STATEMENT by H.E. MR. IVICA DAČIĆ, FIRST DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

New York, 31 October 2019

Mr. President,

For seven long years now I have taken part in the meetings of this august body. This is my twenty-second Statement. Regrettably, this time round, too, the twenty-second time, I have to say that nothing has been done in Kosovo and Metohija to enable the Serbs and other non-Albanians to lead a life worthy of man. My obligation, therefore, is to continue to speak on behalf of those whose voice is not heard, whose rights are not respected and who have not been able to return home for more than twenty years. Some of you may remember that the phrase ‘standards before status’ was used hereabouts for a number of years. All of a sudden, the standards with respect for human rights and the rule of law have disappeared from this Council’s deliberations after the unilateral declaration of independence by so-called Kosovo. Today, the standards are a rare topic as, by and large, the need to achieve a ‘lasting solution’ for the question of Kosovo and Metohija is the focus of most presentations from this rostrum. However, it is the duty of all of us not to allow that the people in Kosovo and Metohija be held hostage to a solution that we are yet to find. Even before any agreement, these people must be ensured physical safety, freedom of movement, right to employment, protection of property, right to return, religious freedom, protection of cultural and religious heritage, right to participate in political life… . The ordinary people of Goraždevac, Orahovac, Klina, Mušutište, Zubin Potok or Zvečan have no time to wait for us to reach agreement. For, ladies and gentlemen, they have to go on with their lives. Unfortunately, like in many other instances, the quest for solutions to conflicts is not an easy and short-term process.

The Brussels Agreement that I signed in my capacity as Prime Minister 6 years ago was, perhaps, a ray of hope. The Agreement was the result of difficult negotiations, of even more difficult political decisions, just as it was a manifestation of my country’s readiness to compromise. It has been borne out by the implementation of the Agreement by our side. It is exactly for this reason that I can credibly say that the people in Kosovo and Metohija must not be made dependent on Priština’s whims and one-sided acts aimed at aborting the continuation of the dialogue. Let me be quite clear: Serbia is ready to resume the negotiations as of tomorrow, provided the conditions to do so do concur.

Let me remind you that, last November, Priština decided to up the tariffs on goods from central Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina one hundred per cent. That decision was taken in the wake of so-called Kosovo’s unsuccessful attempt to become a member of INTERPOL. Since we witnessed that Priština gave up on a renewed attempt to join the organization 2 weeks ago, I wonder what the purpose of the tariffs is and what it justifies them with.

Instead of resuming the dialogue after the failure last year, Priština submitted a new application only 2 months later. At the INTERPOL General Assembly in Santiago, Chile, earlier this month, it decided to take back the application at the very beginning of the deliberations after it had realized that it would have ended in an even bigger debacle, i.e. that it would have been rejected by an even greater number of countries. I spoke with 82 Foreign Ministers before the General Assembly and, far from supporting the activities of so-called Kosovo, the vast majority of them decried these activities. I emphasize again that, ever since the beginning of the Brussels dialogue, Serbia has insisted that all topics, including membership in international organizations, should be the subjects of the negotiations. The constructiveness and the manner in which the question of Kosovo and Metohija’s participation in regional fora was resolved – through dialogue and on the basis of mutually acceptable agreement – provide telling evidence of the advantage of solving all questions by agreement.

Notwithstanding the condemnation by the entire international community and numerous calls that the decision be revoked, the tariffs have continued in force almost for a whole year. The damage that this illegal measure has caused amounts to several hundred million dollars and is increased with every passing day. Let me point out also on this occasion that the attempts to establish false equivalency between the responsibility of Belgrade and Priština for the cessation of the dialogue and the explanation that the tariffs decision has been taken in response to Serbia’s campaign to get the recognition of so-called Kosovo withdrawn are senseless and unacceptable. Serbia’s activities in this regard have been motivated by the campaign conducted by so-called Kosovo, with whole-hearted assistance by some of you, to win the recognition ever since its unilateral declaration of independence. Thus and therefore, if you are calling on Serbia to cease its campaign, please do call on Priština, too, to stop its lobbying and stop doing it yourselves. While you request Serbia to stop, the representatives of so-called Kosovo, hand-in-glove with Albanian diplomats, work, all over the world, on the recognition of the independence. While you request Serbia to stop, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation calls in its Declaration on all Muslim countries to recognize so-called Kosovo. While you request Serbia to stop, you, the representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, called on United Nations Member States almost at every Security Council meeting to recognize the independence of so-called Kosovo. You know what, we may be small, but we are not dumb. Let me remind those who allege that our activities and the withdrawal of the recognition of so-called Kosovo by 15 countries undermine the dialogue, that 25 countries recognized its UDI since the negotiations began in 2012; all along, though, Serbia participated in the dialogue. Even despite Priština’s refusal to fulfil its obligations from the Brussels Agreement over more than six years, including its failure to establish the Community of Serb Municipalities, Serbia did not discontinue the dialogue. Let me therefore repeat: the trade blockade is a measure not heard of in the world today; it has been taken unilaterally by Priština and Priština bears the sole responsibility for the fact that the dialogue has become immaterial.

Now, we hope that, after all, Priština will realize that it cannot achieve anything short of agreement with Serbia, that unilateral acts diminish prospects for solutions and that dialogue has no alternative. For its part, Serbia is ready for that moment.

Mr. President,

Allow me to take a brief look at the general elections held in Kosovo and Metohija recently. Serbia warned before the elections that the election campaign would be used to ramp up a political and any other hype against the Serbs. Regrettably, it came to pass. The Serbs were attacked, their shrines vandalized, provocations abounded, thick and fast. Notwithstanding the incidents, administrative obstacles, such as the ban of the use of Serbian documents in the election process, even though their use was allowed in the previous elections, and the ban of Serbian officials to enter the Province, the Serbian people voted in substantial numbers, demonstrating thus their unity and resolve once again to stay in Kosovo and Metohija and fight for their future. Yet, we have been witness to Priština’s displeasure with the election results and its renewed recourse, in the first post-election days, aimed at meddling with the Serbs’ election will, to fake stories and phony incidents, such as the alleged poisoning of the members of the Election Commission through contact with the election material brought over from central Serbia. Days after the melodramatic scenes, reminiscent of TV forensic series, with surgical masks and gowns on full display as if an ebola or variola epidemics was involved, the blood work done in Priština on those allegedly affected showed that the poisoning had been a fiction. In fact, it was an epidemics, that of lies, though, churned out by Priština’s disinformation mill. These manipulations may have carried the day in the past, yet, this time round, the international community will surely recognize Priština’s true intentions and call it out.

The singular nature of the situation in so-called Kosovo and in its society is evinced by the rise of the new leader, Albin Kurti, the man who called, during his entire political career, for the creation of Greater Albania. Evidently, he has no intention of giving up on the idea even after the elections at which he won the greatest number of votes: he flies, centre-stage in his office, the flag of Albania as he receives the diplomatic representatives of some of the countries represented in the Council. It is pertinent to pose a very important question in this regard: Does the fact that these representatives have been photographed against such a background tell us that some members of the international community give legitimacy to these dangerous and destabilizing intentions? You have spent much time all these years accusing Serbia of undermining the territorial integrity of so-called Kosovo, but your representatives sit in front of the flag of Albania bang in the middle of Priština and in the office of the aspiring Prime Minister of so-called Kosovo who denies the territorial integrity of Kosovo. Well, whatever happened to the flag of so-called Kosovo and why do you keep silent now? Albin Kurti, so-called Kosovo’s aspiring Prime Minister, does not mince his words: he says he won’t speak to the Serbian List, the winner at the elections and the legitimate representative of the Kosovo and Metohija Serbs. Some democracy indeed, with potential Prime Minister refusing to accept the election results that are not to his liking! Some rule of law, with potential Prime Minister putting us on notice that he will demand that all the agreements reached thus far be re-examined once he gets in power and says that most important part of the Brussels Agreement – the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities – is ’a dead letter’!

Albin Kurti’s statements have become more acerbic of late: he went on to say that he was going to demand Serbia to pay war reparations and Kosovo’s alleged financial claims. Perhaps Mr. Kurti is not familiar with the fact that Serbia has been paying the annuities on almost billion-dollar loans taken up by users in Kosovo and Metohija. How come nobody’s talking about the independence of so-called Kosovo from Serbia in this case? If you claim to be an independent State, why don’t you, guys, pay your own debts?

All these counter-productive actions and rhetoric are far from contributing to the creation of an atmosphere necessary to overcome the existing differences and build confidence among communities. I firmly believe that all those who oppose dialogue do so to the detriment of both Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija. I do hope, however, that Priština will remove the tariffs after the formation of the government and create conditions in that way for dialogue and a quest for a peaceful and compromise solution for all outstanding issues. I also hope that it will do away with its policy of hatred, intolerance and discrimination. For, we are not talking of elections and election campaigns alone; what is involved here is a long trend of the radicalization of the Albanian community for which the government in Priština bears outright responsibility.

The consequences of such policy are patently evident. The last year has been one of the more difficult periods for the security of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija. The Serbs’ rights to life, freedom and property have been targeted ever so often and their mistreatment by police and the judiciary has been on the rise. In its latest report, the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and Metohija records 183 inter-ethnic incidents in the first half of this year, almost 30 per cent more than in the preceding six months. These facts must not be turned a blind eye to.

The most dangerous methods of the intimidation of the Serbian population are certainly the frequent raids of the ROSU special unit of northern Kosovo and Metohija disguised as fight against organized crime. The incident of 28 May this year of which I spoke at the June meeting of the Security Council in greater detail was followed by another so-called police operation of the special unit in northern Kosovo 2 weeks ago. Arrests were made during the operation. Let me reiterate once again: raids of northern Kosovo and Metohija by heavily-armed formations composed exclusively of ethnic Albanians and conducted under various pretexts and with various motivations with the use of excessive force are but provocations fraught with immense destabilization potential for the already fragile security situation in the field. In that regard, it is of paramount importance that the agreements reached within the Brussels Agreement be strictly honoured and that KFOR act as the decisive factor to deter such and similar actions as they may increase instability and spark a spiral of violence hard to control.

Let me recall that, in addition to injured Serbs, 2 on-duty UNMIK members enjoying diplomatic immunity were arrested in contravention of international law and brutally beaten in the operation of 28 May. One of them, Russian national Mikhail Krasnoshchenko, was declared a persona non grata by Priština, contrary to each and every rule and regulation, as well as common logic; the other, Dejan Dimić, continues to be a subject of judicial proceedings. Well, what are the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija to expect, Mr. President, if members of international missions are treated in this way? I call on all Security Council member States to condemn these unlawful acts of Priština and demand that proceedings against UNMIK members be ceased.

Mr. President,

Let me draw your attention to a very important question mentioned in the Secretary-General’s Report: return of foreign terrorist fighters and their families to Kosovo and Metohija from the Middle East, Syria in particular. They number more than 250, the highest per capita rate of ISIS members in any country of Europe. As the Secretary-General notes in his Report, arrests were made of the persons who had attempted to form terrorist groups in Kosovo and Metohija, North Macedonia and Albania to attack the Kosovo and Metohija Serbs and KFOR. A validation of our caution of the real danger of terrorism for the people not only in Kosovo and Metohija and the Balkans, but in entire Europe.

Mr. President,

Distinguished members of the Security Council,

This Report of the Secretary-General, too, provides telling evidence of Priština’s arrogance in respect of the Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, flagrant desecration of monuments and attempts to pirate cultural identity. Novo Brdo, Dečani, Bogorodica Ljeviška and other endangered cultural and religious shrines have never been nor will they ever be, ’Kosovar’, regardless of Priština’s efforts to create a chasm between the Kosovo and Metohija communities and usurp and falsify history to erase every trace of the centuries-long Serbian presence in Kosovo and Metohija.

Falsehoods, like the nonsense that Vlora Çitaku uttered at the June meeting of the Security Council whereby she related the question of Kosovo and Metohija to decolonization without any legal, political or moral foundation, are peddled with this aim in mind. Let me advise that Kosovo and Metohija are not mentioned in any United Nations decolonization document. This is an insult to all States that were the victims of colonization and underwent the arduous process of decolonization.

The proof of the symptom of a serious condition of mendacity endemic in Kosovo and Metohija today is the big lie, proffered by Ms. Çitaku at the meetings of this body, that the Albanians in Serbia had no right to use the Albanian language and script. The document that I am going to show you, issued by the Serbian authorities in 1990, the year when Vlora Çitaku was 10 years old, is telltale evidence of the lie. This is a birth certificate issued in Kosovo and Metohija at that time. Even the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija were issued documents in two languages, in Albanian first, in Serbian second. Speaking of documents, Ms. Çitaku continues to be a citizen of the Republic of Serbia; her name was entered in the Book of Births for Priština under number 6194 for 1980. She never requested release from Serbian citizenship. She may now say that it is irrelevant for her; yet, she’d better speak about it with the representative of Germany in this meeting. Germany, let me advise her, requests every Kosovo Albanian to submit a certificate of release from the Serbian citizenship.

Regrettably, Priština continues to spread misinformation regarding the very sensitive topic of sexual violence in conflict as well: the numbers it manipulates with are not rooted in the data of any official institution, including its own Commission set up to establish the status of victims of the violence. Priština claims that there are 20 000 victims; yet, as noted in the Secretary-General’s Report, 1 057 applications have been received so far out which 406 applicants have been granted survivor status.

Let me point out once again that Serbia is firmly committed to the establishment of facts and the punishment of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes and reiterate that it has consistently called for justice for all victims and for de-politization of this question. The Report in front of us, though, corroborates our concerns in this regard as the Secretary-General says that Kosovo’s reparation process falls short of being fully inclusive and needs a strengthened rights-based approach. It currently excludes cases of sexual violence that occurred in the aftermath of the conflict. It goes on to note with concern the absence of non-majority communities in the verification and compensation process.

Serbia firmly believes that each and every crime must be punished and has done everything to try and sentence the perpetrators. Its cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was also exemplary. However, the justice for crimes committed against Serbs and other non-Albanians seems to be still a long time coming. We do hope, though, that the Specialist Chambers, which has already summoned 110 former KLA members, will issue first indictments and that justice for all the victims of the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija will finally be served.

Mr. President,

The review of the situation on the ground gives us reason to believe that UNMIK and other Missions in Kosovo and Metohija (EULEX, KFOR, OMIK) should continue their work. They are of paramount importance for the completion of the mandates they have been given by UNSCR 1244 (1999) and play the key role in ensuring the physical safety and the fate of many in Kosovo and Metohija. In that regard, it is very important to honour the Resolution; it reaffirms the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia and continues to be in force. The legal framework of UNMIK established under the Resolution continues to apply as pointed out by Mr. Miguel de Serpa Soares, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, in his Statement to the Security Council meeting last June.

Therefore, Mr. President, we must continue to discuss Kosovo and Metohija in the Security Council. The importance of this question is evinced also by the fact that the United States appointed 2 representatives to address it. We expect that the European Union, too, will appoint its representative soon.

Distinguished representatives,

I know that you have prepared Statements for this meeting. Some of you will say that we do not need UNMIK any more; both sides will be called on to resume the dialogue; and some of you will extol the democratic achievements of so-called Kosovo. Yet, what I ask of you instead, is that we proceed and discuss together the issue of Kosovo and Metohija matter-of-factly; we have not had such discussions in Security Council meetings over years. In many of them, though, I posed some very pertinent questions and I shall pose them this time again:

  - Is it acceptable for you that democratic institutions do not implement agreements and fail to abide by their commitments? Will the international community stand aside and allow the Brussels Agreement and the Community of Serb Municipalities to remain a ’dead letter’ indeed, as Kurti keeps telling us? Why did we then negotiate and waste our time? Didn’t you hail Thaçi and me when we signed the Brussels Agreement?

  - Can you accept the intimidation of returnees, attacks on, and discrimination of, members of non-majority communities, happening day in and day out, as a normal state of affairs?

  - How do you comment provocations and incidents, assaults and woundings, stoning of buses, destruction of clinics and desecration of churches and tombstones, hate speech and the UÇK scriblings on Serbian houses?

  - Does the return of 1.9 per cent of Serbian IDPs hit the bar of the respect of human rights? Is this a sufficient percentage so that further returns should be given up on? Does it mean that the expulsion of 200 000 Serbs is a closed book now, not to be opened again?

Could you please make an effort and answer these very relevant questions, short of relativizing your answers and without invoking history? For, history can hardly furnish a justification for the sad and sorry life that the Kosovo and Metohija Serbs live in the middle of Europe in the twenty-first century. You don’t owe these answers to me; you owe them to the Serbian children in Kosovo and Metohija whose future will, most certainly, be bereft of fundamental human rights; you owe them to the Serbs in enclaves, IDPs and to Serbian Orthodox nuns living their lives behind barbed wire.

Serbia will continue to bring to international attention their trials and tribulations and the violations of international law. However, it will also continue to demonstrate, in good faith, its dedication to peace and look for a compromise solution in order to make the space where Serbs and Albanians have lived together for centuries a better place to live in in the twenty-first century.

Thank you.