UNMIK/PR/1446
PRISTINA – SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen today met with representatives of Kosovo minorities communities and briefed them on the upcoming visit of the Secretary-General’s status envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, on status talks preparations and the process. The SRSG stressed that active participation of their communities in Kosovo’s political process was “extremely important at this critical moment”.
The SRSG told the group that Mr. Ahtisaari had scheduled a meeting with them during his visit to Kosovo next week to seek answers on the well-being of minorities in the future of Kosovo. In the conduct of its work, the Negotiations Team must be “very clear on how they see the future of multiethnic communities in Kosovo,” the SRSG added.
He promised the group of representatives that UNMIK would continue to push very hard in the area of Standards implementation and to urge President Rugova to involve all communities in the Negotiations Team.
The minorities representatives raised issues of their involvement in the process of status discussions and voiced their concerns in the areas of safety and security and the right to use their languages. They also expressed their hope to be a part of a “functional state where minority communities have the same rights as the majority”.