UNMIK/PR/521
PRISTINA--- SRSG Hans Haekkerup today launched the first meeting of the Working Group on the interim Legal Framework which will define provisional self-government for Kosovo, as foreseen in UN SCR 1244(1999). Once the legal framework is completed, the SRSG will announce the date for general elections.
The Working Group is composed of seven Kosovo and six international members who will meet intensively under a chairman, Mr. Johan Van Lamoen, an international expert in the field of transitional legal regimes.
Kosovo members of the group will include representatives of IAC parties, who have named Fatmir Sejdiu (LDK); Arsim Bajrami (PDK) and Muhamet Kelmendi (AAK) to represent them. The Kosovo Serb member is Djordje Aksic, and Abedin Ferovic, a Bosniac, will represent the other communities; Blerim Reka will represent civil society and Blerim Shala has been appointed in his personal capacity.
International members are Andrew Joscelyne (Pillar III); Blanca Antonini (Pillar II); Roy Dickinson (Pillar IV); Alexander Borg-Olivier (UNMIK Legal Advisor) and Neithart Hoefer-Wissing (UNMIK, Office of Political Affairs); and an international expert from the Venice Commission (Matthew Russell and Thomas Markert to rotate).
The Working Group will draft the regulations that will define the Legal Framework, which in accordance with UN SCR 1244(1999) will not prejudge the final political settlement for Kosovo. However, the establishment of the Provisional Self-Government is an important step in facilitating the process towards a final settlement.
Under the guidance of the SRSG, UNMIK has prepared inputs to the drafting process now starting in the Working Group. It is essential to engage the population of Kosovo and the international community in its important work. All interested parties inside and outside Kosovo will be part of this consultation process.
Now, for the first time, the Kosovo population has the opportunity to influence their own future and create a truly democratic society based on the rule of law and respect for all. It is therefore of crucial importance that all parties and communities in Kosovo now engage themselves actively and constructively in the vital process of defining the Provisional Self-Government for Kosovo.