YouSaid · the spoken record

Ashdown

lines on the record: 276
first: 2002-10-23
most recent: 2005-11-15
sittings or episodes: 7
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“It will be militarily robust and it will brook no challenges to peace and order in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, this also unmistakably signals Bosnia and Herzegovina's European destiny. The commitment of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina's potential future membership is now clear. This process will allow the European Union to bring together all its assets in Bosnia and Herzegovina under my coordination. These assets are the European Union-led force (EUFOR), the European Union Police Mission, the European Union Monitoring Mission and the European Commission delegation with its â‚¬65 million a year assistance programme, in addition to the work of the European Union member States.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“On 2 December, we will see the next logical evolution, when the Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) will terminate and NATO will hand over leadership of the military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union (EU). That will be a difficult transition, but I am happy to report to the Council that I am confident it will go smoothly and well. I also hope that most Bosnians will frankly not notice the difference. Eighty per cent of the troops on the ground within SFOR are already European troops, and while shoulder flashes and flags will undoubtedly change, the commitment to a safe and secure environment will not. The new force will look very much like SFOR, will operate along the same lines and provide the same level of security.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“I think that this is a very significant achievement, only nine years after Dayton. Bosnia and Herzegovina is changing, and it is therefore appropriate that the international community should start to adjust its presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina also, to reflect changing times and changing challenges. We have done that continuously, of course, since Dayton. The Office of the High Representative has steadily evolved in its role, acquiring the Bonn powers two years into its mandate and using them in different ways to promote peace implementation since then. We are now reducing very substantially the use of these powers, and this should - and I believe will - continue. The same has been true of the NATO-led international military presence. It has been reduced in size as stability has grown - from 65,000 after Dayton to only 7,000 today.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“The Bosnia and Herzegovina Defence Minister, Minister Radovanovie, has served extremely competently since May as co-chair of the Defence Reform Commission. In December, NATO will take on the leadership of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Defence Reform Commission and of defence reform in general. I would like to take this opportunity to pay a warm public tribute to James Locher from the United States Department of Defense, who was seconded to us. His tenacity, patience and sure touch have been the keys to the huge progress made on defence reform, and we all owe Mr. Locher a great debt of thanks. Taken together, all of these developments mean that Bosnia and Herzegovina is, I think, now moving decisively down that road to membership of the European Union and of NATO and to a life as a normal, peaceful European country.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“Another one of our priorities is the establishment in good time and in good order of the Indirect Taxation Authority covering the whole State. I am glad to report that that is now up and running, and we are in the process of merging the entity customs administrations into a single State body and preparing for the introduction of a value-added tax (VAT) on 1 January 2006. That is a difficult deadline, but I still believe we will meet it. On defence reform, we have continued to move forward in meeting the 14 benchmarks set by NATO, with the appointment of the first post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina Defence Minister and key general staff officers, as well as the significant downsizing of entity armed forces.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“The United Nations in New York has been so far unable to provide us with evidence that would contradict such allegations. We consider that the capacity of the United Nations to do so is key to the determination of whether a review mechanism is necessary in those cases. Finally, we are of course conscious that a review of decisions rendered pursuant to a mandate from the United Nations would require the authorization of the Organization and we remain at the Council's disposal to find an adequate solution that will preserve the huge and invaluable legacy of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the International Police Task Force and its other agencies. This is an important issue, but it must not distract us from the implementation priorities that I described earlier. Allow me now to return briefly to those priorities.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“The Human Rights Commission within the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina rendered a decision this summer making it clear that the implementation of the United Nations certification decisions by domestic authorities did not, as claimed, Violate the rights of police officers under the European Convention on Human Rights. We welcome that judgment. We believe that the need to review all United Nations decisions on questions of law and fact can now be measured against that decision. That is good. However, we are still facing daily allegations of procedural shortcomings. I do not know whether or not those are justified. Many examples were sent to my Office by the representative of another United Nations agency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming that there have been deficiencies of procedure.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“Although we are making significant progress on the issue of implementation, we still need to find a solution with respect to the problematic cases that are left over - a matter which is, I regret, still under discussion with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and yet to be resolved. Let me explain. It was agreed in May this year with the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations that efforts to ensure full implementation of United Nations decisions would be delinked from those alleged problematic cases.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“On policing, let me just touch for a moment, ifI may, on an important - and perhaps, some may think, delicate - issue: the question of police certification. This was an issue which was unresolved after the closure of the International Police Task Force. Following the presidential statement issued by the Security Council in June, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested all competent national authorities to harmonize their laws in order to give full effect to the United Nations certification decisions. I welcome that. We now expect the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities to adopt such amendments shortly. We will monitor the situation closely and report back to the Council.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“With the help of the European police mission, we are now making progress in reforming the police and creating in Bosnia and Herzegovina an effective policing structure. The State Investigation and Protection Agency - if you like, the State's Federal Bureau of Investigation - is now established in its own premises and becoming an increasingly credible body in the law enforcement community, though that has much further to go before I am fully satisfied. And, crucially, a Police Restructuring Commission, chaired by former Belgian Prime Minister Martins, was established on the initiative of Prime Minister Terzic on 2 July. It will report at the end of the year and is charged with devising a single policing structure for the country in order to enable it to fight crime effectively.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“Indictments and, now, trials of the once untouchable, the high and the mighty, are beginning, I hope, to convince the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina that there will be no immunity for the rich and powerful from whatever national community they come. Another of our priorities is to strengthen the functionality of the Council of Ministers. That is much needed. We need to establish properly functioning ministries, properly staffed and properly located. Meanwhile, the entity intelligence agencies have been abolished and the State-level agency formally commenced operations on 1 June, following the merger of its predecessors - a huge and delicate task which is proceeding, I believe, relatively smoothly.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“This year we have downsized the Office, handed over those areas where we have finished our task to the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities, and reduced our size by no less than 25 per cent. That will continue. Within that overall umbrella of the Mission Implementation Plan, we have now identified six key priorities for implementation in the coming year. Those all relate to strengthening key institutions that are essential for the effective functioning of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina within the Euro-Atlantic institutions. One of those priorities is the State Court, which is already starting to deliver real results.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“Meanwhile, on the municipal front, legislation providing for the direct election of mayors was adopted in time for the 2 October municipal elections. Those elections were conducted by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities, funded exclusively by Bosnia and Herzegovina and held on an entirely peaceful basis. The first Brcko district elections were held - a precondition for normalizing the district's autonomous status and paving the way, in the relatively near future, I hope, to winding up the Brcko supervisory regime. Within the Office of the High Representative, we continue to be guided by our Mission Implementation Plan and the four core tasks it contains: establishing the rule of law, economic reform, institution building, and defence/security reform.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“In the economic area, we have seen the passage of a new Bosnia and Herzegovina public procurement law; crucial reforms in the energy sector that have enabled the reconnection through Bosnia and Herzegovina of the entire South-East European electricity grid; the initiation of the third phase of the Bulldozer Initiative, designed to do away with bureaucratic barriers to honest trade and business; and, perhaps most significantly of all - and I pay tribute to the tough decisions that have been taken by the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities in this matter - the resolution of the painful and difficult issue of the mountain of post-war internal debt, which otherwise could very easily have derailed the whole economy and the State's economic future.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“We have had a small international team in Mostar which has been working very closely with the authorities there to implement the new statute. The challenge now will be to ensure that the new unified administration of Mostar city, reflecting the results of the recent October municipal elections, beds down successfully as we go into the new year and starts delivering Government services in the interests of its citizens. We have also continued, I think, to make good progress in the judicial field. The single High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, covering the whole State, was established on I May and we are on course for Bosnia and Herzegovina to start processing its own war crimes cases in its own domestic war crimes chamber from January 2005 - a crucial step towards statehood.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“The pull of Brussels is starting to be as, if not more, effective than the push of the Bonn Powers when it comes to driving the reform process. Since I last spoke to the Council in March, we have notched up some further significant steps forward in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have moved it closer to meeting the requirements set out by the EU and NATO. This year has seen steady progress in adopting reform legislation and providing for new state-level institutions, even if implementation of those laws has often lagged behind. The process of unifying Mostar has proceeded on track and broadly on time. That most intractable of all Bosnia and Herzegovina's problems is now moving, I think, towards a successful conclusion.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“That is the only secure future Bosnia and Herzegovina has and I think everyone, across all the political parties and the wide spectrum of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, recognizes and understands that. Getting through those initial gates, embarking on stabilization and association agreement negotiations and entering PfP will move Bosnia and Herzegovina decisively forward. It will lock the country into a different framework that will pull the reform process and make possible the steady transformation of the international community's role in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the eventual phasing out of my position and my Office. Bosnia is now moving decisively from the era of Dayton into the era of Brussels.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“To be sure, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long way to go before it becomes a member State of the European Union - its declared ambition - or a paid-up ally in NATO - which is, again, a goal it wishes to achieve. But if one wonders sometimes whether it will ever reach those goals - and, incidentally, I am convinced that it will - then one should look, not at how far there is to go, but at how far Bosnia and Herzegovina has already come. Bosnia and Herzegovina today, like its neighbours in the Balkan region, is very firmly focused on its twin strategic goals as a country: qualifying to begin negotiations with the European Union on a stabilization and association agreement, and gaining admission to the Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). There is, quite simply, no other game in town.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“In preparing for this morning, I thought I would just remind myself how things looked in Bosnia and Herzegovina exactly 10 years ago, in November 1994. Then, the Council's agenda was dominated by Bosnia and Herzegovina: it was daily denouncing bombings, even the apparent use of napalm and cluster bombs in the Bihac pocket, and demanding access for humanitarian convoys. In all, during that year of 1994, the Council issued 14 statements on Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the war raged. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very different country now, in a very different region. Whatever our occasional frustrations - and they come as part of the job - about the pace of progress, it is worth reminding ourselves of that simple fact.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“Lord Ashdown: I am very pleased indeed to be here again to brief the Council on developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, if I may say so, especially pleased to be here with my colleague Mladen Ivanie, the Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Last year, Prime Minister Terzie attended, and it seems to me very appropriate that there should be a senior minister in the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina present when I deliver my briefing. I am grateful for the chance to address the Council. These days Bosnia and Herzegovina features, thank goodness, rather rarely as a stand-alone item on the Council's agenda. That is a sign, thank heavens, of how much things have changed for the better in the last nine or 10 years. A decade ago, of course, things were very different.”
2004-11-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5075 (2004) · source
“We are making progress, but we still have a long way to go. Pakistan is correct in saying that the break- up of those criminal networks is a job yet to be completed. But Bosnia and Herzegovina is now palpably and definitely passing out of the dark tunnel of conflict and embarking on the bright road that leads to Europe and the Atlantic institutions. That road is long. It is going to be tough. And we could still fail. We need two things. We need from the international community what has been expressed so powerfully - and I am grateful for it - today around the room: continued support to see this thing through to success. And from the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities and my colleagues within those authorities, we need an accelerated process of reform.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is passing out of the era of Dayton and into the era of Brussels. More and more, the pull of Brussels and Atlantic relationships is taking over from the push of the Bonn Powers. The magnetic draw of Europe and the Atlantic institutions is now the driving force for reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that alters the context of our engagement. I will sum up simply by saying that if I have given an optimistic report, it is because I feel optimistic about the steps that Bosnia and Herzegovina has, remarkably, been able to make. I do not believe any country - any country - that I know of in history, and certainly none within my experience, has come so far, so fast, from such a terrible war as Bosnia and Herzegovina has managed to do, with the assistance of the international community.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“I want to underline again that one current cause for nervousness on my part relates to the fact that the independence of the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina - which ought to be an issue upon which we cannot and must not compromise if Bosnia and Herzegovina is to achieve statehood as a modern European State - both in terms of appointments and the decision-making process, is currently under pressure. I cannot hide that from the Council. I believe that in the next two to three weeks we will see that pressure mounting. It must be resisted; there can be no compromise on the question of independent appointments to and the action of the judiciary. My last point is simply to say that the representative of Ireland, speaking on behalf of the presidency of the European Union, expressed a view which I hold very strongly.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The first is that this is not an exit strategy for the international community; it is an entry strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina into Euro-Atlantic institutions. That is the context in which it will be taking place. Secondly, the changed relationship reflected by the Prime Minister's presence here today is very much part of the beginning of a process to alter the nature of the international community's engagement in Bosnia and Herzegovina as we progressively hand things over to our colleagues. My penultimate point is this: Algeria mentioned the emphasis on the judiciary, and I very much welcome that. It is very important.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“President, I think I should share with you the thought that while we look to Zagreb with confidence about the future, we look with some nervousness to see what will happen in Belgrade. We hope that that will continue, as in the past. One question touched on the exit strategy. It is right and proper that we should begin to address this. Next year will be the tenth anniversary of Dayton. It is important that we start thinking about this. In my view, the international community cannot exist in Bosnia on one day, and no longer exist the next. It is a transitional process. It may well pass from a High Representative to a European special representative. There are issues about the use of the Bonn Powers. All of these have to be addressed. But Prime Minister Terzic is correct in saying two things, to which I would draw attention.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“And we have seen in the past how much that can affect, in a malevolent way, the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I was asked to make a judgement about how the regional relationships stand. After a recent visit to Zagreb, I remain convinced and reassured - and I warmly welcome this - that the constructive policy followed by the Government of Croatia will continue and may even accelerate under the new Government. This is a great asset to us in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is too early for us to say what the situation will be in Belgrade, because that Government is hardly formed, and its nature and characteristics we do not know. Although it may be undiplomatic of me to do so, Mr.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Then, when the State serves its citizens by providing them with the rule of law, the opportunity of a job, a chance to educate their children and a decent health service, over time, citizens will first trust their State, and then have a sense of identity with it. The establishment of a citizen's identity in the State is not an event, it is a process. And that process begins with providing good governance for citizens, something to which I know the Prime Minister is committed, as, indeed, am I. The United Kingdom asked about the regional context. This is vital to us. We can make no progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina except - as the representative of Croatia said - in concert with our neighbours. The Balkans either moves ahead in concert, or it does not move ahead.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“What we need is processes that lead us from where we are to where we want to be. It is true, as Germany says, that there are many in Herzegovina - Croats - who do not have a sense of identity with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also true that there are many Serbs in Republika Srpska that do not have a sense of identity with the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But I cannot pass a law that commands them to love their State, however much some might require me to do so. What we can do - what is practically possible - is to build an efficient, functioning State that serves its citizens.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“On the issue of the Bonn Powers, it has been my practice - and it will continue to be so - to coordinate in the closest way possible with my Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board colleagues, among the ambassadors of the Steering Board in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, more formally, in our regular meetings throughout the year. We do not always agree about how to proceed. But I am grateful, indeed, for the support from PIC members, especially sometimes when they do not necessarily agree with everything that I am doing. That cohesion is very important to us. Germany talked about identity with the State. What I think we are looking at in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what is being seen now, is the advantage of looking at things as a process, not as an event.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“May I briefly comment on some other points. The representative of Russia mentioned that all these reforms have taken place within Dayton, and he is right. I think it may well be that in the past we allowed the Dayton Agreement to be exploited for its opportunities for obstructionism. What we have learned in the past year or 18 months - and I express my gratitude for the support of the Russian Federation in this respect - is that we have begun to exploit the Dayton framework for its opportunities for reform. I am firmly of the view that my powers rest at the limits of Dayton; I cannot go beyond Dayton. What we need to do to reform Bosnia and Herzegovina will have to be done within Dayton, using the procedures of Dayton to amend itself.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“And secondly, in view of the extreme difficulties that this may put on Prime Minister Terzic's Government, I hope it will be done in a manner in which I know Mr. Guehenno is intending to act anyway: in consultation with the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities. I think they need to be brought into the process of how we put this right. In my judgement, it would be wrong for us simply to act without consulting with them. The Council has heard Prime Minister Terzic's commitment to do what is necessary. I think it is necessary to bring them into the circle of consultation when the Council decides how to proceed. However, there can be no doubt that the authority of the United Nations and the Security Council must be fully exercised in this matter, and there can be no doubt about what the outcome should be.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“It is true to say that it was Bosnia and Herzegovina's responsibility to pass the appropriate legislation a year ago. That is the truth, but it is not the whole truth. Others are also involved. At that stage, Bosnia and Herzegovina was doing what it was told to do on all matters related to police. I just think it is important that I should register with the Council that, although this must be done in the way that Mr. Guehenno has suggested that all members have confirmed, it needs to be done with sensitivity and concern. I make only two appeals to the Council. The first is to reinforce the appeal made by the representative of the United Kingdom: some kind of review process is necessary here in order not only that justice should be done but that it should be seen to be done.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Incidentally, let me make the point that just as my mandate does not currently extend to an area which is related to annex 11 - rather than to my mandate, under annex 10 - that also applies to the European Union Police Mission, whose mandate is being carefully negotiated and does not include - at least at the moment - involvement in carrying out decisions issued with the full authority of the Security Council. Its mandate would have to be changed for it to become involved in that process. That is a legal point, but I think it is an important one to make to the Council. As the Council has heard in what Prime Minister Terzic said, this is going to be very, very difficult for the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities to carry out. There are 150 appeals in place, affecting people's livelihoods, before the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Guehenno made an extremely important and useful contribution earlier on. I am grateful to him for his cooperation and for the work that we have been doing together for some time. The position is up to the Council to decide. It is not my responsibility. It is the Council's responsibility. This was a United Nations-mandated area under annex 11 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. My mandate is under annex 10. So, I hope the Council will now address this along the lines that Mr. Guehenno has suggested. I stand read to help in that process, but action on that lies with the Council.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“If I touch on them quickly that is not in any sense to underestimate the gratitude which I know my colleagues in the international community, and the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities too, feel for those expressions of support, which range from the verbal ones in the Council - as valuable as they are - to the practical ones in terms of police and troops on the ground. I would like to thank especially Chile, Spain, Angola, the Philippines, Romania, Brazil, China, Pakistan, Benin and France. Their representatives have expressed their support, and I am very grateful for that. Others had specific points that I will touch on in what I hope is a brief response. I shall first touch on this very delicate and, as Prime Minister Terzic has quite rightly said, very complex issue on the de-registration of police, on which Mr.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Lord Ashdown: Seeing the lateness of the hour, I am reminded of when I was first elected as a young member of the British Parliament. I think, as something of a surprise, I defeated a rather older Member of Parliament from another party, who had held the seat. He came to me afterwards when the results had been announced and said "My boy, I give you one piece of advice: never stand long between an audience and its meal". I am rather conscious that I am standing between Council members and theirs. So, I think I had better be fairly swift. I will try to respond to the particular points made to me. But I want briefly to express my thanks to those countries whose interventions were dedicated to offering us expressions of support.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“If the Council does so, then I have every confidence that a much brighter future awaits that small but important European country than its tragic past might a few years ago have allowed us to imagine was even possible.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The biggest danger now to that future, it seems to me, is a lack of confidence - a lack of confidence on the part of some of the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities that they really can make their country, one day, a member of NATO and of the EU. That lack of confidence does not extend to the Prime Minister or the Council of Ministers, but it does to others, and perhaps, if I may say it, there is also a lack of confidence on the part of some in the international community that this sort of lasting success can be achieved in a country with such a history. My appeal to the Council today is a simple one: stick with the job and finish it. Maintain that support, maintain the Council's commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina, even in the face of competing issues elsewhere in the world.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“But in its own small way, Bosnia and Herzegovina is, I believe, on the threshold of becoming a genuine success story: an example of how it is possible to pick up the pieces, even after such a terrible war, and to work together - the international community and the Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities - towards a brighter future. Bosnia and Herzegovina is, I believe, on its way to becoming one of the modern world's more successful exercises in peace stabilization, thanks to the steady, generous commitment of the international community and, above all, to the ordinary people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who just want to return to peaceful lives and a decent future for their children. They, in my view, are the real heroes of this.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“They believe these will help clarify that complex, but potentially very damaging matter, and ensure that domestic courts, as well as other authorities involved, are left in no doubt as to the scope and the nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina's international obligations to implement IPTF decisions. I would like to make a few remarks in closing. I hope it is clear from what I have said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is continuing steadily but surely to make progress - towards a return to normality, towards becoming a modern European country and towards taking the governance of its affairs into its own hands. It is now more than eight years since the war ended. Bosnia and Herzegovina has long since slipped from the headlines.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The problem stems mainly from the fact that there was a failure to transpose Security Council resolutions into local law. The laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina regulating the dismissal of police officers need to be amended. We will need the assistance of the members of the Security Council to make this happen and to ensure that the legacy of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina is preserved. I am happy to report to the Council that during my meeting with DPKO yesterday, officials recognized the seriousness of this matter and made proposals to resolve it.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The situation is continuing to deteriorate, as the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina has now decided that it is competent to examine whether such dismissals were carried out in accordance with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. Needless to say, this is a serious matter. The United Nations will want to protect the Organization's valuable legacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations de-certification process weeded out police officers whose past, particularly during the war, disqualified them from remaining in the police. If we are to ensure that the past does not return to that tragic country, that process cannot be allowed to unravel, and United Nations decisions in this matter must prevail and continue to stand. This is a complex legal issue.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Guehenno in order to try to identify a solution to the challenges of police officers to the decisions of the United Nations International Police Task Force (IPTF) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which wound up at the end of 2002. There are currently more than 150 non-certified police officers who have asked the courts to assess the legality of their employer's decision to dismiss them on the grounds that they had not been certified under the IPTF process. Even though most of those proceedings are pending, in January the first non-certified police officer dismissed under ITPF was reinstated following an order from a domestic court.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The new Commissioner, Kevin Carty from Ireland, will take up his post in the next few weeks, and we look forward to welcoming him, and he and his mission will continue to have my full and total support. One of the more worrying problems in the past six months relevant to policing issues - one that will command the new Commissioner's attention, as it is, indeed, commanding mine - is the growing number of challenges to the United Nations-led police certification processes within the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For over a year now I have been in contact with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and Mr.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“But I repeat that the pace of reform must be accelerated. It was therefore a particular shock to us all to when our colleague and my close friend, Sven Frederiksen, the first European Union Police Mission (EUPM) Police Commissioner, died suddenly in Sarajevo earlier this year. Sven was a dedicated policeman in the finest international tradition, and a fine public servant. He was well known, of course, to the United Nations, which he served so effectively in a number of capacities. He will be - he is being - sorely missed, and I know the Council will join with me in paying him tribute today. The work of the EUPM, however, goes on, just as I know Sven would have wanted it to.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“An estimated 350,000 refugees and displaced persons have not yet returned to their pre-war homes, although many among them still express the desire to do so. While the role of the Office of the High Representative in this process has thus altered from one of driving forward refugee return to one of monitoring the local authorities" efforts, I must make clear to the Council that this is not an area which the international community can afford to ignore. We need to keep a close eye on it and to be ready to intervene as necessary - particularly since there are some early signs that some of the things that should have been done since the handover remain, as yet, uncompleted. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, cooperation within the international community remains close and effective. We are operating together well as a team.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“The finalization of the property law implementation process in all Bosnia and Herzegovina municipalities is expected in the next few months. These are clearly encouraging developments, beyond what many would have thought possible only a few years ago. The main benchmarks for the transfer to domestic authorities of all annex VII responsibilities have now been met. At the end of last year, therefore, I was able to close down the High Representative's Refugee and Return Task Force - a major department of the Office - on schedule, with a complete handover of duties to the Bosnia and Herzegovina Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees. We have retained a small annex VII Verification Unit to monitor and assist the transfer process, as necessary. That said, however, the story of refugee returns is as yet far from finished.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“Despite that situation, however, on the whole the story of refugee return in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a remarkably positive one. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the total number of registered returns had risen to nearly 1 million people by the end of last year - a miraculous total, following such a terrible war. Included in that figure were some 430,000 - almost half a million - so-called minority returns. Meanwhile, the countrywide property repossession rate rose to more than 90 per cent. While a few municipalities fell short, those failures were due, in our view, more to bureaucratic difficulties than to political or ethnic obstruction - which is in itself another promising sign.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“We, together with the International Monetary Fund and local government agencies, are preparing a strategy to reduce obligations to sustainable levels, while at the same time respecting the basic rights of war restitution claimants. I should underline to the Council, however, that this process is likely to prove exceptionally painful, very difficult and, politically, highly contentious in the months ahead. Other necessary actions include identifying and removing obstacles to the privatization process - which came to a virtual standstill earlier this year - as well as stimulating inward investment and further job creation. The lack ofjobs is regularly cited as a reason why many refugees still have not returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source
“In the second stage of the bulldozer reform, 50 further reforms have been proposed, with local entrepreneurs doing the lion's share of the work lobbying the Government for their acceptance. We hope to help launch a third and final stage next month, under full local ownership. We are also launching a major drive to coordinate efforts to resolve the problem of internal debt, which represents a serious threat to the economy and will, I think, occupy much of our attention in the months ahead. Taken together, Bosnia and Herzegovina's wartime debts - including frozen hard currency deposits, budgetary arrears and legitimate claims for war damages - amount to, approximately, a massive â‚¬4 billion. The last country that had to cope with wartime debts of that order was probably the Weimar Republic, Germany.”
2004-03-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4920 (2004) · source