Guterres on Kosovo: Potential for escalation, safeguarding rights of non-majority communities vital

“Unilateral actions, including the closure of institutions financed by Serbia and steps towards reopening the Mitrovica bridge, as well as restrictions on Serbian goods and the implementation of the new currency regulation, heighten tensions and erode trust among communities and between communities and institutions,” reads the latest report by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, reported KoSSev.

Such actions not only disrupt the daily lives and socioeconomic rights of those affected, but also jeopardize the collective progress and stability that are crucial for a peaceful and prosperous future shared by all, said Guterres.

Guterres called for responsible leadership that prioritizes the well-being and human rights of all people in Kosovo.

“It is critical that the actions of political leaders reflect a commitment to address the needs and rights of all communities,” he said.

The UN Security Council is meeting on Wednesday to discuss the regular semi-annual report from UNMIK, detailing the UN Secretary-General’s assessment of the situation in Kosovo. Serbia is represented by its Foreign Affairs Minister Marko Djuric, while Kosovo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Donika Gervalla speaks for Pristina.

The report covers events from March 16 to September 15 of this year, documenting both on-the-ground developments and progress in the dialogue process. The situation in the North is described as still tense, and while the report says the dialogue “continued to stagnate.”

“Very limited progress”

During the reporting period, little progress was achieved in the implementation of European Union-facilitated agreements between Belgrade and Pristina. “The European Union-facilitated dialogue continued to stagnate,” reads the report.

It says that, on 17 March, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, marked the anniversary of the Agreement on the path to normalization of relations and its Implementation Annex, noting that there had been “very limited” progress by both parties in implementing their obligations. Meetings were held in Brussels in June, but no agreement was reached.

Guterres also described as commendable the continued progress on resolving the fate of the missing through the Working Group on Missing Persons is commendable, and encouraged an acceleration of those efforts.

“Both parties should take all steps necessary to implement the provisions of the Declaration on Missing Persons, endorsed by Belgrade and Pristina on 2 May as part of the European Union-facilitated dialogue,” he said.

On 26 June, Borrell chaired high-level bilateral meetings with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels aimed at paving the way for a trilateral meeting later. However, that meeting did not take place. Borrell afterwards said that Kurti was not ready for the trilateral meeting and had outlined three conditions for Pristina’s “further engagement in the broader normalization process”, namely: (a) formalize the Agreement through signatures; (b) withdraw the letter submitted on 13 December 2023 by the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, to the European External Action Service; and (c) hand over the perpetrators involved in the Banjska incident to Kosovo’s judicial authorities.

According to Borrell, Vucic “was willing” to hold the trilateral meeting but was “not ready to fully meet Kurti’s conditions, citing constitutional constraints, while indicating readiness to explore options.”

On 16 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommended that Kosovo be invited to become a member of the Council of Europe, and that the organization would monitor Kosovo’s implementation of several commitments and obligations after its accession. The Parliamentary Assembly noted that establishing the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities would be “an important step” to ensuring the protection of the rights of Kosovo Serbs and should be regarded “as a post-accession commitment”.

President Vucic had noted earlier that Serbia would consider leaving the Council of Europe if Kosovo were admitted to the organization and vowed to “fight” Kosovo’s membership bid.

“Subsequently, the spokesperson of the European Union External Action Service said that Serbia’s lobbying against Kosovo’s bid to join international organizations clearly violated the 2023 Agreement,” reads the report.

It also notes that, in anticipation of the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 16 and 17 May, France and Germany stressed the importance for Pristina to make tangible progress towards the establishment of the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities in the context of its application to join this European organization.

It recalls that, in a joint letter to Kurti, the Chancellor of Germany, President of France, and Prime Minister of Italy requested Kosovo to send the draft statute of the Association/ Community of Serb-majority Municipalities that had been proposed by the European Union to the Constitutional Court of Kosovo for review. It further specified that Mr. Kurti’s proposal to prepare a new draft statute to be sent to the Council of Europe for review “risked further undermining the European Union-facilitated dialogue”.

“Kosovo’s application to the Council of Europe remained pending,” says the report.

The report added that Kurti qualified the actions as “retaliation against Kosovo civilians,” while the spokesperson of the European Union External Action Service said that Belgrade’s “unilateral and uncoordinated actions” violated the 2011 Agreement on Freedom of Movement.

It also said that, on 9 May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo launched the process of replacing Serbia-issued driver’s licences for individuals residing in Kosovo with Kosovo-issued ones. The Ministry reported that 6,509 applications for new licences had been received, including 5,732 from northern Kosovo.

Situation in northern Kosovo remained tense

“The security situation in northern Kosovo remained tense and was marked by numerous incidents that continued to generate tension between Kosovo Serbs and the Kosovo authorities,” said the Secretary-General.

These tensions were evident through various events and measures affecting the daily lives of the local population, and a special section was dedicated to reporting on the security situation in the North.

“The Kosovo authorities undertook a series of actions that have affected the day-to-day lives of Kosovo Serbs and other non-majority communities. Pristina reiterated that those actions were intended to enforce the rule of law and did not specifically target Kosovo Serbs. Nevertheless, each time the Kosovo authorities implemented a measure that was not consulted and agreed upon with Kosovo Serb representatives and in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, many Kosovo Serbs perceived it as antagonistic,” says the report.

This is also how they perceived the May 2 Kosovo police action of installing surveillance cameras in the centre of North Mitrovica, and confirming their intention to install “around 200 cameras in northern Kosovo.” On 22 July several cameras were installed several cameras around the main Ibar bridge.

This prompted multiple civil society organizations to express concerns about the right to privacy, says the report.

The report lists the events that marked this period, particularly regarding the situation on the ground, alongside the EU-facilitated dialogue process.

It emphasized that the Kosovo authorities also closed several institutions financed by Serbia and stated their intention to reopen the main bridge in Mitrovica to vehicle traffic, which has become a “contested and symbolic issue.”