YouSaid · the spoken record

Daeie

lines on the record: 185
first: 2012-08-21
most recent: 2019-02-07
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

“Twenty long years after the conflict, it is high time we turned a page in the history of Serbian-Albanian relations and proceeded to lasting peace.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“If it does not do so, however, it will be clear that it is not after agreements and compromise, but rather it is after blackmail. It is my earnest hope that this year will not be beset by the challenges we faced in the past period, the like of which we have not yet managed to overcome. Let me reiterate once again that Serbia continues to maintain that problems should be solved through dialogue and with respect for the principles of international law. We trust and believe that appropriate conditions will be created in that regard. For our part, we shall continue to conduct a policy of peace, but we expect that the other side will fulfil its obligations and refrain from unilateral acts and provocation.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“If the situation is as it says, then how can it proclaim to own those companies? Serbia is fully committed to dialogue and stands ready to move forward with it, but it will happen only once Pristina revokes its decision on taxes. I thank the members of the international community that have condemned the decision of Pristina and called on it to revoke it. I plead with them, at the same time, to persevere and continue to bring pressure to bear on the representatives of Pristina so that the decision can finally be revoked and we can continue with the talks, despite some serious and significant consequences that have already taken place. It is my hope that Pristina will revoke the taxes; it would be reasonable and open the door to the talks.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We must speak, today and tomorrow, about the 200,000 displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija, just as we would for any other such person in Europe or elsewhere in the world, for each and every one of them has the right to return home. A conclusion in the dialogue was that the question ofproperty would also be a topic ofdiscussion. Heedless of that conclusion, Pristina took a one-sided decision to confiscate the property of the Trepca mines. Let me recall that, so far, Serbia has paid $750 million, with $200 million remaining, on the loan taken out on behalf of the Kosovo and Metohija borrowers, even though so- called Kosovo is a member of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. With Serbia paying the debt, why is Kosovo not a part of Serbia? If it is an independent country, why does it not pay off its loans itself?”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“It is self-defeating to speak of those numbers today, 20 years after the establishment of the international civil presence, that is, the adoption of resolution 1244 (1999), which entrusted the international civil presence with a clear responsibility of "assuring the safe and unimpeded return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Kosovo." (resolution 1244 (1999), para. 11 (k)) Do the constant attacks on returnees and their property, pressure and low-intensity violence, discrimination and intolerance tell the Council anything as to whether the goal that was proclaimed 20 years ago has really been achieved? And are we ready for political goals and strategic considerations to close our eyes to what is happening and say that the situation is peaceful and stable? We must not, and we do not want to, allow that to happen.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“On the other hand, no location in Kosovo and Metohija that is suspected of containing mass graves of killed Serbs, Roma or disloyal Albanians has been checked to date, 20 years after the confrontation, despite many requests made by our side. According to the recent report of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission in Kosovo, the number of incidents directed at the Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija last year increased by as much as 30 per cent, compared to 2017. How are we to expect then that any progress will be made in the return of the internally displaced persons, let alone in the building ofa multi-ethnic democratic society, if no basic human rights, including the right to a safe and secure life for all in Kosovo and Metohija, are not respected?”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“It does not indicate that a large number of missing Albanians was kidnapped and certainly killed by the Kosovo Liberation Army. Following 10 June 1999, they totalled 55. So far, none of Pristina's representatives have said if a joint consolidated list of missing persons has been established, or that the tracking of missing persons continues in agreement and cooperation of the competent bodies ofthe commissions under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. At the same time, Pristina refuses to make public that the human remains of 900 Kosovo and Metohija Albanians were exhumed at locations in central Serbia from 2001 to 2017 and released to their families, and that each and every request it submitted to check for potential mass or individual graves has received a response.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“One of the reasons is attempts to conceal the settling of accounts by the Kosovo Liberation Army with their disloyal fellow Albanians: 377 of them killed at the hands of their co-nationals. We should also mention that 1,250 Kosovo and Metohija Albanians were killed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1998 and at the beginning of 1999, prior to the NATO aggression, to which testimonies of members of many families have been made and are in our possession. Pristina is less than eager to unveil the number ofkilled or missing members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which, according to international sources, reaches 2,132. Pristina continues to contend that the missing persons number is 1,647, but fails to point out that the number includes 570 Serbs and non-Albanians.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“What happened, however, was an armed conflict between two warring parties: between regular armed forces and police and the insurgent and terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army. Albanians do not mention that the victims included 2,197 Serbs, 159 Roma, 95 Bosniaks, 78 Ashkalis, 75 Montenegrins, 38 Egyptians and 46 members of other communities, who had lived in peace and harmony in the province. Speaking of the numbers, let it be known that 2,725 Serbs and other non-Albanians were reported as killed or missing. Special fervour is displayed in hiding the truth that most crimes were committed after the withdrawal of the regular armed forces of Serbia from the province in June 1999.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Selimi has been on a conditional release since he was convicted of war crimes against Serbia. That is the person who was appointed as an adviser to the Prime Minister of so-called Kosovo. That is of crucial importance for the stabilization of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and the efforts to achieve historical reconciliation. It is also important, however, to push back the unscrupulous lies and montage of information brought forth incessantly by the highest-ranking Kosovo Albanian officials to cover up their own crimes, who continue to posture as victims of the conflict. They misuse and viciously manipulate the data with the aim of incriminating Serbs alone for all the atrocities committed in Kosovo and Metohija, as if only their victims i their expellees, killed, missing and tortured - mattered.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“The Commission of the Republic of Serbia on Missing Persons continues to collect evidence in its archives with regard to more than 580 Serbs and non-Albanians incarcerated in approximately 140 illegal prisons. The investigation must continue, as information and evidence abound. The "yellow house" and the crimes relating to illegally trafficking in human organs committed therein must be investigated, as well. We hope that Pristina will cooperate with the competent institutions so that those crimes will be punished. Yet war criminal Sylejman Selimi has been appointed as an adviser to the Prime Minister of so-called Kosovo, a fact that has been condemned, including by the United States Ambassador in Pristina. There is not much room for optimism, is there? I would also like to remind the Council that Mr.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“At the same time, we hope that the initial indictments will soon be issued, While especially bearing in mind the importance of that step for revealing the perpetrators of the crimes committed against Serbs and other non-Albanians. Those who were served hearing summons included several high- ranking officials, former members of the command structure of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army. That is of paramount importance, as ample evidence has been collected linking those individuals to crimes committed in Kosovo and Metohija. Given the evidence, it is now important to issue arrest warrants and try alleged offenders in a judicial institution, which, to date, has never been done. A large number of Serbs and non-Albanians imprisoned by the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army were killed, while others escaped or were released.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Many errors have been made over the past 20 years, and, for that reason, I call on members not to make the same mistake of making hasty decisions. Assertions that the Mission is unnecessary and has completed its mandate do not reflect reality. Ramush Haradinaj's accusation that UNMIK and the Secretary-General issue fake reports warrants our collective condemnation, as does the decision to discontinue cooperation with the international Organization's Mission. Let me recall that Haradinaj accused the European Union of killing the dialogue in a meeting with the highest-ranking officials of the Union. We welcome the fact that the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Office of the Specialist Prosecutor began hearings concerning certain individuals from Kosovo and Metohija.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We take this opportunity to call for solving all issues through dialogue, and we are ready to make every best effort to find a lasting solution. Some Security Council members maintain that the situation in Kosovo is significantly different from that of 1999 or 2009, and are calling for revising UNMIK's mandate. Let me remind them that the Mission is already significantly different than it was in 1999. At the time, it numbered 4,718 civilian police officers and 1,269 international and 3,566 local personnel. Its budget then totalled $427 million. Today it has been decreased by almost by 90 per cent, and the members of its personnel number about 500 men and women. Its budget is $40 million. The Mission's scope was reduced too much and too soon.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Pristina said that it was not obliged to discuss that with us, that it had the support of the majority of members of those organizations and that it would try to become members. We tried to explain that the INTERPOL candidature, which would entail the inevitable lobbying for and against it by the various sides - were an application for admission to be submitted - would not create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue. As it was irate following its failed bid, Pristina raised the import tax to 100 per cent. Let me recall that so-called Kosovo continues to falsely bandy the statistic that it has been recognized by 116 countries. Seventy-four States Members of the United Nations voted in favour of Pristina's admission to INTERPOL. It required and lacked an additional 36 votes. It now blames little Serbia for those results.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Nothing was said in November 2017 indicating that its recognition would be harmful to the dialogue but, when Madagascar decided to withdraw its recognition in December 2018, some Council members viewed the withdrawal as extremely harmful. I truly need help understanding such reasoning. Pristina bears a grudge over the failure of its bid to join INTERPOL and UNESCO, as well. However, in 2015, prior to Pristina's request for admission to UNESCO, Serbia, and myself personally, proposed that the protection of cultural heritage be included in the agenda of the dialogue and that an agreement be reached on that issue. The proposal fell on deaf ears without an understanding, just like the one concerning INTERPOL.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“The explanation that has been provided is that it is detrimental to the dialogue. Ever since it unilaterally declared its independence in 2008, so-called Kosovo has lobbied for recognition, aided and abetted by certain States. After all, some members ofthis body called on other States in our previous meetings to recognize Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. Serbia has taken no unilateral measures as a result of those actions. On the contrary, we entered the dialogue and engaged in discussions notwithstanding the recognition that had taken place. For those who are unaware, we began the dialogue in 2012, and 19 countries have recognized Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence since then. No one said that those countries' recognition impeded the dialogue. I would cite the example of Madagascar.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Pristina continues to undo everything in which the European Union and other international actors invested considerable efforts through dialogue and regional ties. Should we then expect that any given agreement will be respected when the basic principles underpinning modern-day Europe are being ignored? The decision to ban the free flow of goods, capital and people as a result of displeasure with a political decision is i let me point out once again - inconceivable in the twenty- first century. Pristina's contention that the act was taken as a countermeasure to Serbia's policy, which it characterizes as aggressive, is entirely false. Rather, it was taken as a consequence of the withdrawal of the recognition ofthe unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo by 13 countries and its failed attempt to become a member of INTERPOL.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We are therefore faced today not only by the absence of the community of Serbian municipalities, but also by continued attempts to take over northern Kosovo and Metohija, as evidenced by the raid carried out by the special Regional Operations Support Unit of that part of the province in November 2018, the imposition of draconian taxes on Serbian goods, the arrest of four Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica in a brutal action carried out by the special Regional Operations Support Unit and the call for the unification of the northern and southern parts of the town. Tantamount to a drive to intimidate the Serbs living in the northern part of the town, it also serves as a screen for the intended takeover of northern Kosovska Mitrovica and the expulsion of Serbs there in the same way that they were expelled from its southern part.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We demonstrated once again responsibility, common sense and credibility. The taxes are intended to make the situation of the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija even more difficult. Despite the condemnation and the intense pressure of numerous international institutions, Pristina soldiers on and continues to levy the taxes it imposed more than two months ago. Owing to the fact that it can take and implement unilateral and destabilizing decisions and measures without consequences and that it can breach agreements and raid a Serbian-majority territory, Pristina is continuing in those practices unabated.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“They were followed by numerous pronouncements relative to "Greater Albania", which were hardly a call to compromise, but rather intended to gin up instability in the region. The one-sided decision of Pristina to increase taxes on Serbian goods by as much as 100 per cent, in contravention of the Central European Free Trade Agreement, is primarily a politically motivated decision that wreaked irreversible damage and forestalled the continuation of the dialogue on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. For its part, Serbia continues to firmly believe that talks are the only way for achieving a solution to outstanding issues, and refrained - even following the imposition of the taxes - from retaliatory measures or any other act that would have aggravated the situation.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“The dialogue has been forestalled for one reason - the unilateral decision ofthe so-called Kosovo to impose taxes on goods from Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina at a rate of 100 per cent. This act, let me recall, has been condemned by the entire international community, Pristina's staunchest allies included, which have called on Pristina to suspend the decision. We have entered 2019 facing major challenges and problems, the solutions for which are barely apparent nowadays. I recall that, in addition to the decision to establish the so-called Kosovo armed forces shortly following the Security Council meeting in November 2018 (see S/PV.8399), instead ofde-escalating tensions and making maximal efforts to promote dialogue, Pristina rushed to adopt misguided and senseless decisions relative to the imposition of taxes on Serbian goods.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Regrettably, the agreement has not been fully implemented to date, while at this moment in time there are no talks in Brussels, and everyone here knows why. I know that many Council members will call on both sides to refrain from unilateral acts and commit themselves to dialogue and the quest for a lasting solution. I can only tell them that Serbia has refrained from unilateral acts. We have not engaged in such acts, despite the fact that the association/community of Serb- majority municipalities, as the most important part of the Brussels Agreement, has yet to be established over the past five years, or to prevent such unilateral decisions as the confiscation of the Trepca mines property that Pristina undertook several days ago.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We all want to resolve the question of Kosovo and Metohija. We all want it to no longer be a topic on the Security Council's agenda. We all want UNMIK to complete its mission, and successfully so. That moment is not yet near, however. I have often pointed out that we are at a very delicate juncture and called on all to proceed to create conditions for us to sit and talk constructively, without preconditions or the imposition of solutions. Let me recall that talks between Belgrade and Pristina have entered their seventh year and that progress has been made * sometimes more, sometimes less - in this time. Yet, we have talked. As Prime Minister during those years, I signed the Brussels Agreement.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“That is why we initiated the agreement on the dynamic of the Security Council's meetings on UNMIK, which remain necessary, and I am pleased to express my gratitude to the members of the Security Council that have agreed on this important question in order to avoid needless debates in this organ with respect to these meetings. The most important thing is that the Security Council will continue to consider the Secretary-General's reports on UNMIK on a continued basis. I recall that the Security Council continues to discuss Bosnia and Herzegovina twice a year, as well as the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, and no one has asked that these topics be removed from the Council's agenda. I continue to believe that we should and can find a common denominator of our interests and strive to achieve it.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Serbia believes that it is necessary for the Security Council to be open and ready to consider all questions relevant to international peace and security, and consistently to pay special attention to its prevention role and to respond to situations that, in addition to being clear violations of the resolutions of this organ, lead to increased tensions and threaten stability and security. We ask for these meetings not for the purpose of one-upmanship, but to contribute to the stabilization of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and to peace in the region. Serbia is a constructive, credible and predictable partner.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“Mr. Daeie (Serbia) (spoke in Serbian; interpretation provided by the delegation): At the outset, I should like to thank Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his Special Representative Mr. Zahir Tanin for their report (S/2019/102). The presence and activities of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) are of crucial importance. I therefore extend to the Special Representative my special gratitude for his hard work and dedication to fulfilling the mandate of the Mission under resolution 1244 (1999) . I also want to thank Equatorial Guinea for including this meeting on the Security Council's programme of work.”
2019-02-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8459 (2019) · source
“We expect Council members to lend their support, while keeping mind the values enshrined by the United Nations, and to repudiate the rampant propaganda and outright lies whereby we keep being told perpetually by the representatives of the PISG in Kosovo at Security Council meetings. In conclusion, let me point out once again that Serbia continues to be firmly committed to peace, dialogue, reconciliation and regional stability - in a word, to lasting solutions that will lead us to the future instead of to the conflicts of the past.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“They should always bear in mind that the support of the international community is key to the success of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. Each and every change of position of the countries that have not recognized the independence of Kosovo would negatively affect the continuation of the constructive approach of the parties in the dialogue and the implementation of the agreements reached. At the same time, I also call on various countries that have recognized the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo to seriously reassess their decisions and contribute in that way to the efforts aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution to the question of Kosovo and Metohija. That is what we are asking for - a chance for dialogue and an agreement instead of unilateralism, instead of unilateral acts.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“We will therefore work with dedication on solving disagreements peacefully, being aware that a long process is in front of us and that, to make things more difficult, we often do not have a proper interlocutor, one who shares our vision ofa region aspiring to reconciliation, the rule of law and democratic values. I call on States that have not recognized the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo to stay loyal - despite the pressure to which many of them have been exposed - to their principles of respect for international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the supreme authority of the Security Council for safeguarding international peace and security, whose resolution 1244 (2000) confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Serbia will never recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo, but it will continue the policy of seeking peaceful solutions of this question on the basis of a responsible approach and the full implementation of the agreement reached within the Brussels dialogue. Regardless of the numerous challenges and frequent manifestations of non-constructiveness and the only-too-evident propensity to resorting to half unilateral steps, we will continue to be committed to working towards the normalization of relations. We do not want the situation in Kosovo and Metohija to be a latent threat to the stability and progress of Serbia or the region.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“In the interest of regional stability, our side will continue the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina. The dialogue is aimed primarily at addressing the everyday vital problems of the people living in Kosovo and Metohija and at normalizing relations. We will not abuse the dialogue as a platform to ram through the independence of Kosovo. Let me recall that the essence of each and every dialogue, including the one in Brussels, is to achieve agreements, and not impose solutions. The role of the international community is to help achieve compromise, rather than assist one side in imposing its interests. That is true in particular of the Community of Serb-majority municipalities, which is of paramount importance for the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“The assessment from the report before us states that "[l]eading by example helps to change attitudes in wider context and gives optimism for the potential for reconciliation to succeed at the social level."(S/20]6/901, para. 22). Let me remind the Council that nobody was held accountable for those crimes and that, in all likelihood, nobody ever will be. Only time will tell if those visits will be transformed into a concrete positive step forward in the furtherance of security and respect for the rights of non-Albanian communities. Once the perpetrators are identified and tried, we will certainly commend Mr. Thaci's visits. For the time being, though, not just those crimes, but no crime to date committed in Kosovo since 1999 has been punished.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“That means that the Parliament in Pristina, which adopted the necessary legislation for the commencement of the work of the Specialist Chambers in The Hague, has sent an unequivocal advance notice as to what we can expect going forward in the process of establishing accountability for the crimes committed against the Serbs and other non-Albanians. That also shows that the visits by Hashim Thaci to monuments and in connection with the farmers killed in their fields at Staro Gracko in July 1999 and the children killed at Gorazdevac in 2003 while they were playing on the banks of the village stream are nothing but an act of one-shot unsuccessful political marketing.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“For those reasons I say to the members of the Security Council - who are also representatives of civilized society - that that act by the highest legislative body in Pristina deserves the strongest possible condemnation. It is exactly in that way that the Parliament in Pristina sent a clear message to the entire international community, including those sitting here in the Chamber, about what the Parliament thinks of the Specialist Chambers - which Mr. Tanin referred to and which other speakers likely will as well - and the crimes of the Kosovo Liberation Army that those Chambers are supposed to verify and punish.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“If the seizure of property and the torturing and killing of civilians, as well as the ambush of journalists and ambulances, can be called values, then the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army does deserve to have a resolution devoted to it. It is not known that any Parliament in the world, except perhaps during the Second World War, ever adopted a resolution glorifying criminals and terrorists. Yet the Parliament in Pristina has managed to make itself unique once again. Not a modicum of censure of terrorism and violence is to be found in the resolution, which also makes no mention of the "yellow house" in which people had their organs ripped, of the abductions, of the rapes or of the pogroms of Serbian and other non-Albanian civilians, which represent the true values and legacy of the Kosovo Liberation Army.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Ethnic cleansing, mass violations of the human and civil rights of non-Albanians, and the destruction of the cultural heritage that belongs not only to the Serbian people but also makes up a part of Europe's and the world's cultural heritage, all make up the foundation of the self-declared fake State of Kosovo. The best evidence of the civilizational immaturity of those professing to be the leaders of the Albanian people in Kosovo and Metohija is the recent adoption - and please listen carefully to this - in the Kosovo Parliament of a cynically entitled "Resolution on the protection of the values of the Kosovo Liberation Army". That shameful resolution is predicated on the assumption that crime is of positive social value.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Those instances of institutional violence in present-day Kosovo and Metohija are part of the strategy aimed at erasing the traces of the centuries-long presence of the Serbian people and State and legitimizing the results of the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian people. The representatives of Pristina continue to repeat their false accusations, which are based on the premise that a lie told 1,000 times becomes a truth. Let us remember all that I have said. Those lies cannot change the fact that Kosovo is not and cannot be a State. Kosovo is nothing but the product of a violation of international law, the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the postulates on which modern civilization was built.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“One hundred and seventy-four religious sites and 33 historic- cultural monuments have been destroyed. There are no undamaged tombstones in most Serbian cemeteries, while south the Ibar River no monuments from Serbian history remain intact. No localities south of the lbar River have streets today with Serbian names, as most of them have been renamed to bear the names of the members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, who are proven terrorists and perpetrators of monstrous crimes. The message sent to the Serbs is very clear indeed: those who killed and expelled them now pass as national heroes, and monuments are erected and streets and public institutions are renamed to glorify their names.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“The abbey of Devic, which was founded by the Serbian Despot Durad Brankovie in 1434, was also burned that March, while those who set fire to Mother of God Ljeviska Chuch, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, burned automobile tires so that fire quickly incinerated some of the most beautiful icons from the first half of the fourteenth century, which represents some of the cultural heritage of the world. Let us remember the numerous instances of vandalism on Serbian cultural and religious heritage throughout the province, unbecoming of modern-day Europe and the civilized world. Since June 1999 and the cessation of the armed conflict, 236 churches, monasteries and other facilities owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as historic-cultural monuments, have been targets of attack.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“His headless body was found with his arms and backbone broken and with stabs in his heart, gruesome evidence of the torture of Albanian extremists to which he succumbed. Let us remember the March pogrom of 2004, in which 19 Serbs were killed and 900 wounded, despite the international presence in the province. Nine hundred and thirty-five Serbian, Roma and Ashkali houses were set afire. Six towns and 10 villages were ethnically cleansed. About 4,000 men and women were expelled from their homes. Thirty-five churches were destroyed, burned or desecrated, many of which were built as early as the fourteenth century.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“More than 220,000 were expelled. Let us remember the victims of the monstrous crime of trafficking in human organs, testified to by Mr. Dick Marty, Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in his report. Let us remember the abducted and disappeared Serbs and other non-Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija, the fate of whom is unknown 17 years after the conflict. More than 1,000 Serbs have been killed since 1999. The number of their killers against whom legally valid sentences were handed down still amounts to zero. Let us remember Father Chariton, the martyr bestially killed in my native Prizren in June 1999. He was decapitated in the same way in which, to the consternation of the entire world, the terrorists of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant behead their innocent victims today.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“That is why I recall, once again, that the Security Council adopted a resolution giving a mandate to the Mission to enable the return of internally displaced and persecuted persons from Kosovo, whether Serbs or Albanians. Only 1.9 per cent of Serbs have returned. That percentage accounts for approximately 4,000 internally displaced persons. One of the reasons for that is the disregard for communities south of the Ibar River, which increases their feeling of being isolated, sidelined and left to their own devices. Each and every time the representatives of Pristina utter their accusations of alleged genocide and ethnic cleansing of Albanians, please remember my remarks from our previous meeting that, out of 427 localities in which they lived until 1999, Serbs were expelled from 311. Today no Serbs are present there.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Let me remind the Council - and, when speaking about Kosovo and Metohija, the Secretary-General should also recall in his reports and remind each of the members ofthe Council - that truly sustainable returns have been realized only by 1.9 per cent of internally displaced persons. Does the Security Council believe that that is a topic that should no longer be discussed? If not, the Council would call on Pristina to create the necessary conditions and appeal to people to return to Kosovo. We cannot allow that to be forgotten. I hope that none of the countries represented in the Council will operate with double standards now that it pertains to Serbians who are displaced.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“It is important to keep such people in the focus of the international community, and of the United Nations in particular, despite the numerous problems the world faces, including the current refugee and migrant crisis, all the more so as this is exactly a question that explicitly falls under the UNMIK mandate. The international community must not allow those people to be forgotten. It is not enough to note that the level of returns is unacceptably low; the reasons for the failure should be analysed instead. The failure is attributable primarily to the rigid attitude of the majority community, as well as of its political leaders, towards the return of displaced Serbs.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“It is incumbent upon all of us to change that situation and to create conditions in which IDPs are given a real choice, in deeds and not only in words, between return and local integration. To do so, though, we must see to it that basci conditions be fulfilled in places of return with regard to personal and property security. The rule oflaw, non-discrimination, full respect for basic human and civil rights and a step away from politics, which deepens the gap among communities on a national and religious basis, are the necessary preconditions for normalizing relations and finding solutions to questions relative to IDPs from Kosovo and Metohija.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“They fan the flames of ethnic and religious extremism and radicalism and hamper stabilization and reconciliation. Furthermore, reflecting Pristina's true attitude towards the cultural and religious heritage of the Serbs, they are at the same time indicative of how right Serbia was to oppose Kosovo's admission to UNESCO. Those who destroy, set ablaze or desecrate Serbian churches cannot be their keepers. Perhaps those who supported the admission have now come to realize to whom they wanted to entrust the protection of the Serbian heritage in the province. Because basic conditions for sustainable returns do not exist, the number of returnees to the province continues to be lamentably low. I submit that that is a defeat for all those involved in the process of return.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“The church, the only remaining trace and symbol of the presence of Orthodox Christianity in downtown Pristina, in which more than 40,000 Serbs lived before 1999, has been designated for destruction, just as every other Serbian thing destroyed or expelled from Pristina and many other places in Kosovo and Metohija. For weeks, the Pristina authorities bulldozed each and every square foot of the land surrounding the church, in an attempt to link it in whichever way with war crimes; once they failed, the arson ensued. The extremists calling for the destruction of the church or its seizure from the Serbian Orthodox Church and conversion are in fact calling for the continuation of ethnic cleansing and the denial of basic religious rights and freedoms to the Serbian people, thus violating the civilizational norms of the present-day world.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Let me remind the Council that that is an unfinished church that was converted into a public lavatory and a podium to shoot music videos featuring scantily clad singers. As if that were not enough, unknown persons broke into the church and set it afire. That contemptible act is an outright consequence of the refusal of the Kosovo authorities and police to provide round-the-clock protection to the church, which has been frequently broken into and desecrated. That incident was preceded by protests by Kosovo and Metohija Albanians who time and again manifested unchecked hostility towards the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian people in the province, the targets of systematic ethnic terror for the past 17 years.”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source
“Without institutional reaction, all attacks and other offences against Serbs are being depersonalized and reduced to statistics, which leads to the tolerance of a climate of impunity of ethnically motivated crimes against Serbs in the long run. Providing data on the outcome percentages related to such criminal offences would therefore be very informative indeed. Instances of desecration against the spiritual heritage of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija are many. The last such instance was the arson that took place in the Church of Christ the Saviour in Pristina at the beginning of September, of which I also made mention in my previous statement to the Council (see S/PV.7760).”
2016-11-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7811 (2016) · source