YouSaid · the spoken record

Meliza Haradinaj-Stublla

lines on the record
9
first
2020-10-21
most recent
2020-10-21
sittings or episodes
1
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

  1. “The Republic of Kosovo stands ready to be a constructive and friendly neighbour of the Republic of Serbia and a fully contributing member of the international community of nations.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  2. “In a very short period of time, we have created a functioning State that protects all of its citizens equally. These are the realities. The Republic of Kosovo has been a unitary, sovereign State with defined borders since 2008. Serbia will argue that there is an alternative reality — resolution 1244 (1999). I would simply recall that resolution 1244 (1999) always envisaged that Kosovo would become an independent State based on the will of the people. We all know resolution 1244 (1999) is a zombie, that it exists on paper only and for one reason only — the veto power of certain members of this organ, which is exercised for reasons that have nothing to do with the well-being of either Kosovo or Serbia. We must account for the past but we must live in the present and plan for the future.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  3. “Kosovo strongly desires to resolve the last remaining issues from the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The principles for a resolution are simple and clear. Serbia must acknowledge the fact of Kosovo’s statehood, including its territorial integrity, unitary character and constitutional order. The crimes of the past, against people and property, must be accounted for in an agreed manner. The bodies of the Missing must be returned. In the long years since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, Kosovo has done everything that has been asked of us by the international community. We have respected and worked with international institutions. We have been asked to be patient, we have been patient. We have enshrined in our laws and Constitution the most comprehensive protections for minorities in history. We have unequivocally supported the rule of law.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  4. “In the long term, it achieves precisely nothing. Yes, it harms Kosovo now; it delays our full integration into the global community. It hurts our economy. It perpetuates poverty. But it also harms Serbia, politically and economically. And it harms the United Nations and the European Union. The only way forward is true reconciliation. The overwhelming majority of the people of Kosovo and Serbia want to move on — not to forget the past, not to allow the crimes of the past to go unpunished, but to acknowledge and account for the past, fairly and honestly, and then build a future for all our people, of all nationalities and ethnicities, where difference is embraced and celebrated, where trade and culture flourish and where the well-being of our people and international solidarity are our shared objectives.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  5. “It has not returned our missing people, our cadastral records or our cultural artefacts, nor has it returned the stolen savings and pension funds of our people. Today, the trauma of Kosovo is best understood in the context of missing persons. More than 1,700 people are still missing and presumed dead. Returning their bodies to their families is no less important to us than the return of ethnic Albanians. But how does Serbia respond to what should be a simple humanitarian issue. Let me tell the Council how they respond. Minister Dačić, just last week, issued a public threat against anyone, including human rights activists, who dares to “leak information” about the mass graves of Kosovo war victims in Serbia. This continuing campaign of hatred and hostility against a neighbouring State is an exercise in futile malignity.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  6. “Serbia has never acknowledged the past. It denies the past. Just last year, President Vučić denied that the internationally verified massacre of civilians in the village of Racak ever happened; it was, he said, “fabricated”. As all Council members know, Serbia has intensified its attempts to sabotage the Republic of Kosovo, issuing spurious arrest warrants, lobbying small States to withdraw their recognition of Kosovo, manipulating its own media channels with a constant stream of racist propaganda and preventing Kosovo’s accession to international bodies, such as INTERPOL. These are facts. These are the inescapable realities that we deal with every day in Kosovo. What happened to our families, to our lives, is not a dim or distant memory. The aggressor State, our neighbour, has not acknowledged its guilt.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  7. “Finally, this same United Nations tribunal conclusively ruled that these attacks were coordinated and formed part of a joint criminal enterprise, the members of which included the senior political, military and national security leadership of the former Yugoslavia. Some 12,000 people were killed in the ensuing attacks on the towns and villages of Kosovo. Some 20,000 women were raped, half of the entire population became refugees, vast numbers of properties were destroyed and cadastral records and cultural artefacts were stolen and never returned. These are not assertions; they are proven facts. It is also a fact that the political and national security leadership that perpetrated these crimes included Aleksandar Vučić and Ivica Dačić — respectively, the current President and Foreign Minister of Serbia.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  8. “Once this inescapable reality is acknowledged, the way forward will be clear and the future can begin tomorrow. Another United Nations court of law, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ruled conclusively that the military and paramilitary forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia conducted a widespread and systematic armed attack on the ethnic Albanian civilian population of Kosovo, with the aim of driving them out and preventing their return. This same United Nations tribunal ruled that this ethnic cleansing was to be achieved through the widespread commission of crimes against humanity, war crimes and other humanitarian law violations.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source

  9. “On behalf of the Republic of Kosovo, I want to thank the Security Council most sincerely for this opportunity to address its members. Everything I say to the Council today is said as an expression of confidence and hope for the future of our country and our region, and it is based on the truth and the reality of our experience. It must be clearly understood that Kosovo is a fully independent and sovereign State — no less so than Estonia, Belgium or Germany. This is not an assertion; it is an irrefutable and irreversible fact supported by a ruling of the International Court of Justice in 2010. This is the key to political progress and enduring peace. Acceptance of this reality is the only basis for a resolution of the issues that divide Serbia and Kosovo.”

    2020-10-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1040 (2020) · source