MORNING

HR/CERD/99/12
8 March 1999





A representative of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia this morning said that his Government was resolved to find a peaceful political solution to all problems in Kosovo and Metohija based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and equality of all national communities living in Kosovo and Metohija.

The remark came as the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination started its review of the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under its early warning measures and urgent action procedures. A Government delegation was present to provide updated information on the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Redzep Hodza, Assistant Federal Minister for Justice of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and head of the six-person delegation, told Committee experts that members of national minorities in his country were guaranteed all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights without any restriction or discrimination. He said that his Government was of the firm opinion that Kosovo and Metohija was an inseparable part of the Republic of Serbia. Any problem related to that region was an integral issue which could be resolved by agreement among the representatives of all the national communities which lived there. No settlement could be imposed from outside, he added.

Peter Nobel, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said that the document presented by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dealt only with the activities committed by the Albanian activists. No mention was made of the atrocities committed by the police and military personnel of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Kosovo, he added.

As one of 153 States parties to the Convention, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on how it implements the provisions of the treaty. The Committee, within the framework of its efforts to prevent racial discrimination, can decide to take the report of a country under its early warning measures which are aimed at preventing existing problems from escalating. The Committee had asked the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in August 1998 to submit a special report on the situation in the country.

In its decision 3 (53) on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, adopted during its fifty-third session, the Committee had expressed its deep concern about persisting grave violations in Kosovo and Metohija of basic rights and about the disproportionate use of force by the State's law enforcement agencies and the military against the Albanian population in the region. The Committee also requested the Government to provide it with information about the attempts that had been undertaken to achieve a political solution.

Also participating in the discussion were Committee experts Ion Diaconu, Theodoor van Boven, Yuri A. Rechetov, Ivan Garvalov, Régis de Gouttes, Gay McDougall, Michael E.Sherifis, and Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr.

When the Committee reconvenes at 3 p.m., it will conclude its review of the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before it takes up the report of Italy.

Report of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

The report of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (document CERD/C/364), submitted to the Committee on the efforts of the Government to implement the provisions of the Convention, enumerates measures undertaken in the fields of legislation and administration. The report says that the area of protection of rights and freedoms of members of national minorities and ethnic groups in the legal system of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is for the most part regulated by the Constitution of the Federal Republic and constitutions of the member republics.

Concerning freedom of movement, the report states that from 1 to 30 November 1998, 453,699 travel documents were issued in the Republic of Serbia, of which 100,418 were issued to citizens in Kosovo and Metohija. Members of the Albanian nationals are in no way discriminated against regarding the exercise of their right to passports or visas, nor are they treated differently when crossing the State border.

With regard to the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, the report says that claims that the rights of members of the Albanian national minority are allegedly violated are totally groundless and their objective was to encourage and achieve secession. Instead, the report says, human rights are violated in Kosovo and Metohija exclusively by Albanian separatists and terrorist gangs. The Republic of Serbia has on a number of occasions offered a meaningful and constructive dialogue to the political representatives of the Albanian national community as well as to other national communities living in Kosovo and Metohija, adds the document.

Presentation of Situation in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

REDZEP HODZA, Assistant Federal Minister for Justice of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said his Government attached importance to political dialogue with the political representatives of the Albanian national minority with a view to reaching a political settlement. The Government was resolved to identify a peaceful political solution to all problems in Kosovo and Metohija based on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and equality of all national communities living in Kosovo and Metohija.

Mr. Hodza said that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-confessional country. Members of national minorities were guaranteed all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in the broadest sense, without any restriction or discrimination. In addition, members of national minorities were guaranteed rights and freedoms which were in accordance with the highest international standards set out in relevant international documents, particularly in the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.

Mr. Hodza further said that the Federal Constitution guaranteed the freedom of belief, public or private profession of faith and performance of religious rites. However, the freedom of confession in Kosovo and Metohija had been violated by Albanian separatists and terrorists who had attacked Orthodox clergy and ecclesiastical facilities of other confessions. On a number of occasions, they had even abused Muslim religious facilities turning them into sniper and machine-gun nests, he said.

The Republic of Serbia had offered on a number of occasions constructive dialogue to the political representatives of the Albanian national community, as well as to those of other nationalities in Kosovo and Metohija, Mr. Hodza went on to say. In the course of 1998, the President of the Republic of Serbia invited them for talks three times, and the Government invited them 18 times. However, the leaders of the Albanian separatists had not responded. They did not want a dialogue nor a settlement. They wanted violence and crimes, he said.

Mr. Hodza said that the separatist philosophy and programme envisaged the secession of Kosovo and Metohija, hence violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Referring to the recent Joint Draft Agreement of the Rambouillet meeting, Mr. Hodza said a political agreement had not been adopted and was far from being signed soon. Nevertheless, the United States and other Contact Group members were deliberately creating confusion, claiming that the talks were at the stage of being signed on 15 March.

Although the main point was to reach political agreement on self-rule and autonomy for all national communities in Kosovo and Metohija, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia could not under any terms accept the presence of any foreign troops on any part of its sovereign territory, Mr. Hodza affirmed. In addition, the Republic of Serbia was of the firm opinion, on the basis of its history and Constitution, that Kosovo and Metohija were an inseparable part of it; that the problems to that region were its internal issue which could be resolved by agreement among the representatives of all national communities which lived there; and that no settlement could be imposed from outside, he added.

Discussion

PETER NOBEL, the Committee expert who served as country rapporteur to the situation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, said that there was no doubt that serious crimes and violations of human rights had been committed by the Albanian side. However, it was striking that in the report, there was no mention whatsoever about any atrocity or abuse on the part of the Government through the police or military. It stood out as a completely one-sided report, he said.

Mr. Nobel recalled that when the policy of non-violent methods, including non-cooperation with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, had failed, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had in 1996 started its armed attacks on police stations in Kosovo. He said that according to Amnesty International, from the end of February 1998, there had been a marked and extreme increase in police and, increasingly, military actions in the areas where the Kosovo Liberation Army was reported to have a strong presence. This had resulted in hundreds of killings. Many of the victims were believed to have been extrajudicially executed.

On the situation of refugees, Mr. Nobel said that according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), their number within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was half a million. The country's economy was increasingly unable to support their basic needs and those of their host-territories.

Mr. Nobel concluded by underlining that the document presented by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dealt with only the activities committed by the Albanian activists. No mention was made of the atrocities committed by the police and military personnel of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in Kosovo, he said.

Other Committee members also said that the report was one-sided and only presented the human rights violations committed by the Albanian armed groups in Kosovo. One expert said that the question of Kosovo was not an isolated case as it had direct bearing on neighbouring States. They too should be part of a the peace dialogue if durable peace was to be achieved, said the expert.

Another expert recalled that the Committee had played an important role by using its good offices to bring peace to the region. In the past, the Committee had sent Committee members to visit Kosovo and had indicated ways of solving the conflict.

Other Committee members also raised questions on such issues as refugees, compensation for those who lost properties and the right to return home.

BRATISLAV DJORDJEVI, Director of the Division of International Organizations at the Federal Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, responding to comments made by Committee members, said that his Government was willing to find a peaceful and political solution to the conflict. In the past the representatives of the Albanian community had been invited to come to a negotiating table but had refused to so. Even during the Rambouillet meeting, the representatives refused to sign the document containing the principle of sovereignty, and their only wish was independence, he said. The so-called Kosovo Liberation Army should be listed among terrorist organizations and what was going on in Kosovo and Metohija was not an armed conflict.

MAHMOUD ABOUL-NASR, Chairman of the Committee, said he was alarmed that the delegation did not consider what was happening in Kosovo an armed conflict.