Petkovic, UN's Krois discuss threats to human rights of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs

BELGRADE - The director of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with the head of the UN Office in Belgrade Dominika Krois on Friday to inform her of threats to the human rights of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija due to unilateral and violent moves by Pristina, as well as of the course of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

Petkovic said 650 ethnically motivated incidents targeting Kosovo-Metohija Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox Church had been registered since Albin Kurti's rise to power, with more than 50 moves by Pristina that directly undermined peace and heightened tensions in the entire region, and noted that Belgrade insisted on urgent deescalation.

"The Pristina authorities systematically make escalatory, violent, unlawful and unilateral moves whereby they are trying to create impossible living conditions for Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, with a view to ethnically cleansing them. It is exactly because of those moves that more than 20 per cent of Serbs have left the north of Kosovo-Metohija, and Kurti's sham mayors are expediting the anti-Serb moves ahead of local elections. That is why protecting the human rights of Serbs, deescalation on the ground and establishment of a Community of Serb Municipalities must be the absolute priority," Petkovic noted.

He expressed regret that Pristina was using the format of the Brussels dialogue for political conflicts, rather than as a mechanism for normalisation of relations and a search for a compromise solution and peaceful co-existence, the Office for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement.

Petkovic also said that, in spite of Pristina's obstructions, Belgrade would continue to act in a responsible manner and advocate preservation of peace and stability while safeguarding the interests of the Serbs, Petkovic said.