HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONVENES FIRST CONSULTATIVE FORUM OF AGENCIES WORKING ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN KOSOVO

HR/99/56
21 June 1999


United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson convened today what is expected to be the first of a series of meetings among all the international agencies dealing with human rights in Kosovo to discuss cooperation and coordination on the ground.

The informal meeting brought together representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the Special Envoys of the Secretary-General on the Balkans, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the United Nations Children's Fund. Participants called the meeting useful and highlighted the importance of cooperation and of coordinating the efforts of the different organizations on the ground in order to avoid duplication and conflicts over mandates. They agreed to meet again within the next few weeks to continue discussing how to work together and devise long-range strategies for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Balkans.

"The immediate needs of the returning Kosovar Albanians and the need to protect and secure the civilian Serb population are what will be uppermost in peoples' minds for some time", the High Commissioner said, "but that does not mean we should refrain from looking at the longer term needs; on the contrary, now is the time to start planning long-term strategy for the promotion and protection of human rights in the region".

Mrs. Robinson said she expected to see how this cooperation was working for herself when she visits Kosovo on 30 June. She recalled that OHCHR was sending back to Pristina human rights officers who had been there until their evacuation on 24 March. Meanwhile, the international members of the OHCHR's Belgrade office have returned and will continue to focus on human rights in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.