[NYC-L] fw: State Outlines U.S.---> Kosovo

[Jeton Ademaj]

hey all
use this especially for the links, but transcripts never hurt.


Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 20:45:05 -0400
From: "U.S. Dept of State List Manager" <Listmgr at STATE.GOV>
Subject: State's English Outlines for Congress U.S. Policy on Kosovo

State's English Outlines for Congress U.S. Policy on Kosovo

(Human rights remain priority, director for South Central European Affairs 
says) (720)
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer

  Washington -- In the coming months, a process might be launched to
determine Kosovo’s future status. In this new phase, the promotion of
human rights and fundamental freedoms would remain at the forefront of
U.S. policy, the State Department’s Charles English told a
congressional hearing May 25.

  English, the director for South Central European affairs at the State
Department, was testifying at a hearing of the U.S. Helsinki Commission
on the future of human rights in Kosovo.

  “We cannot achieve a lasting settlement in Kosovo until structures,
institutions and habits that protect the rights and liberties of all of
the people of Kosovo are in place,” he told the commission, which has
held numerous hearings on the situation in Kosovo since the 1990s.
“Principles of democracy and multi-ethnicity -- the cornerstones of our 
overall
Balkans policy for over a decade -- will continue to guide us.”

  English referred repeatedly in his remarks to testimony given May 18
by Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns before the House Committee on
International Relations.  Burns said the Bush administration believes
that 2005 is a “year of decision” for Kosovo. He described a process whereby
the United Nations would this summer launch a comprehensive review of
Kosovo's progress in achieving certain basic human-rights and
democratization benchmarks. If that review is positive, a process to
determine Kosovo's future status will then be launched. (See related
article 
(http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m
m=May&x=200505181814331CJsamohT0.8833124&t=eur/eur-latest.html).)

  Burns spoke more broadly about the Balkans in a major policy speech
on May 19, citing the effort by the United States, the United Nations and
partners in Europe to launch a process to determine the future status
of Kosovo as well as to encourage political and economic reform in Bosnia
and Herzegovina and to bring war crimes indictees before the Hague
tribunal. (See related article
(http://usinfo.state.gov/eur/Archive/2005/May/20-375965.html).)

  English told the Helsinki Commission that the human rights challenges
in Kosovo remain significant. Minority communities in particular “continue
to face extraordinary obstacles to creating a sustainable life for
themselves,” he said, citing such problems as discrimination,
harassment, uneven access to public services, limited freedom of movement, 
and
fears for personal safety.

  The violence that erupted in March 2004 showed how much work Kosovo
needs to do to develop into a free and pluralistic society, English
said. “The primary responsibility for this lies with Kosovo's majority
Albanian community,” he said. “Until that community adequately protects and
guarantees the rights of its minority communities, the pace of Kosovo's
Euro-Atlantic integration will suffer.”

  English assured the commission that, even though many details of the
process to determine Kosovo's future political status remain to be
elaborated, “[W]e have already said that the protection of human rights
must be at the core of any status settlement. We have said that this
settlement must be based on multi-ethnicity and respect the rights of
all citizens. We also envision effective constitutional guarantees to
ensure the protection of minorities, as well as safeguards for the 
protection
of cultural and religious heritage.”

  Even after Kosovo's status is resolved, the work to defend human
rights and democracy must continue and accelerate, English said, “if Kosovo 
is
to meet the European Union's high standards for membership.

  “The people of Kosovo -- minority and majority alike -- must never
stop working to ensure that institutions are transparent, that the political
culture is inclusive and that laws are just. This ongoing commitment to
democracy, based on the rule of law, is the most basic criterion for
joining the Euro-Atlantic community and calling oneself a free, just
society. The United States will continue to support Kosovo's efforts to
achieve this objective.”

  Soren Jessen-Petersen, the special representative of the U.N.
Secretary-General and head of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo, also
testified at the hearing.

  The unofficial transcript
(http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=ContentRecords.ViewDetail&Content
tRecord_id=347&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0&ContentType=H) of Charles
English’s statement is available on the U.S. Helsinki Commission Web site.

  The U.S. Helsinki Commission, a U.S. government agency, monitors
progress on the implementation of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The
commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine
from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the
departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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