Serbia complains to UNSC about Kosovo property claims
Tens of thousands of Serbs would like to return to Kosovo but have been stonewalled in their attempts to recover illegally seized property, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Thursday, June 18, 2009
Jeremic cited figures from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), estimating that over 200,000 Kosovo Serbs have yet to return home a decade after a 1998-99 war. He said only around 500 went back to Kosovo last year and 30 during the three months from March to May of this year.
He said Serbs "want to exercise their right of return and we must do everything to bring them back home." He added that few destroyed houses have been repaired and most remain empty.
"This is not, however, where the biggest problem lies," Jeremic said. "More than 40,000 claims have been filed by Kosovo Serb IDPs for the return of illegally seized property. And they have not heard back."
Jeremic called for the UNHCR to take over the role of the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA) in processing restitution claims. He said the KPA, administered by the now-sidelined U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), had effectively "ceased to exist."
U.S. Deputy U.N. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo and British envoy Philip Parham urged Pristina to facilitate the return of Kosovo Serbs.
Parham told the council that Britain was "committed to assisting the Kosovo Property Agency in its work to restore rightful title to property for Kosovars of all communities."
DiCarlo said the number of returnees to Kosovo was "impermissibly small" and that the administration in Washington was encouraging the authorities in Pristina to protect the rights of the minorities.
Austrian Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting described the rate of return of Kosovo's Serbs as "disappointingly low."
Ahead of the meeting, Jeremic said that he will ask the Council members for an end to new recognitions of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo.
"A number of countries in the international community actively support new recognitions of Kosovo as an independent state. We will ask at this top global stage that an end should be put to this practice," Jeremic said for Radio and Television of Serbia RTS, speaking from New York.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has started considering the question of the legality of the unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo, Minister Jeremic pointed out, adding that the Security Council would be asked to put a "stop to the pressure on countries all over the world, which is extremely strong."
