New Standards for Kosovo

UNMIK releases a new plan for a rich and tolerant Kosovo that has undertones of independence. 15 December 2003 PRISTINA, Kosovo—Harri Holkeri, head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), released the international community’s Standards for Kosovo document on 10 December, outlining a strategy for Kosovo’s future ahead of talks about the province’s status.

Holkeri released the document on International Human Rights Day in the presence of Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova, and other non-Serb officials. Kosovo’s Serb minority was not represented at the presentation.

The document contains eight standards related to the functioning of democratic institutions, rule of law, freedom of movement, safe return and reintegration of internally displaced persons and refugees, market economy, property rights, dialogue with Belgrade, and the appropriate size of the Kosovo Protection Corps (TMK), which includes minority representation.

The TMK is the civilian guard that, in effect, succeeded the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), following the end of the Kosovo conflict in 1999.

If the eight standards are met, Holkeri said, Kosovo will become a “rich, tolerant, and economically developed community.”

Holkeri said at the presentation ceremony that the 10-page document describes in detail “a society where people of all communities are respected, whatever their ethnic background; where they are free to travel, work, and use their own languages; where the institutions of government serve all the people, in all of Kosovo, without discrimination; and where there is fair justice and security for everybody.”

President Rugova said the standards would bring Kosovo closer to its final status, which, he said, should be independence from Serbia.

Kosovo Prime Minister Rexhepi said, “There are two options before us: either we succeed together, or we fail together. And as prime minister I promise the government will do its best to contribute to the realization of these standards.”

An evaluation of Kosovo’s progress toward the standards is scheduled for mid-2005. If Kosovo is found to have met the eight standards, the international community is prepared to begin the process of determining the UN-administered province’s future status. If the progress is determined to be insufficient by that deadline, however, another review date will be set.

“The time has come for us to set and achieve standards by 2005,” Rugova said. “The international community’s standards are aimed at Kosovo developing and preparing for the establishment of its final status, which, in our opinion, should be independence.”

By working together, Rexhepi said, UNMIK and the Kosovo Provisional Institutions of Self Government (PISG) would succeed in fulfilling the standards.

“Each sentence in the standards document is a challenge in itself, but we look forward to working together to overcome all of these challenges,” Rexhepi said.

Holkeri expressed regret that representatives from the Kosovo Serb community did not attend.

Though the Standards for Kosovo call for internally displaced persons and refugees to continue to be fully included in the Kosovo election process and for their voting ability to be facilitated, authorities in Belgrade had hoped for more.

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic expressed dissatisfaction with the Kosovo Standards, saying his cabinet would not accept the document as it “does not guarantee safety to people in Kosovo.”

“I expected these standards to mean that 10, 20, 50 percent of the (Serb) refugees would return to Kosovo in 2004. … There is nothing of the sort,” Zivkovic said.

According to Zivkovic, the Kosovo Standards are “a convenient list of wishes.”

Rada Trajkovic, a Serb deputy in the Kosovo Assembly, criticized the standards for hinting at conditional independence for Kosovo.

“Since the paper does not imply any institutional ties between Kosovo and Belgrade, it practically means a conditional independence for the province,” Trajkovic told media in Belgrade.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) announced its support for the draft Standards on Kosovo on 12 December, and Holkeri must now sign the final version. The next step will be to create an implementation strategy for the eight standards.

In other news, the Kosovo Assembly on 11 December voted to repeal all legislation related to Kosovo passed by the Serbian Parliament since March 1989. The Kosovo Serb Povratak (Return) coalition rejected the Assembly decision, saying it was in contradiction to the Constitutional Framework and UNSC Resolution 1244 on Kosovo.

“All laws adopted by Serbia in Kosovo were against the will of the majority Kosovo population and their representatives, and as such they are unacceptable and an obstacle to Kosovo’s future prospects,” Arsim Bajrami, the head of the parliament’s Judicial and Legislative Board, said.

In rebuttal, Kosovo Serb parliamentarian Gojko Savic said, “Their justification is that the laws discriminate against the people of Kosovo. In that case we could seek the abolition of laws that discriminate against the Serb community.”

Holkeri responded by overturning the decision, describing it as “legally unsustainable” and “not within the jurisdiction of the Kosovo Assembly.”

--by Bekim Greicevci

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