YouSaid · the spoken record

J Eremie

lines on the record: 25
first: 2010-08-03
most recent: 2012-05-14
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“In the absence of true consent by all, lasting harmony remained beyond reach. Thus has the cycle of enmity continued unabated for centuries. Democratic Serbia is determined to bring that bane to an end. Our hand is outstretched. But a conscious choice to replace hostility with concord must be made in unison by true leaders, compassionate in their hearts and steady in their vision. Forging a covenant of peace is the only way for Serbs and Albanians to end up on the same side, at long last. In pursuing that noble goal, we may draw inspiration from the words of one of the founding fathers of the Non-Aligned Movement who, not too far from this Chamber, asked the world many years ago to remember that peace was not a relationship of nations, but a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Serbia's resolve was not, nor will it be, bellicose or belligerent. We shall, however, stand firm and unequivocal in resisting attempts to partition our homeland, claim our heritage and compel our citizens to live in a country that they do not consider their own. What we seek is a just conclusion to the Kosovo conflict. No maximalist, one-sided imposition can propel the Western Balkans past the point of no return towards its European future. One of the principal lessons of our history is that zero-sum outcomes never fulfil their promise. Whenever one side got everything, the other just bided its time, in anticipation of more favourable circumstances that would allow for the return of what was thought to have been wrongly taken away. Again and again, today's victor became tomorrow's vanquished.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“That is the only way to help us reach an equitable negotiated settlement in accordance with resolution 1244 (1999). Despite all protestations to the contrary, any other outcome would, in effect, constitute a deeply dangerous precedent that would permanently threaten the stability and borders of many States Members of the United Nations. Serbia has put diplomacy at the forefront of its peaceful efforts to undo the damage caused by the unilateral declaration of independence. We took to the task vigorously, as would any other dignified country that found itself in our situation. But for the first time in our region's history, the impulse for vengeance and retribution was consciously suppressed. For the first time, when faced with a threat of such magnitude, a Balkan nation did not reach for its sword.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“The unilateral declaration of independence by the ethnic Albanian authorities of our southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, on 17 February 2008, continues to divide the world. As the Secretary-General states in today's report, we face "a widening perception that fundamental resolution remains elusive for the underlying issues of the conflict" (ibid, para. 4). At the heart of all our difficulties lies the unresolved status of Kosovo. I would like to express my country's sincere gratitude to the vast majority of States Members of the United Nations, as well as to the majority of those seated in the Security Council, that respect Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. I appeal to them to continue to refrain from recognizing any solution to Kosovo that is not the product of a clear agreement between the parties.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“However, we believe that the lack of transparency in the conduct of its inquiry should be a matter of great concern for the Council. During the current reporting period, many critical questions, including those related to accountability, mandate, jurisdiction and witness protection and relocation, did not receive adequate answers. Uncovering the full truth about those monstrous allegations - unprecedented in the history of warfare - must remain our top priority. As a recent Amnesty International report concluded, "More than 400 Serbian families are still waiting for the bodies of their relatives to be found; many believe that their son, father or brother may be among the Serbs taken to Albania. They are still waiting for justice".”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“We have studiously followed the investigation launched by EULEX into the allegations made in a December 2010 Council of Europe report entitled "Investigation of allegations of inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo". According to that report, hundreds of Serbs were abducted in Kosovo before, during and immediately after the 1999 conflict and were sent to secret detention camps in the Republic of Albania, where many of them were singled out for forced surgery before being murdered. Their internal organs were extracted and sold on the international black market. Annex 1 of the Secretary- General's report states that the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force has continued to develop its capabilities and has progressed with its work in that case.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Agim Zogaj, the only witness who lived long enough for prosecutors to depose. He died under mysterious circumstances while in a witness protection programme, two months before the trial began. 12-33797 The not-guilty verdict shocked Serbian public opinion. The families of the victims were outraged. According to Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor, the judgement legitimately raised the question as to whether the Kosovo courts will ever convict a single person of war crimes against Kosovo Serbs. It is encouraging, however, that the EULEX Special Prosecutor's Office announced that it would appeal the ruling. We remain seriously apprehensive with regard to another case purportedly involving Limaj, as well as Thaci and several other KLA figures.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“The most glaring instance is the case of Fatmir Limaj, a former senior commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and close associate of the so-called Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci. On 23 April, prosecutors failed to meet a 24-month statutory deadline to file charges against Limaj for money laundering and organized crime during his tenure as the so-called Minister of Transport. According to a prominent Pristina-based non-governmental organization, Limaj can no longer be indicted for the misuse and disappearance of about â‚¬80 million in public funds. A few days later, on 2 May, Limaj was acquitted of war crimes for the 1999 torture and killing of Serbs in the infamous Klecka prison camp. That came in the wake of the dismissal by the court of all evidence provided by Mr.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Much work remains to be done in improving the lives of the people through talks conducted in good faith. Moreover, as President Tadic' has repeatedly said, we must provide for ironclad, internationally guaranteed assurances that safeguard our interests inside the province by securing, first, a realistic solution for north Kosovo; secondly, protecting our enclaves in south Kosovo; thirdly, preserving Serbian identity and religious heritage throughout the province; and, fourthly, settling private and commercial property claims. Between the end of the reporting period and today's Security Council meeting, disturbing developments have set further back the cause of justice in Kosovo.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“I want to be very clear that the agreement does not extend to multilateral forums in which membership is reserved for sovereign States, such as the South-East European Cooperation Process, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and any institutions or agencies in the United Nations system. The report states that the room for dialogue in the coming months may be narrowed if calm is not sustained, particularly if public responses to incidents and provocations on the ground are imprudent. We share the Secretary-General's apprehension, especially as it appears that ethnic Albanian public opinion is turning increasingly hostile to the continuation of any sort of negotiations. I want to underline that Serbia remains fully committed to the process. Disagreements on status must not impede our ability to act in concert on resolving practical issues.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“In response, we have proposed to start jointly monitoring developments relevant to conducting such elections, with the aim of revisiting the issue over the next six months. In late February, an agreement was reached in the ninth round of the EU-facilitated technical dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina on the sensitive matter of regional representation and cooperation. Some of the details are mentioned in paragraphs 13 and 14 of the report before the Council. That status-neutral arrangement, which is in accordance with resolution 1244 (1999), allows the Pristina authorities to participate in meetings as a non-State actor in the regional organizations whose aim, according to the agreed terms, is to promote cooperation or integration in the Balkan region.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“That ensured that threats to use force to prevent the elections from taking place, such as the one made in mid-March by the Kosovo Liberation Army's war-time spokesman and current Chairman of the Kosovo Assembly, Mr. Jakup Krasnigi, could not be carried out. The second and final round of presidential elections will take place on Sunday, 20 May. We expect that all the necessary security measures will stay in place so that the vote can be held in safety, as was the case on 6 May. It was with regret that we took note of the letter dated 22 March by Special Representative of the Secretary-General Zarif addressed to Serbia's Minister for Kosovo and Metohija, Mr. Goran Bogdanovie, in which he indicated UNMIK's inability to organize local elections in the province that comply with resolution 1244 (1999).”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“No senior ethnic Albanian official spoke out against acts of desecration, either. On 6 May, Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections were held in both north and south Kosovo, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and resolution 1244 (1999). I want to acknowledge the efforts of both Special Representative of the Secretary-General Zarif and Secretary General Zannier of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to help Serbs exercise their democratic right to vote. I would also like to thank Commander Erhard Drews of the Kosovo Force for ordering several hundred additional troops to Kosovo as a deterrent.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“A few hours later, an extremely hazardous submunitions device was discovered on the grounds of the Church of the Holy Virgin of Ljeviska, located in the old quarter of the ancient Serbian capital of Prizren. It had been planted just behind the eastern wall of the sanctuary, metres away from the altar. That took place mere days before the UNESCO-sponsored restoration of frescos destroyed during the March 2004 pogrom was to commence. Between 17 March and 19 April, parish churches in a number of enclaves in south Kosovo were desecrated, vandalized or, in one instance, fired upon by an automatic weapon. During the reporting period, not a single perpetrator was arrested for committing hate crimes against places that represent the core of Serbian national identity.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Close to a decade later, the Secretary-General tells us in his report that "significant resistance remains in the Kosovo Albanian population against legislative measures and their implementation aiming at the protection of Serb cultural and religious sites, and a gap persists between the commitments made by the Kosovo authorities in this area and their implementation." (S/2012/275, para. 45) Today the desecration of Orthodox churches and graveyards in Kosovo continues unabated. Unfortunately, the report does not list any of the specifics concerning those attacks against our holy shrines. For instance, two of the four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the province were targeted on the same day. On 31 March, graffiti appeared at the monastery of Visoki Decani, reading "Property of the Kosovo Liberation Army".”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“The eighth anniversary of the pogrom against Serbs in Kosovo took place during the reporting period. On 17 March 2004, 35 churches and monasteries, many dating back to the fourteenth century or earlier, were damaged or destroyed. Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured. Thousands of homes and businesses were burned to the ground. More than 8,000 Kosovo Serbs were ethnically cleansed from their homes. At that time, Human Rights Watch wrote that "large ethnic Albanian crowds had acted with ferocious efficiency to rid their areas of all remaining vestiges of a Serb presence".”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Regrettably, neither they nor any other Kosovo Police Service personnel have been investigated for misconduct or incompetence as a result of that attack - or, for that matter, with regard to the assault on President Tadic's convoy at Christmas near the monastery of Visoki Decani. In protest letters to United Nations and EU officials, Serbia's Prime Minister, Mr. Mirko Cvetkovic, wrote that the attack was yet another attempt by extremists to intimidate the Serbian population in the southern province and prevent dialogue, the implementation of agreements and a peaceful settlement of the problem. The Prime Minister called for greater involvement of all the international 12-33797 missions in the field, as well as a more adequate assessment of security risks and an appropriate level protection.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“The director of Serbia's Dialogue Implementation Office was assaulted by militants of the Self-Determination Movement parliamentary party. That happened as he was leaving the building of the so-called Kosovo Cadaster, which is located just across the street from EULEX headquarters in the centre of Pristina. He had travelled to the province at the invitation of EULEX to discuss how to operationalize previously reached agreements in the technical dialogue facilitated by the EU. The local policemen assigned to protect him and his delegation completely failed to do so.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Since our last meeting in this Chamber, Pristina has unfortunately continued to engage in a campaign of intimidation against Serbs in Kosovo. For instance, in late February, six of our nationals who reside in Kosovo but work in central Serbia as clerks in an Interior Ministry branch office were arrested on what the report calls "political charges". They remained incarcerated for several weeks, and are now under house arrest. On five different occasions in less than a month's time, Kosovo police arrested dozens of people tasked with distributing pension checks to tens of thousands of Kosovo Serb retirees, depriving them of their only source of income. During the same period, a number of prominent Kosovo Serbs were thrown in jail, including several elected officials. Another serious incident took place in Pristina on 4 April.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“The report states that inter- ethnic crimes, "including intimidation, assault, theft, arson, vandalism and damage to Serbian Orthodox churches and household property, [appear] to be on the increase from the same period one year ago" (ibid., para. 21). Serbia's Ministry for Kosovo records more than 180 separate attacks against Serbs, their possessions or their holy sites that took place in the first quarter of 2012, at an average of more than two per day. Such figures help explain what the report qualifies as the 12-33797 "continuously declining trend" of Kosovo Serbs coming back to the province. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, only 33 of them returned in the first three and a half months of 2012. This is about half the number who did so during the same period last year.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“Unfortunately, no details as to what these structural changes might involve have been provided. Our long-standing position on the engagement of the European Union (EU) in Kosovo remains unchanged. We believe that the EU should sustain its status-neutral efforts in order to build the missing institutional environment and improve the dismal societal conditions in the province. The Secretary-General's assessment is that "tension and confrontation on the ground continue to cause tangible risks to peace and stability in Kosovo and the region" (ibid., para. 58). Such a precarious state of affairs has disproportionally affected the Kosovo Serb community.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“I thank you, Sir, for having convened this meeting of the Security Council pursuant to resolution 1244 (1999). I welcome the presence of Special Representative Farid Zarif, and I thank him for his statement. The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) is a crucial pillar of peace and stability in Kosovo. We support its important work, and concur with the Secretary-General's statement in the report before us today that "actions undertaken by the international actors operating within the framework of the United Nations and resolution 1244 (1999) need to be strategically aligned and closely coordinated" (5/2012/275, para. 62). This includes the possible reconfiguration of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), mentioned in annex I of the report.”
2012-05-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6769 (2012) · source
“It is up to us to decide whether the time has come for that to happen for the first time in history. Serbia believes that is not the case. I want to underline once again that we are totally committed to peace, dialogue and resolving all outstanding issues - from small ones to big ones - through peaceful dialogue. We believe in the European future of the entire Western Balkans. We welcome the appeal by European Union member States to the parties to look to the future. Serbia is ready to look to the future. Serbia wants to work with the international community so that this issue is resolved through peaceful dialogue. I just wanted to point out certain facts with regard to the International Court of Justice opinion.”
2010-08-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6367 (2010) · source
“In its conclusions, the Court did not find any support for that. Kosovo is therefore not a unique case. Of course, Serbia deeply respects the International Court of Justice and embraces everything that it says. The Court said that the text of the declaration of independence itself did not violate international law - which Serbia accepts - and so, according to the Kosovo template, neither would anybody else's declaration of independence that may be made in the future. The question is whether that gets one recognition and statehood. That is a question that I think needs to be addressed by Member States. I would like to remind the Council that never in the history of the United Nations has a territory achieved statehood by seceding from a parent State that did not give its consent at the end of the process.”
2010-08-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6367 (2010) · source
“I would just like very briefly to make a clarification about the Court's ruling. A few members of the Council have said today that the advisory opinion of the Court stated that the unilateral declaration of independence was in accordance with international law. That was not actually the case. If one reads the Court's findings, they very clearly say that the declaration of independence did not violate international law. In legal terms, that is very different from being in accordance. But with regard to remarks by some Member States that Kosovo is a unique, sui generis case, I would like to draw the attention of the Council to the fact that the Court elaborated in its conclusions on the position that Kosovo is a sui generic case, which was put forth by some States in the oral proceedings before the Court.”
2010-08-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6367 (2010) · source