Statement of Principles
1. The Free Kosova Committee (FKC) has been
established to unite those who support the right of Kosova's people
to live in peace and freedom in a multi-ethnic, democratic and
independent state.
2. FKC is convinced that no regional stability—no
real democracy in Kosova, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania
or Bosnia-Herzegovina—is possible without a free and democratic
Kosova.
3. FKC supports the territorial integrity
of Kosova as a single self-ruling entity with fixed boundaries,
as recognised within the former Yugoslav federation (SFRY). It
rejects all calls for Kosova's partition on a linguistic, ethnic
or any other basis, and all attempts to establish self-contained
mono-ethnic enclaves anywhere on its territory. It equally supports
the territorial integrity of Kosova's neighbours, whose established
borders should be respected in the terms of the Helsinki Final
Act.
4. Since 1913 when it was annexed against
the will of the majority of its population, Kosova has never validly
or willingly been part of Serbia. Under the first Yugoslavia it
was ruled from Belgrade as a colonial fiefdom. After 1989 it was
forcibly returned to that status. FKC considers misguided and
unjust the decision of Western governments, when the former Yugoslavia
broke up, to treat Kosova as part of Serbia. Kosova's claim to
sovereignty derives most recently and weightily from its status
as one of the eight constituent units of SFRY until the latter's
dissolution in 1989-92.
5. FKC acknowledges the legitimacy of the
Kosova people's assertion of its sovereignty in the new situation
created by the dissolution of SFRY, including its right of self-defence
against one of the most brutal regimes in postwar European history.
6. FKC believes that the international community
should now explicitly recognise Kosova's right to self-determination,
on a similar basis and with a similar procedure as for Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia. As soon as the appropriate political
conditions have been established, the act of self-determination
would take the form of an internationally supervised referendum
open to all Kosova's citizens.
7. FKC thus considers that the international
community should drop its insistence on preserving at all costs
the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavià (FRY). Since SFRY
dissolved, its former seat at the United Nations has remained
vacant. FRY has not been recognised as its continuation, and the
claims of the former Yugoslav successor states have been the subject
of protracted EU negotiations. Kosova should forthwith be represented
at these, in its capacity as one of the former Yugoslavia's legitimate
heirs (as should Vojvodina). Any future relationship between Kosova,
Montenegro, Serbia and Vojvodina should be only by free decision
of these entities.
8. Given the extensive destruction of Kosova's
material infrastructure, economy, institutions, records and other
basic needs of social existence, FKC accepts the necessity of
the present interim international authority, whose task is to
assist Kosova's economic and social recovery and to create a framework
for the emergence of a democratic government representing all
citizens on the basis of free and fair elections. The authority
must also pursue war criminals, rebuild houses, and clear landmines
or unexploded bombs. A further important role is to reassure Kosova's
Serb and other minority citizens. Its work must be open, transparent
and fully accountable to the people of Kosova, as well as to the
parliaments of the countries providing its personnel. The interim
period of international tutelage should be of strictly limited
duration and subject to annual review.
9. In the view of FKC it is vital for representative
leaders of the local population to be engaged from the outset
in all discussions regarding Kosova's future, especially those
relating to the mechanisms and structures of regional reconstruction
and the European integration process. Kosova's defence forces
should be included from the start in local and regional security
arrangements established by the international community, which
should provide them with training and supervision. There should
be a clear separation between political parties and depoliticized
forces of order. The best hope of combating or preventing violence
and criminality, and of establishing the rule of law, is to involve
representative local forces in the implementation of these essential
and urgent tasks.
10. The Serbian state—which maintained
Kosova under a regime of harsh repression and apartheid for a
decade and subsequently waged a genocidal campaign against its
population—has in the view of FKC forfeited any right to
be present in Kosova during the interim period of international
protection. It must not be involved—even symbolically—in
regulating passage across borders which it has itself turned into
death traps for countless Kosovars; in the protection of religious
and cultural monuments which are the historical inheritance of
all Kosova's population; in the administration of a justice that
it has so signally failed to respect; or in regulating the civic
affairs (from passports to property rights) of those whom it has
itself failed to treat as bona fide and equal citizens.
11. FKC sees the natural resources and material
infrastructure of Kosova as the property of its population as
a whole, indispensable to their future economic development and
prosperity. Any alienation of such property as may have taken
place since 1989—ie without the approval or control of legitimate
and representative Kosova institutions—should be deemed
invalid.
12. More generally, it is the view of FKC
that all measures enacted in Kosova since 1989 by unrepresentative
authorities imposed from Belgrade should be subject to review.
The mass dismissals of Albanians that took place in 1990-92 should
be proclaimed unlawful. Such deliberately provocative acts during
the past decade as the renaming of streets and public institutions,
or the erection of monuments and public buildings, in a manner
designed to emphasise or enhance Serbian domination and to minimize
or eliminate the Albanian social and cultural presence in Kosova,
should be expressly repudiated and where possible reversed.
13. FKC considers the definitive and formal
removal of any Serbian state presence to be essential for reconciliation
in Kosova, and specifically for the future well-being of local
Serb civilians, who will have the best chance of living in security
if they can no longer be identified with rule from Belgrade. At
the same time, it affirms the right of Serbs and other minorities
in Kosova to live in peace with their neighbours, to protection
of their property rights, and to maintenance of their linguistic
and cultural identity. Indeed, it sees the realisation of such
rights as crucial for the democratic future of the Albanian majority
too. Conditions must be created for the safe return of all those
driven from their homes by armed force or terror, irrespective
of their national identity.
14. In the opinion of FKC, a definitive
withdrawal from Kosova is a precondition also for the eventual
democratic regeneration of Serbia within its own legitimate boundaries.
By recognising forthwith the juridical separation of Kosova from
Serbia, the international community will make the greatest contribution
to the latter's quest for a new regional identity, at peace and
in equal collaboration with its neighbours, and will do most to
bar future irredentist fantasies or adventures.
15. FKC considers that the Serbian state
has certain essential and inescapable obligations towards Kosova:
to cooperate in the pursuit and punishment of war crimes; to help
trace missing persons; to assist in the replication of destroyed
records; and to return looted property. Most urgently, the thousands
of Kosovar prisoners held in Serbia must be returned forthwith.
These obligations should be kept to the fore in all future negotiations
between Belgrade and international bodies or democratic governments.
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