteemed body, to safeguard the population.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
Ladies and gentlemen,
In parallel, Pristina’s brutal repression in persecuting Serbs and other non-Albanian, has been additionally deepened and strengthened. SINCE THE URGENT SESSION ON 8 FEBRUARY, 16 NEW ETHNICALLY MOTIVATED ATACKS AGAINST SERBS TOOK PLACE. They involve:
1. Armed attack against Serb young men in Gračanica,
2. Gun firing and intimidation of ever smaller number of Serb returnees in the west of K&M,
3. Continuing Unjustified Detentions,
4. Police violent removal of the plates with names of the places in Serbian language, in Cyrillic alphabet in purely Serb municipalities in the north of K&M. Continuous attacks within the campaign of Serb persecution broadened after 8 February to intrusions of Pristina’s parapolice forces into Serbian pharmacies in Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok, where the persecutors of Serbs confiscated huge amounts of medications.
On the other hand, while the UNMIK Report maintains factual precision, it lacks in capturing the interconnected events over an extended period of time. These events, when analyzed together, paint a stark picture of the ground reality. This limitation in reporting stems not only from the length of the reporting period but also from the methodology employed, which has remained consistently superficial and brief. Therefore, it is my obligation, esteemed representatives of the member states, to offer further insight into the reported events, enabling you to grasp the overall situation more comprehensively.
THE UN SC EMERGENCY SESSION IS NOT PRESENTED IN THE REPORT AS AN EVENT OF SPECAIL RELEVANCE. The respective session was mentioned only in Item 22. And even there it has been wrongly put that it had been held at Serbia’s request „to discuss the consequences of the new currency regulation“.
This claim is factually incorrect, because Serbian quest for emergency session, adopted by the UN SC, had been based on complaint supported by arguments for endangering international peace and security by Pristina. Illegal abolishment of dinar was reported and took into consideration in that context only as a part of complaint against PISG in Pristina for: 1) Systematic, widespread and well-planned attacks against Serbs by PISG in Pristina, 2) Intentional creation of unbearable living conditions for Serbs and 3) Persecution of Serbs.
The dramatic complaint on persecution of Serbs, which the SC took into consideration at the emergency session, was BLANDLY AND PROSAICALLY PRESENTED in the Report IN THE FOLLOWING WAY: „Mr. Vučić and Mr. Kurti participated in the session, presenting contrasting narratives regarding the situation in Kosovo and the regulation’s impact”.
In that regard, I believe that it is important to remind that SERBIA WAS NOT PRESENTING JUST SOME “NARRATIVE” AT THE RESPECTIVE SESSION. Quite the opposite, MY ADRESS WAS THE MERE NUMBERING OF CONCRETE DATA AND FACTS on the campaign of systematic, well-planned and widespread Pristina’s attack against Serb population.
On that occasion, I mentioned, among other things, concrete data on the following:
- The illegal expropriation of more than one million square meters of Serbian land for construction of illegal basis of special police in the north of K&M,
- Disabling freedom of movement for Serbs by meaningless stoppings, humiliating treatment, beatings, and even other acts of violence at illegal armed checkpoints and at other places throughout the north of Kosovo and Metohija,
- Arbitrary apprehensions of dozens of eminent Serbs, as well as unfounded long custody based only on their ethnicity- and without raising charges,
- Meaningless shooting by Pristina’s special forces and almost constant presence of armored vehicles in peaceful urban environments,
- Making decisions on confiscating buildings owned by Serbian institutions, which have been owning them for more than a century,
- Introduction of the 9-month illegal embargo on Serbian goods and seizures of legal goods owned by Serbian merchants,
- Violent confiscation of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, whereby Pristina violates special protective zones around the Serbian Orthodox Church facilities, while renaming Serbian sacral facilities, which are several centuries old, to Albanian ones,
- Ploughing and destruction of Serbian cemeteries,
- Arming illegal so-called KSF, which in accordance with Paragraph 9.b, Paragraph 15 and Article 6, Annex 1 of the UN SC Resolution 1244 should be demilitarized and dismantled,
- Disabling payment of 60.946 salaries and pensions to Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, 2.430 scholarships for students and pupils, funds for financing soup kitchens for about 2.000 socially most vulnerable citizens, as well as all other incomes for Serbs,
- 470 unsanctioned ethnically motivated attacks against Serbs
- 75 attacks against sacral facilities of the Serbian Orthodox Church,
- 25 attacks against Serbian children, including attempt of murder of the 11-years old Serb child by the representative of the illegal KSF on Christmas 2023.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
We cannot count the number of times the events in Banjska have been mentioned by various international officials, news outlets and even in front of this Council. On the other hand, not even an ounce of that zeal and energy has been used to raise the issue of the horrific crime committed by a soldier under the command of here present Vjosa Osmani, a uniformed soldier of the so-called KSF, who while on duty, using his service rifle and on the eve of the Serbian Orthodox Christmas, cold-bloodedly shot an 11-year old boy Stefan Stojanovic and his 21-year old cousin Milos Stojanovic. Sometimes we wonder whether the fact that he has only been charged for misdemeanor is due to the fact that his victims were ethnic Serbs.
Let me remind you once again of Kurti’s words pronounced here at the session of this distinguished body: “The Regulation does nothing to ban or prevent the Government of Serbia from providing financial assistance to Kosovo Serbs. Each different suggestion is nothing but the false propaganda aimed at inciting ethnical tensions. The Regulation strives only to provide transparency and legality of the cash that is being imported to Kosovo, in accordance with our Constitution and the EU monetary policy. The same rules apply to all cash imports from any country, in any currency: THEY DO NOT BAN DINAR TRANSFERS FROM SERBIA.”
THE PROOF THAT KURTI WAS LYING TO THIS DISTINGUISHED BODY is also that few days ago, the topic of the Brussels Dialogue meeting was precisely how to resolve this problem. The solid proof is also a fact that the American Special Envoy for the Western Balkans stated on 14 March in Pristina (more than a month after Kurti had lied to the SC) that the issue of dinar was ”an emerging humanitarian issue that we need to address immediately”. Escobar also said that he “was moved” by the stories of ordinary Serbs who were affected most directly by the ban of dinar. The American Envoy said on that occasion that Albin Kurti had refused his plan for resolving that humanitarian issue. Asked by the media WHY KURTI HAD DECIDED TO PROCEED WITH THE BAN OF DINAR, KNOWING THAT THIS ISSUE COULD HAVE BEEN RESOLVED THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMUNITY OF SERB-MAJORITY MUNICIPALITIES , Mr. Escobar answered that it was the question for Albin Kurti. Kurti lied before this Council also when he was speaking about the alleged introduction of the three-month transition measures in reference to the decision on dinar currency, which did not happen, but new bans and repression followed instead.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
So, all the aforementioned facts confirm that Pristina and Kurti have never told the truth, but that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are the target of the well-planned, systematic and widespread harassment by Pristina’s institutions, aimed at their persecution. After the emergency SC session, this fact should have been clearly underlined in the Report, alongside with the unambiguous condemnation of Pristina’s violence. We do not expect UNMIK to tailor its reports to suit political desires and aspirations of any involved party. On the contrary, we advocate for the reporting that is grounded solely on facts. Hence, we expect UNMIK to deliver clear and precise reports to the member states, regarding state of affairs on the ground. Additionally, credible reporting does not imply neutrality and/or ambiguity towards events that directly endanger the population in Kosovo-Metohija. Such neutrality is unacceptable given that UNMIK is duty-bound, as mandated by this esteemed body, to clearly and loudly oppose any attempt to threaten the civilian population in the Province.
We also believe that the Report misses information for the Security Council on concrete measures that the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative has taken in order to discourage, anticipate, disable or sanction Pristina’s violence and persecution of Serbs and other non-Albanians. Let me remind you the international civil presence, headed by the Special Representative, has obligation to secure normal life in Kosovo and Metohija. Paragraph 10 of the Resolution 1244 clearly reads that the Secretary General is authorized to establish international civil presence, among other things, in order to: “OVERSEE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROVISIONAL DEMOCRATIC SELF-GOVERNNG INSTITUTIONS” and “TO ENSURE CONDITIONS FOR PEACEFUL AND NORMAL LIFE FOR ALL INHABITANTS OF KOSOVO.”
We had been listening for years that the Special Representative had transferred their authorizations to the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, and that there was no legal basis for him/her to take other actions. However, let me remind the Security Council that those competences were transferred to the Provisional Institutions by the Special Representative through “constitutional framework for provisional self-government in Kosovo.”
This document was enacted precisely by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative, on 15 May 2001, and in accordance with mandate outlined in UN SC Resolution 1244, via Regulation no. 2001/9, and it remains legally binding. Furthermore, CHAPTER 12 OF THE UNMIK CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK STATES AS FOLLOWS: „The exercise of the responsibilities of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government under this Constitutional Framework shall not affect or diminish the authority of the SRSG to ensure full implementation of UNSCR 1244 (1999), INCLUDING OVERSEEING THE PROVISIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT, ITS OFFICIALS AND ITS AGENCIES, AND TAKING APPROPRIATE MEASURES whenever their actions are inconsistent with UNSCR 1244 (1999) or this Constitutional Framework“.
Therefore, it is undisputable that the UNSG Special Representative has the explicit obligation to report on the concrete measures she have taken to stop and disable ethnically motivated persecution of population, in accordance with the UN SC Resolution 1244 and Constitutional Framework. Or, at least to offer explanation why she failed to take such measures, if that is the case. Instead, like I said, what we have is enumerating of almost all individual cases in this Report, but utter lack of clear context of persecution of civilians that is taking place in reality in the ground, which was discussed at the SC emergency session.
However, while the emergency session of the Security Council was mentioned only once, and attacks against civilians within Pristina’s campaign of their persecution no even once, TRAGIC DEVELOPMENTS IN BANJSKA VILLAGE OF 24 SEPTEMBER WERE MENTIONED FOR A TOTAL OF 8 TIMES IN THIS REPORT.
That is why I need to reiterate what I said at the emergency session of the SC, and which refers to the conclusion that those developments were not cause, but the consequence of Kurti’s repression and persecution of civilians. Serbia unambiguously condemned the violence in Banjska that very evening, and that is why it will not allow that this tragedy is used as an alibi for persecuting Serbs, as well as for diverting the attention from the fact that this persecution takes place in the ground on a daily basis.
Let me remind you that for more than a year prior to tragic events, the Republic of Serbia had been publicly warning all international representatives that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija had been facing systematic and widespread attacks and violence of Kurti’s chauvinistic regime. Since autumn 2021, Serbs have been completely excommunicated from the political and economic system of the so-called Kosovo. Serbian Police, envisaged by Article 9 of the Brussels Agreement was replaced with Kuti’s monoethnic paramilitary formations that are harassing, beating up and apprehending. Nobody wanted to listen to our pleas to stop that terror.
Pristina has been systematically undermining life and elementary rights of the Serbian people in K&M. Let me remind you that Pristina organized then in Serb-majority municipalities shameful “elections”, which Serbs boycotted for violation of their rights and for endangering their safety through Kurit’s illegal replacement of the regional police commander.
Even though only 0,029% Serbs voted in those elections, and Serbs constitute 95% of the population there, new Albanian municipal authorities were confirmed and appointed with complete absence of any legitimacy. Then, they came to the head offices of those Serbian municipalities as true occupiers, followed by heavily armed Kosovo special police units. What followed then is the brutal terror against the Serbs, who are now being terrorized by the special police forces, while illegitimate Albanian municipal officials make and implement decisions that are directly against the interests of the Serbs.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
In spite of the declarative international calls to end this situation, Pristina persistently continues with the occupation of the north and disables the election of legitimate local authorities. After false promises that it would revoke illegitimate Albanian officials, it requested a petition from Serbs, for the replacement of the respective authorities, in order to organize the referendum for revoking them. In order to make such a referendum a successful one, it takes turnout of more than 50% registered voters, and Serbs had initially agreed to organize signing of the mention petition and gathered more than 20% required voters’ signatures. So, six times more than number of votes by which some Albanian officials were elected.
In order to prevent revoking and maintain favorable conditions for continued persecution of Serbs, by manipulating with the voter lists, Pristina suddenly increased the number of registered voters. It was done in the period when more than 15% majority Serb population, escaping from the repression, left the Province. That is why there are 249 voters in voter list of those four municipalities today, which is 5,7% more than in 2021. Between October 2021 and March 2024, 2.498 new voters were added, and number of Albanian voters was artificially increased by 12.42%.
If one adds to that the disabling of voting by mail for the expelled persons, but also the campaign of intimidation and blackmails against the Serbs not to take part in such a referendum, it is obvious that Pristina intends to finalize the persecution of Serbs, with the support of illegitimate municipal authorities. That is why the recent decision made by the Serbs to boycott such a referendum is quite understandable and the only possible one- because they are disabled to reach the set threshold of 50% registered voters by being persecuted, banned to vote outside K&M and by registering Albanian voters not living there. In parallel, Pristina threatens Serbs with tax sanctions, financial sanctions of 2.000 euros if they refuse the call for census; it carries out arbitrary apprehensions and all other kinds of physical and institutional violence.
Speaking of arbitrary apprehensions of Serbs, which, by the way, were marked as inacceptable by the EU, but also speaking of false guarantees of international community that there would be no apprehensions of Serbs for taking part in protests, allow me to mention the most recent case. On 14 April, Pristina’s special forces arrested Mr. Srecko Sofronijevic, Serb from Zvecan, whom they wounded in the back from automatic weapons in 2021. He was wounded at the political protest of Serbs against the illegal intrusion of those units in the north of K&M, where in accordance with Article 9 of the First Agreement from 2013 they should not come without approval by Serbs.
Sofronijevic hardly survived the shooting, for which none of the members of Pristina’s special forces was called for accountability, and let alone sanctioned. Instead, Sofronijevic was arrested few days ago and placed to custody on charges for violation of the so-called constitutional order of the fake state of the so-called Kosovo. He is a man who has never made any offence or anything else, and who spent all this time of Pristina’s terror in his hometown and his house. Despite all that, Pristina apprehended him on charges for the aforementioned offence. We have since received reports about further physical abuse of Srecko Sofronijevic upon his reception to the Albanian Majority run prison in Podujevo.
At the same time, one of Kurti’s co-perpetrators of persecution of Serbs and the minister in his government, Liburn Aliu declared the following in December 2023- so, in the period covered by this Report: "The independent state of Kosovo is a temporary project; a Kosovo nation cannot be created“. So, the innocent and shot Sofronijevic is imprisoned for the alleged violation of some constitutional order, and Aliu is still free, occupying one of the highest-ranking positions in Pristina. That much about the apprehensions and persecution of Serbs as a part of some alleged non-selective implementation of the law. Those who are friends and supporters of Pristina, are the only ones believing in this kind of the Rule of Law. Serbia demands the immediate release of all political prisoners held by Pristina’s regime. There cannot be reconciliation without liberation of all political prisoners. Let me remind you that Serbia has adopted several times the Amnesty Law, according to which thousands of KLA terrorists, including Albin Kurti were set free. Speaking of the Rule of Law, the biggest opponent of the so-called Kosovo’s constitution is not us in Belgrade, but precisely Kurti’ regime. It might seem unusual to you- but this is not exaggeration, but easily verifiable fact. The Brussels Agreement was ratified with the two-third majority in the so-called Kosovo’s parliament and it derogates all other legal norms, and yet again, Kurti and his associates publicly refuse to implement the foundation provisions of this Agreement. Constitution guarantees the equality of Serbian language and Cyrillic alphabet, which is omitted; the constitution envisages that one Ministry should be led by the party that wins the majority among the Serbs, which has been completely neglected.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
In other words, while everybody has been talking and reporting for months on situation in K&M, through wrong interpretation of the events in Banjska, what we have in the ground is the continuation of open and unsanctioned persecution of Serbs in formally peaceful terms, while not having a single action to stop that crime against humanity, just like it is confirmed by this Report.
Dear President of the Security Council,
Distinguished members of the Security Council,
Dear Special Representative of the Secretary-General,
UN Security Council is one among only few international fora before one can discuss in arguments and openly about the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. To tell you the truth, there are less and less opportunities to do so, because the representatives of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina, with wholehearted political, advisory and logistic help from their international sponsors, by making small steps, impose as the perfect act something that is not normal and that is inadmissible from the position of the international law, and something that must be accepted calmly.
The United Nations, as the last instance and the bastion of defense of international law cannot allow ambiguous flexibility in evaluating dramatic crimes against some population, because thereby the system founded on the UN Charterer undermines itself and its own authority. Today we need strong and principled United Nations more than ever, and the situation in Kosovo and Metohija is a good opportunity for the world organization to strengthen its international authority.
In addition to insisting on clear condemnation and termination of persecution of Serbs, the Republic of Serbia underlines once again that it is fully committed to the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, as the only peaceful way for overcoming disagreements and resolving problems. Persistent refusal by Pristina to consistently implement almost any out of totally 52 reached political agreements is the additional evidence that Pristina persecutes Serbs with clear premeditation.
In other words, those agreements were designed and reached precisely that the relations between Belgrade and Pristina could normalize in time, and that all people during this political process could live their normal life in reality. It involves also Serbs in K&M, to which the Agreements from 2011 guarantee dozens specific solutions for protection of their anyway difficult position in dominantly Albanian environment. As a credible and responsible partner, to that aim, Belgrade had delivered its commitments from the Dialogue long time ago. By doing so, it had been continuously making very painful concessions, among other things, that Serbs in K&M could enjoy peace, safety and respect for fundamental rights.
Contrary to that, Serbs have been exposed to open persecution for years, and while preparing that persecution for 11 years, Pristina refused and it still refuses to implement its most important commitment from the Dialogue. That commitment refers to the need of consistent establishment of the Community with Serb-Majority Municipalities as agreed by Agreements from 2013 and 2015 – as the mechanism for protection of individual and collective rights of Serbs in the Province as the foundation of the entire normalization process and all other agreed agreements.
Let me make it clear, Belgrade’s insisting on the CSM is without any prejudice to the status of Kosovo and Metohija. This is about institutional solution that would anticipated and disable persecution of Serbs that has been carried out in the past years. It is meant for enabling safe life in the ground, economic development and protection of elementary political rights of Serbs. If the CSM were established in the past 11 years, I’m certain that it would create favorable conditions for the true dialogue and historical reconciliation between the communities in Kosovo and Metohija.
However, this is precisely what those who are in power in Pristina do not want. The reason is that they are guided by primitive, ethnic hatred towards the Serbs, which they use for inciting international tensions and as an excuse for finalizing the persecution and ethnic cleansing of Serbs. That is the only reason why they are against the formation of the CSM in accordance with the Agreements from 2013 and 2015, hoping that by successive cancelation of rights and creation of unbearable living conditions for survival of Serbian people these would leave Kosovo and Metohija, whereby the idea of the CSM would be pointless.
Unfortunately, the obvious is not obvious in this Report, too. I reiterate, very well-known factual data and neutrally given data on place, time and topics of the Dialogue meetings – that are very well known to all of us- will not end persecution of Serbs, lead to the stabilization of circumstances and force Pristina not to undermine the Dialogue and finally implement its obligations from reached agreements.
In that sense, it is really high time that we perceive that if population in K&M cannot rely either on the UN, as the objective arbiter and someone that will prevent Pristina’s cunning ethnic engineering, I am afraid that it brings us to the possibility of unpredictable scenarios with immense consequences. In order to eliminate even the slightest possibility that such a development does not take place, WE BELIEVE THAT IT IS NECESSSARY THAT THE SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE EXERCISE HER AUTHORIZATIONS and supervises the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, but also to take urgent actions, in cooperation with KFOR, aimed at ensuring safety and human rights to all inhabitants of K&M. Simply said, it is obvious that we urgently need solution that means “MORE UNMIK, NOT LESS”.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Unfortunately, pogrom against the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija has been lasting since 1999 until today. Let me remind you to some of unpunished crimes committed in the presence and before the eyes of the UN international forces, with predominant participation of the same countries that committed the aggression against the FRY: in July 1999, Albanian terrorists massacred 14 Serbian farmers from Staro Gracko village, near Lipljan; in February 2001 a bus taking Serbs displaces from Kosovo and Metohija to visit the graves of their loved ones was blown up; 12 Serbs were killed and 43 of them were wounded in that attack; in 2003 Albanian terrorists in Gorazdevac were shooting at Serbian children who were swimming in Bistrica river, and two children were killed then, while several were severely wounded. The culmination of evil was the pogrom against the Serbian people in march 2004, when 16 Serbs were killed, hundreds were injured, about 4.000 expelled, six towns and nine villages experienced ethnical cleansing, more than 800 facilities, including 35 orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed or severely damaged. And the balance of 25 years of the alleged peace is almost a quarter of million Serbs and other non-Albanians that are still expelled and internally displaced. They don’t seem to have right to sustainable return, because the creators of the apparent peace estimated that it is easier to integrate those people into environments where they are against their will, than to create functional multiethnic society in K&M. If we translate this into the daily language, it is obvious that everything has been tolerated for Albanian extremism and separatism in the past 25 years, and in such a way that the ideologists and executors of the politics of evil and persecution of Serbs are not isolated and punished, but rewarded. Not only that no one who ordered these crimes was brought to justice, but on the 20th anniversary of the March Pogrom your chauvinistic regime offered again the same lie on the drowning of three boys in Čabra village, which initiated the inevitable wave of violence, murders, robberies and expelling. It is clear to everyone that the aim of this was to justify the violence, but at the same time the invitation for repetition of crimes that had taken place on that fatal 17 March.
And yet instead of being sanctioned, Kurti’s regime keeps being rewarded.
Commitment to peace is not a predominant state of the mind in Kosovo and Metohija. Political elite in Pristina does not think of peace as of the value, and their obsession is consolidation, at any cost, of what they see as an independent state. And they are carrying out that project now by persecuting Serbs and other non-Albanians, not caring for the lives of the people, peace or human rights. Distinguished members of this Council should know that Albin Kurti is not here today because he is busy undermining regional stability, since he is personally at the forefront of his party’s campaign for elections in neighboring North Macedonia. As the President of Serbia, I’m sorry that our citizen acts in this way in the international arena. I want to convey to the people of North Macedonia that interfering in their internal matters is not the politics of Serbia, but of our irresponsible citizen Albin Kurti.
We will certainly have the opportunity today to listen to fairytales from those from Pristina -who ordered pogrom against the Serbs, about the so-called Kosovo as the champion of democracy. We are deeply disappointed that UNMIK report that is before us today, does not provide sufficient foundations to claim the opposite. But, as the President of Serbia, UN member state facing secessionist movement in its southern Province, I am obliged not to make compromise with the truth and not use euphemisms for the actual state in the ground.
Even though today’s session is dedicated to the concrete six-month report on UNMIKS’s work, I must warn you not only to the danger resulting from relativizing the hatred politics carried out by Pristina, but also to the danger brought before the international legal order by the operation of brining Pristina, that is, self-declared “Kosovo”, to membership of the Council of Europe.
The finale of this mockery against the international law is planned for mid-May and that is why we can easily find ourselves in a situation where chauvinistic regime, which is carrying out persecution of the entire nation, is rewarded for their actions. And precisely by the organization whose sense and proclaimed objective is to promote and protect the rule of law and to protect human rights and freedoms.
For creating already in details described apartheid system in the heart of Europe, Albin Kurti’s regime was rewarded with visa liberalization, probable membership to the Council of Europe and what’s even worst by arming the illegal armed forces for which this Council established that they should not exist. In the meantime, what is the World doing? The World is silent, because the politics of democracy development and preservation of multicultural and multiethnic society, for which the western countries’ tax payers gave billions, is replaced by the politics of consolidation of the so-called Kosovo’s statehood. With the Council of Europe membership, Kurti would be directly rewarded with political support for the next so-called Kosovo elections, having in mind that the opposition, following the Quint advise, publicly called on Pristina not to apply for membership to the Council of Europe. It turns out that Kurti will get another victory served on a plate. Implementation of the decision on property of Visoki Dečani Monastery is, actually, the best indicator what kind of a “banana republic” we speak about. The only reason why the judgment on Dečani, has been finally implemented after 11 years is faking the tolerance towards the church, while for the past two years the land of the size of two states of Vatican was taken away from Serbs in the north, though expropriation which is illegal, even in accordance with the so-called Kosovo Laws.
That is why I warn this body, member states, as well as all other bodies of the UN to have in mind that there are plans that the same model of blind denial of reality is implemented also within the United Nations and all with the aim to make perpetrators of persecution against the Serbs happy, as well as to meet political interests of the powerful ones. If that would ever occur, it would, beyond any doubt be, the final and fatal blow to international law, that would inflict the irreparable damage to the UN system and international order based on equality and sovereignty of member states of the World Organization. Fortunately, I am almost certain that such demolishing plans will not be achieved, because there is a convincing majority of those who blindly observe international law, UN Charter and all SC Resolutions – including also Resolution 1244, which guarantees territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, with the territory of Kosovo and Metohija as its part.
I want to urge on the conscience of the countries that supported the independence of the so-called Kosovo. A project that you had presented to the world and your domestic public as the future model of liberal democracy, multiethnicity and multiculturalism, is galloping today towards monoethnic despotism cleaned of all minorities. By giving priority to the consolidation of the so-called Kosovo’s statehood in terms in which basic collective political, economic but also individual rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians are being violated, you sentenced anyway illegal project of the so-called Kosovo’s independence to moral death."
