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2005-10-24

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2005-10-24

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un-security-council

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1. “Finally, in the belief that the Security Council will consider in full earnest the arguments I have presented, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity to address this very important meeting.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

2. “I am convinced - and no one can understand this better than the members of the Council- that no democratic and free State could accept that under any circumstances. For that is exactly what we are discussing today. Knowing that we share the common principles underlying both the international legal order and the United Nations itself, I express full confidence in the Security Council and in its just treatment of the Kosovo and Metohija issue. Today, I expect from the Council nothing less than elementary justice and nothing more than agreement that my country is entitled to the protection of the same universal principles that apply to each one of the countries members of the Council, as well as to all other States that belong to the world family of democratic nations.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

3. “Serbia and Montenegro is increasingly affirming itself as a bulwark of basic democratic values both within its territory and in the region. I should like to conclude by stating that my country is committed to making every effort to reach a negotiated solution on the basis of compromise, together with the Security Council and in a manner compatible with the norms of international law. I hope that the other party to the dispute will be ready to assume its share of responsibility. I am convinced that the international community, embodied in the United Nations, will not succumb to threats of violence and permit the dismemberment of a democratic State and the undermining of the most basic principles of the international order.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

4. “I would like to say that the general situation in Serbia and Montenegro, as well as in Kosovo and Metohija, differs greatly from that of June 1999. A democratic government has been established in Serbia, and Serbia and Montenegro has resolved its status within the United Nations and irrevocably joined the European integration process. That has added a democratic dimension to the internationally recognized sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro, which were already clearly reaffirmed in June 1999. Genuine respect for human and minority rights, good-neighbourly relations and peace in the region and in the world have become the principal guidelines of my country's domestic and foreign policy.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

5. “The future status process will have the best likelihood of success if, in its crucial and most sensitive part, it takes the form of direct talks between representatives of the two sides. I am certain that we can all agree that the future status talks should aim at a negotiated solution to be reached by the parties in conformity with the essential principles and norms of international law. If that is genuinely our goal, our talks must be direct. If that cannot be achieved immediately, at the very beginning, it is clear that the Secretary-General's Special Envoy will have to do his best to make it possible. It is our firm belief that the only way to attain a negotiated solution is through direct talks mediated by the Special Envoy and his associates.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

6. “Finally, I believe that Council members will agree with me when I say that a peaceful, negotiated solution on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija within the State union of Serbia and Montenegro will be a decisive step towards European integration not only for my country, but for the region as a whole. A negotiated solution implies a compromise that will make it impossible for Serbs and Albanians alike to attain all their goals and aspirations. On the other hand, it is only compromise that can further our integration into the European economic, social and cultural space and, ultimately, the European Union itself. Those truly fundamental commitments constitute the framework within which our country, with good intentions and faith in the future, is approaching the process of defining the future status of Kosovo and Metohija.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

7. “Any attempt to impose such a solution through the de facto legalization of a partition of Serbia - that is, through the forcible secession of a part of its territory - would be tantamount to legal violence not only against a democratic State, but against international law itself. Thirdly, our political efforts will be directed to defining a specific and viable form of substantial autonomy for Kosovo and Metohija, whereby the legitimate interests of Kosovo Albanians will be fully acknowledged. Allow me to remind the Council that substantial autonomy for the province was proposed as a political solution for the Kosovo crisis by resolution 1160 (1998), reaffirmed by the Foreign Ministers of the Group of Eight on 6 May 1999, and the June 1999 agreement that brought an end to the hostilities in Kosovo.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

8. “They all recognize, expressis verbis, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro. Let me also say that I View the Security Council, legally bound by the United Nations Charter, as the right place to state unambiguously that in this instance we are not discussing the non-binding obligations of States, but, rather, the most stringent norms of international law - the jns cogens norms - respect for which is a sine qua non for the international community as a whole to function. Secondly, the future status talks should take into account the fact that Serbia and Montenegro is a democratic State. We find it inconceivable, as I am sure Council members do, that solutions should be imposed on any democracy against its will, least of all, solutions that threaten its internationally recognized borders.”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

9. “Apart from the basic sources of international law, the borders and territorial integrity of the States created after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia are additionally guaranteed by specific international documents and agreements such as the opinions of the Arbitration Commission of the Conference on Yugoslavia - in particular, Opinion No. 3 of 11 January 1992 - and the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 21 November 1995, also called the Dayton-Paris Agreement. In addition to being supported by the basic sources and rules of international law, these principles are confirmed by all Security Council resolutions covering the Kosovo crisis prior to resolution 1244 (1999) - namely, resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998) and 1239 (1999).”

   2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

10. “Our first principle, I repeat, is that any solution must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro as an internationally recognized State, a member of the United Nations and other international organizations. That principle is supported by the basic sources of international law, including, inter alia, the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, and - in the particular case at hand - is confirmed by resolution 1244 (1999), where the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro are recognized expressis verbis.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

11. “Let me also express, on behalf of my country, the firm belief that the Security Council will act upon the principle of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of democratic States, and so define the framework and mandate of future status talks as talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija as a province within the internationally recognized State of Serbia and Montenegro. I want to point out that all the principles for resolving the Kosovo and Metohija issue, which I am relying on here, are precisely the principles of the United Nations, which the Security Council is responsible for implementing. Let me just mention them.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

12. “It is only through a serious, completely realistic assessment of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija - to which Ambassador Eide's report makes a significant contribution - that we can attain what I want to see as the common aim of all those involved in the Kosovo issue: a democratic and multiethnic Kosovo and Metohija, where respect for rights will replace fear and violence. I wish to underline here that in the forthcoming talks Serbia and Montenegro will be fully guided by the general principles and norms of international law and universally accepted democratic values.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

13. “In spite of all those facts, Ambassador Eide recommends that we should move on to the next stage of the process, the future status talks. He also adds that there will not be any good moment for addressing Kosovo's future status, and insists that the implementation of standards should continue throughout the future status talks. Nevertheless, the critical question for all of us remains: whether future status talks can succeed if the crucial standards for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Kosovo and Metohija are neither fulfilled nor anywhere near fulfilment in the foreseeable future. Today I believe we have to answer that question as follows.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

14. “Orthodox cemeteries throughout the province have been desecrated and in many cases destroyed. Orthodox Christians have been denied the basic right to profess and practice their faith. The Eide report attributes those massive violations of human and minority rights not only to ethnically motivated violence against minorities, but also to the fragility and malfunctioning of institutions, particularly the police and the judiciary. That holds true both for the Provisional Institutions at the central level - where, as the report emphasizes, Kosovo Serbs fear they will become a decoration, with little real ability to yield tangible results - and for the institutions of local self-government, which have yet to properly define, let alone implement, plans for the protection of the Serb and other non-Albanian communities.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

15. “Today, may I remind you that more than 60 per cent of Kosovo Serbs are internally displaced persons in central Serbia. Apart from Northern Mitrovica, there are no more Serbs in Pristina, Prizren, Pec, anilane, Urosevac, and other towns in the province. The Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija are now reduced to a dwindling rural population, living in fear and often deprived of their most basic rights. The best illustration of the precarious legal position of the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija is the fact that 17,000 court cases involving individual property claims by local Serbs have been positively resolved, but none of these decisions have been implemented. Since June 1999, Orthodox Christianity has been exposed to deliberate and brutal persecution. Some 150 Orthodox churches and monasteries have been destroyed or irreparably damaged.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

16. “This is in addition to widespread illegal occupancy of property, especially agricultural land, which makes it impossible to gain access such property and to use it or cultivate it without a security risk". The following sentences in paragraph 50 of the Eide report are particularly significant: "Lack of security and respect for property rights as well as uncertainty about the future contribute heavily to the fact that the overall return process has virtually come to a halt. There is a strong feeling that those who commit crimes enjoy impunity and that the possibility for establishing viable livelihoods is very limited. The great majority of the people who left Kosovo after June 1999 have not come back." These statements gain particular importance in the light of precise data not offered in Mr. Eide's report.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

17. “In any case, according to Ambassador Eide, "It is difficult to expect that people from minority communities should take risks in order to verify whether freedom of movement and security are" or are not realities. "At present, property rights are neither respected nor ensured", Mr. Eide says. Examples include many cases of illegal seizures of Serbian State property through the privatization process that are not specifically mentioned in his report. "Illegal construction and occupation of homes are widespread phenomena". Where minority communities are concerned, the Eide report states, "Harassment, looting, stealing of cattle and other similar incidents occur very frequently.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

18. “In particular, Ambassador Eide's task was to evaluate progress in the implementation of standards that constitute the foundation of a democratic, multi-ethnic and economically viable society. In his comprehensive review, Ambassador Eide presents many essential and important facts, particularly with regard to the difficult position of the Serbian and other non-Albanian communities in Kosovo and Metohija. I shall just quote a few. "[L]ittle has been achieved to create a foundation for a multi- ethnic society", so that the situation in this respect is, as Ambassador Eide rightly says, "grim". "[t]he minority communities - and especially the Kosovo Serbs - suffer from more than a perceived insecurity".”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

19. “At earlier Council meetings on Kosovo and Metojiha, we offered several fully documented assessments of the difficult situation in the province, with particular emphasis on the hopeless position of Serbs and other non-Albanians. We have repeatedly provided convincing information, not only on the absence of multi-ethnicity in Kosovo and Metojiha, but also on grave violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, from the right to life itself to freedom from fear. Ambassador Kai Eide's report before the Security Council today (S/2005/635) has two main aims: to provide a comprehensive assessment of the situation in Kosovo and, on the basis of that assessment, to determine whether talks on the future status of the province should be initiated.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

20. “We thus come before this forum with respect and trust, expecting it to make a vital contribution in the spirit of its previous documents, in particular that of Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) of 10 June 1999. That resolution clearly reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro, and we are confident that forthcoming decisions of the Council will not depart from this fundamental principle of the United Nations. The Security Council today faces a daunting task. It has to decide whether to move to the next stage in resolving the Kosovo and Metojiha issue, even though the precisely defined tasks of the previous stage remain uncompleted.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

21. “What is at stake here is a set of core principles that the United Nations accepts and has to accept in its mission of safeguarding world peace. It is very important for me to emphasize to the Security Council that Serbia and Montenegro is fully prepared to assume its share of responsibility in the process of resolving the Kosovo and Metojiha issue in accordance with the basic principles of international law and the democratic values of the contemporary world. Within this general framework, we are committed to a compromise solution and willing to ensure substantial autonomy for Kosovo and Metojiha as a part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. The future of my country, of the region and, to a certain extent, that of Europe itself will depend on a just and viable solution to the Kosovo issue.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

22. “In the same spirit of trust, we expect that the Security Council will exercise its authority and, in the case of Serbia and Montenegro and its province Kosovo and Metojiha, safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of my country. I believe that we all share the conviction that to dismember a democratic State and to change its internationally recognized borders against its will are options not to be contemplated. This would not only be an unprecedented case in international law and in the practice of the United Nations, but also a dangerous precedent with grave long-term consequences for the international order in general. I would like the Council to consider that the responsibility facing it today is not related solely to the fate of a single Balkan State.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source

23. “I should like to begin by expressing great respect for this body of the world Organization. I am addressing members today in their capacity as representatives of United Nations Security Council member States in the firm belief that the Council constitutes the most credible and reliable guarantor of the foundations not only of the United Nations, but of the entire world order. Members know better than anyone else that the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States is one of these fundamental principles. My country, Serbia and Montenegro, is a loyal and active Member of the United Nations. Both in word and action, it has repeatedly proven its commitment to the principles that govern world peace and stability today.”

    2005-10-24 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.5289 (2005) · source