Serbia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Nemanja Stevanovic, has made a formal plea for an urgent session of the UN Security Council, aiming to tackle the intensifying crisis in Kosovo.
Stevanovic’s request, delivered Monday, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing tensions gripping the Balkans region. With Kosovo at the center of the dispute, concerns over stability and security have surged, prompting swift diplomatic action.
The request, citing Article 35 of the United Nations Charter and Article 3 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the UN Security Council, underscores the gravity of the situation unfolding in Kosovo.
The Pavlovic Today has obtained the complete text of the request to the UN Security Council, and we are now publishing it in its entirety.
REQUEST FOR UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL : SPECIAL SESSION-FEBRUARY 2024
In accordance with Article 35 of the United Nations Charter and Article 3 of the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the Security Council (S/96/Rev.7), the Republic of Serbia hereby points the attention of the Security Council to the ongoing situation in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija and in reference to Kosovo and Metohija, which is completely opposite to the UN Charter and the UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999), and which is of such nature that it requires the Special Session of the Security Council.
Namely, in this territory, which in accordance with the UN Charter and other rules of international law and the UN SC Resolution 1244, is a part of the Republic of Serbia, and where international administration of the UN was established, there is an ongoing culmination of long-lasting and well-planned and systematic actions by the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians, by which Serbs have been intentionally subjected to unbearable living conditions. It is about the illegal decision by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina on abolishing the Serbian legal tender, Serbian dinar, in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, which is the continuity of measures of brutal physical and institutional violence against Serbs by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina, and whose essential objective is complete ethnic cleansing and disappearance of the Serbian population from the respective territory- which is taking place as we speak.
The destructiveness of the aforementioned long-lasting repressive measures of the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians, within which illegal abolishment of the Serbian currency, dinar, is the most comprehensive procedure in intentional subjecting Serbs to unbearable living conditions, is illustrated quite visibly by the data that more than 14% Serbs have already left the territory of Kosovo and Metohija only in the past year. Having in mind that this process has drastically intensified after the announcement of the mentioned illegal measure of abolishment of Serbian dinar, the Republic of Serbia requests convening of the Special Session of the UNSC so that urgent measures can be taken for preventing the occurrence of the irreparable harm for survival of Serbian people in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija.
With the aforementioned measure of abolishing Serbian dinar, the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians fully deprived Serbs and other members of non-Albanian communities of their regular monthly salaries, pensions and social help and other personal incomes. The implementation of this measure is reflected through violent intrusions and shutting down of Serbian institutions, municipalities, and infirmaries in the territories of Gora, Pec, Istok, Klina and Pristina, as well as illegal confiscation of the money that was meant for social help and pensions for Serbs in those, mostly returnees’ environments in the respective municipalities. Additionally, the operation of 922 Serbian –owned private business entities has instantly and essentially been disabled, but also any other operation of all other social, medical, education, cultural and all other institutions providing public services for Serbs in that territory.
I underline that until today, I still hoped that I would not begin this letter in a gloomy tone, i.e. that international efforts to turn Pristina from depriving more than 100.000 Serbs of their salaries, pensions and social giving, as well as from disabling work of Serbian schools, student dormitories, hospitals, cultural centers and social work centers, as well as all other social institutions will give some result. Unfortunately, recent beginning of implementation of this decision by which Pristina persecutes Serbs, and within which it has already carried out violent intrusions and shutting down of Serbian institutions, municipalities, and infirmaries in the territories of Gora, Pec, Istok, Klina and Pristina, as well as illegal confiscation of the money that was meant for social help and pensions for Serbs in those, mostly returnees’ environments, and followed by apprehension of Serbian medical workers and workers of the Postal Services, would prove me wrong.
The latest measure, whose implementation is ongoing, happened as a natural continuation of non-sanctioned, years-long violent and intentional subjecting Serbs to unbearable living conditions by the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians led by Albin Kurti. Since February 2021, they have continuously been exercising physical and institutional violence against Serbs in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, they have incited threats and actions which intentionally created the strong feeling of uncertainty, unsafety and existential danger for Serbian population, particularly in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, they have been provoking violent response to their actions and abusing all the leverages of public institutions in order to encourage and create exodus of Serbian population from that territory.
Only since November 2022, armed formations of Kosovo Albanians (whose mere existence is contrary to the Resolution1244 (1999)) have used 98 times disproportionate and illegal force against Serbian population (out of which 83 times in the territory of north Kosovo and Metohija). Using mechanisms of provisional institutions that were established contrary to the UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999), heavily armed Kosovo Albanians formations have carried out, only since November 2022, 38 intrusions in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, where they have been having continuous armed presence lately.
They use that presence to carry out arbitrary arrests of prominent Serbian individuals and all other known forms of physical and institutional violence against the Serbian population. Among other things, they carry out acts of mass intimidation of the Serbian population through: 1) preventing the freedom of movement of Serbs through reasonless stops, humiliating treatment, beatings and even injuring civilians at illegally established armed checkpoints and all other points in the entire north of Kosovo and Metohija, 2) unjustifiably opening fire and the almost constant presence of armoured fighting vehicles in usually peaceful Serbian urban areas, 3) illegal expropriation of land privately owned by Serbs, which they then use to build illegal Albanian police bases, 4) adopting decisions on confiscation of buildings owned by Serbian institutions, which have been the owners of those facilities, 5) the violent seizure of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) and the violation of the special protection zone around the SPC facilities, while the centuries-old Serbian Orthodox churches are appropriated and renamed Albanian, 6) plowing and destruction of Serbian cemeteries, 7) the imposition of an eight-month illegal embargo on Serbian goods and confiscation of legal goods owned by Serbian traders…
However, this is not only about the armed presence of Albanian armed groups in the north of Kosovo and Metohija, which according to Resolution 1244 had to be demilitarized – which also implies a ban on their re-formation in one form or another.
In the entire area of the Province, the provisional institutions headed by Albin Kurti have systematically and for a long time carried out the same and many other acts, which cannot be characterized otherwise than as acts of persecution and as crimes against humanity.
These systematic and well-planned acts, for example, include the Serbs being formally deprived of the basic democratic rights of to vote in the Serbian referendum and elections in 2023, the provision of legal impunity for ethnic Albanians who committed numerous police beatings and mistreatment, as well as the shooting of seven Serbs, political marginalization of Serbs in areas where they make up the absolute majority population, disrespect for the status of the Serbian language as the official language of all public institutions, abuse of the judiciary for the ethnically motivated persecution of Serbs, as well as preventing the return of displaced persons under mass false accusations of alleged war and other crimes, an established practice of violation of trade agreements, especially CEFTA (which UNMIK acceded to on behalf of Kosovo), carrying out the practice of preventing or significantly hindering the delivery of medicines and medical equipment to health care institutions in areas where Serbs are the majority, preventing or jeopardizing the transport of the most vulnerable patients, as well as the policy of complete impunity for ethnically motivated attacks on the Serbian population, Serbian returnees, Serbian property and sites of Serbian religious and cultural heritage.
The most illustrative example of the above-described existential threat to Serbs and them being “outlawed” in order to be persecuted by the institutions under the control of Albin Kurti is certainly the one in which the so-called Kosovo’s “judiciary”, which carries out mass persecution of Serbs under false accusations of war and other crimes, recently issued a decision that a member of the illegal so-called Kosovo Security Forces Azem Kurtaj, who on Christmas Eve 2023 shot the Serbian child Stefan Stojanović (11) and his cousin Miloš (21) Stojanović with a service firearm, is now a free man released from custody to defend himself. This is just one of as many as 470 unpunished ethnically motivated attacks on Serbs, the Serbian Orthodox Church and their property since 2021 – since when Albin Kurti has been at the helm of the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians, who now directs the persecution of the Serbs. By comparison, since Kurti came to power, the number of ethnically motivated attacks has doubled.
Due to all of the above, Pristina’s latest decision to abolish the dinar as legal tender in the area of Kosovo and Metohija has irrefutably created a situation that is of such a nature that it immediately causes a drastic deterioration of the security situation and enables the completion of the ongoing persecution, primarily of the Serbian population, as a crime against humanity. Along with the persecution of Serbs, the so-called leadership of Kosovo Albanians openly refuses to fulfil the obligations that the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina undertook as part of the Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, primarily the obligation to form the Community of Municipalities with a Serb-majority population in Kosovo and Metohija. At the same time, with some support from abroad, it is also trying to impose political solutions on the Republic of Serbia that legalize the consequences of Pristina’s unilateral actions taken while carrying out ethnic cleansing and persecution of the Serbian population, that is, political solutions that grossly violate the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998), 1239 (1999) and 1244 (1999). From that perspective, the Republic of Serbia once again expresses its full commitment to the consistent and strict observance of the goals and principles of the UN Charter, as well as the provisions of UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999). As a result, it expects other actors in the international community to conscientiously fulfil their international obligations in accordance with the UN Charter, as well as not to put pressure on the Republic of Serbia and those who strive to act in accordance with their international obligations. In this context, we emphasize that it is indisputable that the obligations of all international entities according to the UN Charter, which includes strict compliance with UN Security Council resolutions adopted on the basis of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, have absolute precedence over all other agreements and arrangements.
We emphasize that the Republic of Serbia remains fully committed to the process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina in the Dialogue conducted with facilitation of the European Union, based on the Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly from 2010 (A/Res/64/298). Since the beginning of the Dialogue, Belgrade has approached this process constructively and in good faith, fulfilling all its obligations within the framework of the agreements reached. On the other hand, Pristina, by refusing to form the Community of Serb Municipalities for full 11 years, with almost daily escalating moves and institutional violence aimed at persecuting the Serbian people, renders all previously signed and settled agreements meaningless, with the intention of cancelling the Dialogue process itself. In this regard, the latest decision on the abolition of the Serbian dinar in the area of Kosovo and Metohija by the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina was made, inter alia, with the aim of completely abolishing the Dialogue.
Bearing this in mind, and in light of the fact that the ongoing structural violence against Serbs through the abolition of the Serbian dinar, as the culmination of long-term and systematic, physical and structural violence by the leadership of the Kosovo Albanians, undeniably threatens to make irreparable harm to the survival of the Serbian people on the area of Kosovo and Metohija, the Republic of Serbia, in an effort to prevent further escalation of the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija and preserve peace and stability, is forced to strongly demand the convening of a special emergency session of the UN Security Council and a decisive reaction of the international community. The Republic of Serbia believes that holding such a session is absolutely necessary and urgent in order to resolve the ongoing crisis by diplomatic means, in accordance with international law and without resorting to the use of armed force and imposing solutions that are in contravention with the UN Charter. Due to the urgency of the situation, in the light of the immediate danger of irreparable harm, we believe that an urgent session of the Security Council is obviously necessary, and that before the regular session at which the report of UNMIK would be discussed pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions 1160 (1998), 1199 (1998), 1203 (1998), 1239 (1999) and 1244 (1999).
We take this opportunity to recall that the Republic of Serbia, at all previous sessions of the Security Council on Kosovo and Metohija, persistently presented documented claims about the indisputable violation of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), as well as about the all encompassing violence carried out by the leadership of the Kosovo Albanians in order to target the Serbs and subject them to unbearable living conditions and force them to leave their homes forever. The Republic of Serbia also pointed to the pronounced risk of deterioration of the situation and drastic escalation of the widespread and systematic attack by Pristina’s provisional institutions on the Serbian population – by which the leadership of the Kosovo Albanians most certainly leads to endangering or disrupting peace and security.
Since the warnings of the Republic of Serbia have now fully materialized and that there is now an immediate and real danger that the leadership of the Kosovo Albanians, after the abolition of the Serbian dinar, will intensify further unilateral acts, including the engagement of armed formations, in an effort to prevent the survival of the Serbian population on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, that with its systematic and widespread acts of violence, which often include the use of armed force, it violates or seriously threatens the realization of the fundamental and international law-based rights and interests of the residents of Kosovo and Metohija, as well as the legitimate interests of the Republic of Serbia, and since such actions can provoke the taking of appropriate measures to prevent the occurrence of irreparable harm and to protect the basic rights of the Serbian and other non-Albanian population, which are guaranteed by international law, including Resolution 1244 (1999), in order to enable the further process of resolving the Kosovo issue to take place in accordance with the fundamental principles and rules of international law, especially in accordance with the UN Charter and the principles on which Resolution 1244 (1999) is based, the Republic of Serbia calls on the Security Council, but also on all international organizations and states that can influence the resolution of the crisis, to take all measures necessary to:
1. Immediately stop the ongoing and prevent the new persecution of the Serbian people, with the aim of normalizing the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and
2. Create conditions for the resumption of a meaningful dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina under the auspices of the EU, in accordance with the UN Charter and UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).
Expressing deep respect for the Security Council, the Republic of Serbia once again emphasizes the expectation that this request will be accepted, as well as that the requested urgent emergency session of the Security Council will be held as soon as possible. Otherwise, ignoring the ongoing persecution and subjecting the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija to unbearable living conditions, through the abolition of the possibility of their economic and physical survival in that area, such as the absence of reactions to the mentioned previous warnings of the Republic of Serbia at the Security Council sessions about Kosovo and Metohija, will almost certainly result in irreparable harm to the survival of the Serbian people in the area of Kosovo and Metohija.
