UNMIK/PR/1644 - UNMIK Countdown #12
PRISTINA – Kosovo is a land of rich cultural diversity and one of the priorities facing UNMIK since its inception has been to ensure the rehabilitation and protection of this important heritage for generations to come.
UNMIK has been actively working with the Departments of Culture, Youth, Sports and Non-Resident Affairs since 1999. Key elements of this cooperation include: supporting the Ministry to fulfil requirements on the enactment of a legal framework for cultural heritage protection; on establishing an inventory of cultural heritage; facilitating public awareness campaigns; development of policies promoting an integrated heritage conservation strategy and security measures to protect cultural heritage sites. UNMIK also supports the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports’ (MCYS) efforts towards the integration of communities through culture and sports. In addition, UNMIK supported the development of the Kosovo Youth Action Plan and monitors the implementation of a World Bank grant of USD 2 million to the Department of Youth.
In response to the 2004 March events, the Reconstruction Implementation Commission (RIC) was created in 2005 after negotiations facilitated by UNMIK between MCYS and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC). The RIC, headed by the Council of Europe (CoE), is currently in charge of rehabilitating 34 churches that were damaged in March 2004. By the end of 2007, having spent 5.9 million euros, the RIC expects to successfully conclude its work.
In May 2005, UNESCO organized an International Donor Conference which raised USD 10 million for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage in Kosovo. Some 40 sites from all categories of heritage - vernacular, ottoman, orthodox, and archaeological - were presented to the donors. In January 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding between UNMIK and UNESCO was signed, enabling the reconstruction works on the first seven cultural sites to begin - additional projects are expected to follow shortly.
After the formation of the Ministry in 2002, UNMIK began a gradual transfer of competencies and its role shifted to one of monitoring, advising and coordinating. However, UNMIK continues to facilitate the technical dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade in cooperation with relevant international organizations, such as the CoE and UNESCO. In this regard, several successful meetings were held between the Ministers of Culture including a September 2005 meeting in Belgrade, two meetings in Bulgaria in 2005-06 and a December 2006 meeting in Tirana, where they discussed different aspects of bilateral cooperation and the way ahead.
