New York – Serbia’s Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić has appealed to all UN member states to allow the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to deliberate undisturbed on Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, and work in this ’’crucial stage’’ without any additional pressure.

’’It’s our shared duty to ensure that the Court deliberations are not pre-judged’’, said Jeremić addressing the special session of the UN Security Council, which considered the latest report by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the situation in Kosovo.

He added that ’’the ICJ proceedings should be allowed to run their course, unhindered by political pressures, such as further recognitions of Kosovo’s UDI’’.

Jeremić emphasized that this is the first time all five Permanent Members of the Security Council would participate in a proceeding before the Court, and that the total number of actors that will present their views in The Hague presents a record number for the ICJ.

’’Therefore, there is little doubt that the Court’s conclusions will have over-arching consequences for the international legal order’’, said Jeremić.

He reiterated that Serbia’s position on Kosovo’s status remains the same and that Serbia ’’will never recognize the unilateral declaration of independence’’, proclaimed by the ethnic Albanian authorities in Priština on February 17th, 2008,.

Serbia believes, Jeremić underlined, that disagreements on Kosovo’s status must not hinder working together to improve lives of all residents in the province. He proceeded to stress that Belgrade worked actively with all legitimate actors on the ground in Kosovo, without violating provisions of the Serbian Constitution.

Minister Jeremić expressed regret that Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian authorities have not demonstrated willingness to embrace the status neutral framework when dealing with unresolved practical issues in the province and persist in claiming that this could only bring harm to Kosovo’s residents.

He recalled that the Secretary General’s report praised Belgrade’s policy of constructive engagement, and that it also acknowledges Belgrade’s ’’pragmatic approach’ in seeking to resolve practical issues.

Minister Jeremić said that Serbia maintains support for the fact that ’’UNMIK successfully concluded its reconfiguration’’, as the UN Secretary General noted in his report, and underlined that it is ’’critical’’ that the Security Council continues to support the UNMIK presence in the province as ’’the crucial pillar of peace and stability’’.

Serbian Chief of Diplomacy added that the ability of the UN to work effectively with the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, the EULEX, must remain unhindered.

Commitments made before the UN should be honored in full, from the UNSC Resolution 1244 (1999) to the Secretary General’s Six Point Plan, Jeremić said.

He highlighted two important positive developments regarding the police, which occurred during the three-month report period, further contributing to the implementation of the Six Point Plan.

Firstly, virtually all Kosovo Serb police officers returned to their posts, which was, as Jeremić claimed, a direct consequence of Belgrade’s engagement; and secondly – the signing of the Protocol on Police cooperation between the Serbian Ministry of Interior and EULEX.

Implementation of this Protocol, Jeremić believes, will strongly contribute to the fight against the organized crime in Kosovo which remains the center of a sinister international network of arms, drugs and human traffickers.

As for Judiciary, as Minister brought to attention, ’’regretfully there was no moving forward’’ and he expressed hope that negotiations on this issue would continue and would lead to resolution of issues.

Cooperation intensified on a number of other fronts, such as collaboration of the Special EULEX Prosecutors and Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, said Jeremić, and cited as an example the investigation of organ harvesting of ethnic Serb civilians and the ’’yellow house’’ case.

The minister mentioned that there are some results on the issue of customs as well, and that technical cooperation between Belgrade and the EULEX is progressing well. However, important issue of revenue collection and how it will benefit the relevant communities remains unresolved, and the Minister hopes that Serbia will come to a workable arrangement with the UNMIK and EULEX.

Jeremić also outlined that KFOR status-neutral presence is still required in order to protect Kosovo Serb enclaves and Serbian holy sites from incursions and attacks.

He said that Serbia ’’strongly opposes’’ the intention to handover responsibility from KFOR to the Kosovo Police at the Gazimestan memorial monument and recalled that Gazimestan is hallowed ground for the Serbian nation and since KFOR did excellent job protecting it, it would be of ’’critical importance that they continue to guard it, together with other holy sites’’.

Jeremić pointed out that the precarious state of Serbian Patrimony in Kosovo remains a ’’deeply troubling’’ issue and cited the instances of the cadastral record of land belonging to the monastery of Visoki Dečani, the pillaging of the medieval complex in the mountains above the town of Prizren and the intention of the ethnic Albanian authorities to cover with concrete the remains of Serbian church in the center of Đakovica.

Jeremić said that this was the third time that he has raised the issue of church in Đakovica in front of the Council.

As a positive development, he stated that the issue of interruption in electric power supply to the Kosovo Serb communities and monasteries has been rectified, as a result of engagement of the UNMIK and OSCE.

As a critically important, yet still unresolved issue, Jeremić underlined facilitation of entry of Serbian officials into the province and their moving around it, and stated that this obstacle must be overcome in a status neutral manner, in line with Resolution 1244.

Minister Jeremić also evoked the issue of the internally displaced persons, and stated that a total of only thirty-one displaced person, out of more than 200,000 Kosovo Serb IDPs, were able to return to Kosovo during the three-month report period, out of thousands that expressed an interest to do so.

As for the issue of upcoming local elections planned for November 15th, Jeremić said that the legitimacy of the entire electoral process has been wasted by the unwillingness of the Kosovo’s authorities to hold them within the status neutral framework of the Resolution 1244, or to let the OSCE and UN monitor them Serbia.

’’An opportunity was missed to de-politicize this vitally important issue and to encourage the Kosovo Serb community to actively participate in this process’’, said Jeremić and emphasized that now a new way forward must be found, one which would be aimed at establishing the decentralization acceptable to non-Albanian communities in Kosovo.

In conclusion, the Serbian Chief of Diplomacy said that Serbia would continue to engage with the international community in addressing all outstanding challenges in the Western Balkans.

In conclusion, the Foreign Affairs Minister said that, whilst Serbia remains committed to defending its territorial integrity in a peaceful manner, it also remains committed to realizing its European identity, with EU membership still as its strategic priority.