UNSC session on Kosovo due on Tuesday

The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold a session in New York on Tuesday, November 19, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will present his latest report on the situation in Kosovo and the situation in the field.

(kosovocompromisestuff) Monday, November 18, 2013

Ban noted that the overall security situation in Kosovo remained generally calm, with occasional incidents reported in ethnically mixed areas, adding that all sides appeared to demonstrate an increased commitment to prevent tensions on the ground to enable the high level dialogue and implementation process to move forward.According to UNMIK, a total of 76 incidents affecting the minority communities were reported during the period between July 16 and October 15 this year, while three months earlier there were 90 such incidents.As for the missing persons, Ban said that since the deployment of EULEX, in 2008, 407 field operations to collect data which could lead to exhumations have been carried out and remains of 355 individuals have been returned to families. However, there are estimated 1,720 persons who are still missing from the 1998-1999 conflict.According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of September, 569 Kosovo Serb displaced families expressed willingness to return to Kosovo from Serbia, along with 112 Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian families from Montenegro, and 45 Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian families from Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.UNMIK Administration Mitrovica (UAM) continued its monitoring, mediation and facilitation roles, as part of UNMIK's sustained effort to support institutional and political progress in the region, the report reads.My Special Representative Farid Zarif has continued to invest substantial efforts in northern Kosovo by regularly engaging with all relevant stakeholders, both through meetings and public statements, in order to enhance constructive dialogue, Ban said in the report.