YouSaid · the spoken record

Draskovic

lines on the record
12
first
2004-05-11
most recent
2004-05-11
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “Individuals' land must be given back to them, regardless of who they may be - Serbs, Albanians or others. It will be up to them to decide later what to do with their property. I studied the law, and I should like to say to the Council that restitution and the rejection of the legalization of any crime is the basis of the law. It is stated in an article of the Codex Justinianus that, if something is criminal in the beginning, it cannot be legalized by the passing of time. The Government of Serbia and Montenegro and the Government of Serbia are grateful for the opportunity to speak about such an important and painful issue as Kosovo.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  2. “The interdependence of States, nations, cultures, religions - that is the future. Independence that is rooted in past attempts at ethnic and religious domination must be consigned to history. Secondly, let me turn to the issue of privatization. Of course, this is very important. But the United Nations, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Mr. Holkeri must be very careful, because we in Kosovo need, first of all, a restitution law. After the Second World War, communists took land, property and houses from many people and institutions that were against communism. Some might now say, well, that happened a long time ago. But no - a restitution law must be the condition for privatization. The main victim of that communist crime in Kosovo was the Serbian Church. The Church's land must be given back to it.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  3. “I should like to underline two issues in particular. The first issue is that of final status, which was mentioned by many members. For the Government of Serbia and the Government of Serbia and Montenegro, the final status of the province of Kosovo entails very specific models for local autonomy and self-rule of Albanian Serbs and other non-Albanians, reconciliation, forgiveness and repentance, in the framework of Serbia and the European Union. With respect to the framework of the European Balkans, which my Government sees as a region in which State borders would exist on maps only, not in practice, my Government is for the project. We in the Balkans must become Europeans from within. We must start to act and think in the European way; that is the condition for us to be accepted by Europe.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  4. “I thank you, Mr. President, and I thank the Secretary-General and Council members for their kind attention and sincere concern for the peoples of my country.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  5. “Today, we should not think in terms of final status, since all of the rights of Serbs are being tragically violated in Kosovo and Metohija, and that ghetto of human suffering cannot constitute the basis for any final status of Kosovo and Metohija. The Government of Serbia and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro are in favour of equal rights for all their citizens, full respect for the United Nations Charter and the implementation of all European standards in Kosovo and Metohija. We call for the start of a sincere dialogue at all levels between ethnic Albanians and Serbs - either a direct dialogue or through the good offices of the international community. No agreement can be reached without negotiations. Nor can hostilities be brought to an end by continuing hostilities. The only way forward is through dialogue and reconciliation.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  6. “The Government of Serbia and the Council of Ministers of Serbia and Montenegro are in favour of the decentralization of power in Kosovo and Metohija through the establishment of the highest level of local self-rule in Serb-populated municipalities, towns, villages and the so-called Serbian enclaves. The Government of Serbia, in its plan approved by the parliament, referred to those units of local self- government as regions. We could even accept some other term, because what is important is the substance. That kind of autonomy paves the way for a multi- ethnic and multicultural Kosovo and Metohija, leading to reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians and to their common European future.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  7. “At the same time, the perpetrators of all murders, kidnappings and acts of vandalism against those religious and cultural sites should be tracked down, apprehended and brought to justice. In particular, the international military and police forces should be duty- bound to vigilantly guard the churches and monasteries, which belong to the cultural heritage of the entire world. In short, I call on the international community to assist and help the Serbs and other non- Albanians in the same way the ethnic Albanian population was assisted after 10 June 1999.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  8. “The cornerstone of those standards must be to eliminate the consequences of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs and to provide for their full security, their right to life and other human, civil and ethnic rights. In other words, it is urgent to rebuild the approximately 40,000 destroyed and burned Serbian houses and to begin immediately the reconstruction and restoration of churches, monasteries and other sites of cultural heritage, under the full supervision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). All those efforts should be internationally funded, since the international community has been responsible for Kosovo and Metohija since 10 June 1999.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  9. “It is undeniable that the regime of Slobodan Milosevic was responsible for many crimes against Kosovo Albanians, tens of thousands of whom were expelled during the NATO bombing campaign. But that same regime was equally brutal and brought harm to Serbs as well, who in the majority resisted and opposed that regime. Hundreds of thousands of Serbs fought for more than ten years against the Milosevic dictatorship, terror, wars and atrocities. I am saying this to remind the Council, with pride, of the democratic values displayed by Serbs during those years of isolation. The Head of UNMIK and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Harri Holkeri, recently promulgated the "Standards for Kosovo" document as the only way to build a democratic, multi-ethnic and multicultural Kosovo and Metohija.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  10. “From 10 June 1999, when the United Nations and international civilian and military forces took over the control and administration of Kosovo and Metohija, until 17 March this year more than 200,000 Serbs were expelled, while 40,000 Serbian houses were burned down or destroyed, along with 115 churches and monasteries and hundreds of Christian cemeteries. During that period, approximately 2,500 Serbs, including dozens of children, were murdered or kidnapped. International administrators and the Provisional Institutions in the province did not react resolutely enough. And so, on 17 March, tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians, driven by local media and radicals, started killing Serbs and destroying monuments of the centuries-old Serbian and Christian tradition in the province.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  11. “I have come here to call on the Council to ensure greater and more resolute respect for the United Nations Charter and strict compliance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) on Kosovo and Metohija and its implementation. Kosovo and Metohija is an open wound for Serbs and Albanians as well as for the entire international community. In the wake of mass violence against Serbs and the barbaric destruction of their centuries-old churches and cultural sites, on 17 and 18 March of this year, the Council adopted a presidential statement that did not adequately respond to the tragedy suffered by the Serbian people in that province.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source

  12. “Allow me at the outset to express my appreciation to you, Mr. President, and to the members of the Council for giving me the opportunity to address the Council on this very important issue concerning my country and the province of Kosovo and Metohij a. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his in-depth report on the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Although the facts presented in the report are far from encouraging, my delegation welcomes its objectivity and constructive conclusions. Let me also thank Special Representative Harri Holkeri for his comprehensive briefing.”

    2004-05-11 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4967 (2004) · source