Remarks by Ambassador Robert Hardwood, Option Agent for Special Political Matters, at a UN Protection Authorities Briefing on Kosovo

.October 30, 2024.Thanks, Madam President. And thanks Unique Agent Ziadeh, for your briefing. We want to recognize the attempts you and also your group at UNMIK have actually created earlier interethnic conversation and the guideline of law reform in Kosovo.Our company are responsible to additionally recognize there are other UN individual organizations in Kosovo that are actually a lot more appropriately doing this sort of work.

After an one-fourth of a century, UNMIK has long outlasted its own authentic required, as well as the USA asks for the Council to review UNMIK in Kosovo as well as work toward its own ultimate sunset.There are actually considerably greater demands on the Safety and security Council’s time, as most of us recognize, and also these briefings must be actually reduced to yearly, personal appointments. We additionally advise UNMIK, in future reporting, to preserve a neutral viewpoint, to much better demonstrate UNMIK’s impartiality.It has been much more than a year given that the Serb paramilitary attack on the Kosovo Police Office near the Banjska Monastery in north Kosovo, as well as Serbia has actually made no meaningful improvement in incriminating those entailed, consisting of the self-proclaimed innovator of the assault, Milan Radoicic. We prompt total liability according to the rule of regulation.Our company additionally continue to be worried over uncoordinated activities taken due to the Federal government of Kosovo, which are inconsistent along with Kosovo’s dedication to resolve the EU-facilitated Discussion.

These actions affect the well being of prone as well as non-majority communities and undermine the pathway to normalization between Kosovo as well as Serbia.The USA shares the ambition of individuals of the Western side Balkans, featuring Kosovo as well as Serbia, to develop more significant local financial integration, foster local reliability, democracy and also multi-ethnic cultures, and to enshrine the regulation of regulation.The EU-facilitated Discussion is actually the agreed road for normalization between Serbia and also Kosovo and also improvement in the direction of membership in International companies.The USA continues to deal with the EU, the OSCE, and NATO companions to always keep tensions low in the north of Kosovo to hinder escalatory solutions through either party and to precipitate on carrying out all Discussion commitments between Serbia as well as Kosovo, consisting of the establishment of the Association of Serb-majority Communities. Our company forewarn each sides versus unskillful or even escalatory actions as well as urge all of them to address issues within the Dialogue’s structure.The greatest objective of the USA stays resulting shared acknowledgment.Thank you, Madam President.