Press Briefing Notes 23 November 2005

UNMIK Spokesperson Neeraj Singh KFOR Chief PIO Col. Pio Sabetta OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke

UNMIK Spokesperson Neeraj Singh: Good morning. First, about today’s events related to the visit of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari: Mr. Ahtisaari met Kosovo Serb political leaders this morning and is currently meeting leaders from other minority communities. This afternoon at 3 pm he will meet Pristina-based representatives of the Contact Group at UNMIK Headquarters. There will be a photo-opportunity at the start of this meeting. At 4:30 pm today, Mr. Ahtisaari will address a press conference in the First Floor Conference Hall at UNMIK Headquarters.

Media events related to SRSG’s programmes The SRSG is currently in Klinë/Klina to attend the 'Standards-Status-Europe' municipal meeting. At 18:00 hours today he will meet the Latvian Foreign Minister Dr. Artis Pabriks and there will be a photo-opportunity at the start of the meeting. Tomorrow, the SRSG will be on a visit to Decan/Decani and Prizren. He will meet the President of the Municipality of Decan/Decani at 11 am and will be at the Decan/Decani Monastery from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. He will then travel to Prizren where he will visit the St. Ljeviska’s Church at 2:30 pm. There will be a press point at the Church, after which he will also visit, Shadrvan Square, the St. George’s Church and St. Nicolas Chapel. At the end of his visit, at 3:45 pm, the SRSG will have a meeting with the President of Prizren Municipality at the White House.

SRSG’s trip outside Kosovo Come Monday, the SRSG will leave on a week-long trip to Brussels, Bern, Geneva and Ljubljana. In Brussels, on Tuesday 29 November, the SRSG will be meeting senior leaders of NATO, EU and the Contact Group. Wednesday he will be in Bern for meeting the Federal Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Justice and Police. Thursday, in Geneva, he will meet senior officials of UNHCR and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). That evening, he will be the keynote speaker at a Round-table entitled “Kosovo: Where we are now?” being hosted by the Graduate Institute of International Studies. On Monday 5 December, the SRSG will attend the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Ljubljana. He will return to Pristina on Tuesday 6 December.

1 ‘Not for Sale’ anti-trafficking campaign activities And finally, just to remind you of the ongoing ‘Not for Sale’ anti-trafficking campaign. The upcoming events this week are: Youth Day Festivals in Gjilan/Gnjilane on 26-27 November and in Suharekë/Suva Reka on 27 November. The NGOs ‘Liria’ in Gjilan/Gnjilane and ‘ASEBE’ in Suharekë/Suva Reka and Prizren will host the events. The activities will include races for children as well as giveaways and prizes, plus concerts. On 28-29 November in the Sports Hall in Pristina, there will be the "I'm Not for Sale" Basketball tournament featuring teams from Montenegro, Albania and FYR Macedonia, and of course ‘Sigal Prishtina’ from Kosovo. The tournament will be aired live on TV 21 at 6pm and 8pm on both days.

KFOR Chief PIO Col. Pio Sabetta

No announcement.

OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm

Police – Media Guidelines The OSCE Mission in Kosovo has published, and is providing, a tool for the police and media aimed at preventing any conflict or misunderstanding arising between them while both exercise their duty.

The pocket-size guidelines will serve as a quick referencing tool, offering tips on how police and media representatives should handle situations and how to improve co-operation in reporting stories pending investigation. Guidelines are based in the Provisional Criminal Code of Kosovo, the Juvenile Justice Code, media code of conducts and the European Convention for Human Rights.

Currently the OSCE is organizing debates in regions with journalists and police officers, to present them the concept of the guidelines and at the same time increase the understanding about the roles of both sides.

In early December the Association of Independent Broadcast Media of Kosovo [AMPEK], with OSCE support, will form a working group to take local ownership for the police/media guidelines in 2006.

Copies are available in English, Albanian, Serbian and Turkish.

Support to the Pilot Municipal Units From 17 to 21 November, the OSCE and the Ministry of Local Government Administration conducted a workshop for members of the newly established Provisional Municipal Assemblies (PMAs) of Hani I Elezit/Ðeneral Jankovic, Mamushë/Mamuša and Junik/Junik.

Training, or orientation, courses were delivered on the Role and Responsibility of the Provisional Assembly, Role of the Opposition, Legislative versus Executive, and Public Consultation – similar to the type of orientation courses the OSCE provided to all Municipal Assemblies in 2003. In addition, the Ministry of Finance and Economy briefed PMA members on budgetary procedures, while the Ministry of Local Government Administration discussed the establishment of Pilot Municipal Units and its statute.

2 All in all, this session was well received, in particular by the PMA Presidents, and the active participation by the Ministries displayed a laudable level of PISG commitment to local government reform.

Local governance roundtables In addition, the OSCE is sponsoring a retreat for the Municipal Assembly of Malishevë/Mališevo. The retreat is designed to further the members’ knowledge of good democratic practices, while breaking down the barriers that exist between Assembly members. The retreat will focus on bringing the political parties represented in the Municipal Assembly together, in order to promote an effective legislature, and to improve the working relations between the legislative and the executive.

Ambassador Wnendt meets the Association of Handicapped & Disabled People Today Ambassador Werner Wnendt met with representatives of the Association of Handicapped & Disabled People, an umbrella organization for a number civics group headed by Agim Vatovci. Ambasasdor Wnendt welcomed their visit and stated his appreciation for the work of Mr Vatovci on the Central Election Commission, as through him the concerns of people with special needs are heard when discussing election operations. Also discussed were the need for equal opportunities for handicapped and disabled persons, as well as possible legislative initiatives that that would enshrine such rights.

The spirit of Helsinki The OSCE Secretariat has published its latest edition of the “OSCE Magazine” which remembers the event surrounding the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975. Its subtitle – “the OSCE reflects on the past to shape its future” – is a good descriptor of the pieces chosen as we celebrate, and is on of the final markings of the 30th Anniversary of this auspicious event. You can find the magazine at www.osce.org.

EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke Last day for pre-qualification for the 9th wave of privatisation is 30th of November. Potential investors still have got one week to pre-qualify in order to bid for NewCos currently being tendered. The KTA privatisation team will be available also on Saturday from 8:30 until 17:30.

Neeraj: Thanks Mechthild, any questions?

Kosova Sot: Neeraj, I would like to know whether UNMIK has been provided with a response from New York concerning the two Ministries; I am referring to some documents that were submitted to New York. And whether there will be any kind of restructuring within the International Police in the current phase?

Neeraj: Okay, yes I can confirm that we have in the course of the normal procedure, because there is a requirement for an UNMIK Regulation to establish the Ministries of Justice and Interior, we have sent the final draft of the Regulation to the Legal Office in New York and to the best of my knowledge we are still awaiting the final clearance from New York on that. We should get that very soon because clearly the intention is to establish the Ministries during this year and there is not much time left for that. On the restructuring of International Police, I don’t know what exactly you are looking for because the restructuring of UNMIK as a whole including also Police has been an ongoing process that has been happening for the past more than a year now, and as you know already where the Police are concerned, all 33 police stations across Kosovo have been handed over to the KPS who are now in charge of these stations and there is a very small monitoring presence of International Police in those

3 stations. Also five of the six police regions have been transitioned to the KPS and where again the international presence has been reduced. At the Police Main HQrs, a lot of the administrative responsibilities have been handed over to the KPS and this process will continue over the next two-three months. During this course, as more responsibilities are handed over to KPS, it is very natural that you then won’t need those International Police Officers who were performing those functions; only few of them will be required in a support and monitoring role. So it is an ongoing process, but it is not linked to the creation of the Ministries really. Any more questions? Thank you.

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