Coordinating Center president visits monasteries in Metohija

KiM Info Newsletter 24-12-05

KIM Info Service, Decani, December 23, 2005

As part of her tour of Kosovo and Metohija, Dr. Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, the president of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, visited several Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Metohija yesterday and today, including Devic, the Pec Patriarchate, Gorioc and Visoki Decani. During her discussions with the monks and nuns of those monasteries, Ms. Raskovic-Ivic learned first-hand of the difficulties confronting these monastic communities, which have lived in almost complete isolation for the past six years under the constant military protection of KFOR, and promised them help and support.

In Visoki Decani Monastery Ms. Raskovic-Ivic held an extended discussion with Vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, the head of the monastery and the vice-chair of the Council for Kosovo and Metohija of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Protosingel Sava, sharing her views with regard to the future protection of Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija. Bishop Teodosije emphasized that the Church is vitally interested in the protection of her faithful and holy shrines in Kosovo and Metohija, and that the Serbian Orthodox monasteries in this region are not only valuable historical and cultural monuments of global significance but also living monastic communities that need long-term, internationally guaranteed protection. He noted that he was extremely pleased that a task group for the protection of spiritual and cultural heritage has been formed within the Serbian negotiating team, adding that it is essential to work together on discovering optimal solutions in the spirit of the agreement achieved at a joint session of the negotiating team and the Council for Kosovo on December 6.

Ms. Raskovic-Ivic emphasized that in addition to the issue of decentralization in upcoming talks about the Province special attention will be dedicated to defining the best ways of protecting the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo and Metohija, adding that expert cooperation with representatives of the Church is very important and necessary. She also expressed interest in the restoration process being implemented by a commission under the supervision of a Council of Europe, in which Bishop Teodosije represents the Serbian Orthodox Church. He informed Ms. Raskovic-Ivic of what had been accomplished thus far as well as of plans for the next year.

After a tour of the new monastery kitchen presently being built with funds provided by the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija and the new dairy barn, Ms. Raskovic-Ivic and her associates continued on to Prizren and Gracanica.

Aleksandra Fulgosi, Nenad Trajkovic, Dragan Lukic and Zoran Mujbegovic, Ms. Raskovic-Ivic's associates, accompanied her on her visit to Serbian monasteries.

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Italian chief of staff admiral di Paola visits Visoki Decani Monastery

KIM Info Service, Decani, December 23, 2005

Following the visit of the delegation of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, a senior delegation of the Italian Army visited Visoki Decani Monastery. The delegation was headed by Italian chief of staff admiral Giampaolo di Paloa and general Castagnetti. The Italian military officials were also accompanied by KFOR commander in chief general Giuseppe Valotto and his local commanding officers.

The Italian senior officers expressed their personal admiration for the beauty of the monastery, emphasizing its importance for the cultural heritage of Europe and the world. Admiral di Paola strongly emphasized that KFOR military forces will continue to protect religious sites in Kosovo and Metohija as long as necessary, expressing the hope that in the meanwhile the spirit of tolerance and respect toward Christian cultural monuments would be established.

Admiral di Paola stressed that the protection of monasteries in Kosovo is an important priority for the Italian army, which currently has been entrusted with command of three world peacekeeping missions: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

Wishing his senior guests a happy Christmas and new year's holiday, Bishop Teodosije once again took the opportunity to thank the Italian Army for the dedication of its soldiers in protecting the Serbian cultural heritage in Metohija.

Next week Italian foreign minister Fini is expected to visit Visoki Decani Monastery with his associates as part of his visit to KFOR troops in Kosovo and Metohija.

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Kosovo Ombudsperson: Minorities who fled Kosovo in 1999 are being denied access to proceeds from KTA Privatization

Ombudsperson's office, Pristina

PRISTINA, Kosovo, Dec 23 —Before getting on a plane to leave Kosovo today, Kosovo Ombudsperson, Mr. Marek Antoni Nowicki, wrote one last letter to UN head, SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen, urging him to address complaints from former employees of Kosovo’s “socially-owned enterprises” (SOE’s) who say they are too frequently unable to profit from the on-going privatization process.

These mainly Serbian complainants contend they were obliged to leave Kosovo or were dismissed from their jobs after 1999, and were unable to be employed when the Kosovo Trust Agency initiated privatization proceedings (May 2003).

Without proving that they were employed (by the SOE’s) for a period of three years and without proving that they left their jobs because of discrimination, these workers, who, in some cases, had been SOE employees in the former Yugoslavia for 25 or more years, have been denied proceeds owed to them from the sales of the privatized socially-owned enterprises.

According to an UNMIK Regulation on the privatization process of Kosovo’s socially-owned enterprises, the complainants are allowed to submit their concerns to the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court on Kosovo-Trust Agency-Related Matters, and if they can prove that they would have been employed had they not experienced discrimination, they are then qualified for a list of eligible employees entitled to receive payments in connection with the privatization process.

Although many have lodged complaints with this body, these complainants have had obvious difficulties proving that they suffered from discrimination.

The Kosovo Ombudsperson contends the burden of proof is, however, with the socially-owned businesses to explain why these able workers were not allowed to continue working at their former jobs after 1999 - something that is in line with current basic European Anti-Discrimination standards.

Indeed, even Kosovo’s own Anti-Discrimination Law holds to a similar premise.

Because the international community has so often talked about moving Kosovo towards “European Standards” where rule of law is concerned, the Kosovo Ombudsperson has asked the SRSG, Mr. Jessen-Petersen, to amend the UNMIK regulation on privatization to assure that the privatization law will comply with these European standards.

“Asking former employees to prove discrimination in the context of this privatization process is in flagrant contradiction with generally accepted principles,” the Ombudsperson said, in his last public statement before his departure from Kosovo.