UNMIK
United Nations Mission in Kosovo

Joint UNMIK-SNC Understanding On Serbs' Return to JIAS Signed

  • 29 June 2000
  • Press Releases

UNMIK/PR/282

PRISTINA---SRSG Bernard Kouchner and Serb National Council (SNC) leader Bishop Artemije today signed the Joint UNMIK-SNC Understanding on the participation of Serb representatives in the JIAS institutions.

The understanding, the result of ongoing discussions between UNMIK and the SNC, lays down the “concrete steps” to be taken by UNMIK to ensure freedom, security and the fundamental human rights of the Serb community in Kosovo.

Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Artemije said now that this understanding had been agreed to and signed, the situation of the Kosovar Serb community will improve. He said they had been working on this agreement for coexistence since January and had also discussed it with the US Government. Bishop Artemije hoped that its provisions will be implemented and there will be further cooperation between the two sides.

Terming the occasion as “an important moment” for Kosovo, SRSG Kouchner said UNMIK was determined to improve the level of security of all communities in Kosovo, especially the Serb community. Underlining the need for understanding of all communities to achieve this, SRSG emphasized that without the goodwill of the Albanian community they could face problems.

Calling it a brave decision on the part of the SNC to speak on behalf of the Serb community, Dr. Kouchner said UNMIK and KFOR were ready to work together with Bishop Artemije, to fulfil the terms of the understanding. However, to create a secure environment and for the future of Kosovo, he said, the answer was to build democracy.

Answering a question, SRSG said that extremists from both sides were behind the recent violence. “Extremists sometimes fight each other but they also complement each other”, he stated.

The following understanding was signed:

The undersigned agree that the cooperation between the SNC and UNMIK and the participation of Serb representatives in the JIAS institutions as observers for another three months period will be based on the following understanding that foresees concrete steps that have to be taken to ensure freedom, security and the fundamental human rights of the Serb community in Kosovo.

  1. UNMIK shall develop a Special Security Task Force as part of UNMIK Police, which in cooperation with KFOR shall take special measures, including the development of a “neighborhood watch” system, to maximise the protection and freedom of movement of the Serb community in Kosovo.
  2. UNMIK shall intensify its efforts to recruit, train and deploy in Serb areas a greater number of Kosovo Serb members of the Kosovo Police Service. SNC shall help to identify qualified candidates.
  3. UNMIK shall appoint one international prosecutor and two international judges in each District Court across Kosovo and expedite the judicial proceedings against those arrested for inter-ethnic crimes, including the establishment of a war and ethnic crimes court composed of international and Kosovo judges. SNC shall help to identify qualified Serb candidates for judges in the District Courts and the war and ethnic crimes court.
  4. UNMIK with the assistance of the Joint Committee for Returns in which the SNC is a full member shall proceed speedily in the implementation of specific projects for safe and orderly returns of Serbs back to their homes in Kosovo.
  5. UNMIK shall actively continue to work on finding and freeing of all missing persons in Kosovo. The issue of ethnic Albanian prisoners in Serbian prisons as well as the issue of kidnapped Serbs will be treated as problems of the same priority.
  6. UNMIK shall complete the implementation of the “Agenda for Coexistence” that foresees the establishment of up to twenty Local Community Offices in Serb areas ensuring the delivery of essential public services to the Kosovo Serb population.
  7. UNMIK shall establish a Working Group composed of experts of all Kosovo communities to provide advice and contribute in the preparation of a mechanism for Community Protection in Kosovo as a part of the process to develop the legal framework for self-government in Kosovo.
  8. UNMIK shall establish with the SNC a special joint committee on protection of the Serbian religious and cultural heritage in Kosovo.

For the SNC, Bishop Artemije

For UNMIK, Dr. Bernard Kouchner

United Nations Mission in Kosovo

The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was established by the Security Council in its resolution 1244 (1999). In accordance with its mandate, the Mission helps to ensure conditions for a peaceful life for all inhabitants of Kosovo.