Were Children Forgotten in Kosovo Status Talks?
Six rounds into the talks on Kosovo’s future in Vienna, it seems that children and children rights’ issues were not and are not likely to be put onto the agenda of the Kosovo Status Talks. At the talks in Vienna, chaired by Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Deputy Special Envoy for the future status of Kosovo, Albert Rohan, focused discussion on local finance, decentralization, inter-municipal cooperation and cross-boundary cooperation. Although the talks are seen as an important start of the process of determining Kosovo’s final status, social inclusion issues, especially child rights’ issues were not part of the agenda.
Apart from decentralization, several parallel discussions were held on issues of cultural and religious heritage, minority rights and economy, institutional arrangements, fiscal decentralization and reform of legislation. In all these discussions child rights’ issues needed to be a part of the agenda however there was no reference to the impact of these changes on the new generations, children of Kosovo, in the talks. Furthermore, if these issues are not addressed, services for children and budgets needed for proper functioning of the social protection system will not be in place which will hinder the future development of Kosovo and the South East Europe region. The decisions we make today, in terms of institutional arrangements, legislation and policies, affect our children even more than they affect us. Other countries in the region have struggled and are still struggling with reforms in the education and social protection sectors, that were not high on the policy agenda in the past but are necessary for these countries to join the EU. The International community, Kosovo and Serbia’s negotiation teams should avoid making the same mistakes. Any society that forgets about children will struggle more to achieve sustainable prosperity. And its children will have no future. Serbia and Montenegro signed the Thessaloniki Summit Declaration in 2003 and is involved in the Stabilization and Association Process which requires that the country meets the Copenhagen Criteria and implement reforms in the areas covered by the European Partnerships. The UN has laid down “Standards for Kosovo” that must be achieved before the final status talks can be completed. They support progress to achieve the EU’s Copenhagen Criteria, which require that a state have the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights, a functioning market economy and that the state accept the obligations and intent of the EU. The Stabilization and Association Processes and the Kosovo Standards require human and minority rights protections, and this includes children’s rights. Save the Children advocates with the EU for the Stabilization and Association Agreements to require and include arrangements for monitoring progress towards the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the other international treaties ratified by Serbia and Montenegro. In November 2005, thanks to the Save the Children’s Submission to the European Commission’s Annual Report, European Partnership recognized both child welfare reform and social policy reforms as a mid-term priority for Serbia and Montenegro. This is the approach and these are the issues we would like to promote for the children of Kosovo. Save the Children promotes issues that are essential for economic and social development of individual countries, but also for the region as a whole. Recent World Bank reports identify poverty as the main barrier to accessing education which in turn generates even greater poverty for marginalized groups. What is being done throughout the region to remedy this is not sufficient. Across the region public financing of education is poor: on average 3 to 4% GDP, sometimes even below 3%. Chronic under funding erodes the quality of education, especially in education systems that were clearly designed for a much higher level of public financing. For this reason, Save the Children SEE feels obliged to speak. If we do not do something now to improve the conditions for children in Kosovo, and for the children throughout the SEE region, we might forever foreclose opportunities for their education and social advancement. The talks on the Kosovo Status continue and we still have some time. Save the Children calls on Governments to resolve Kosovo’s status in a way that would ensure a multiethnic and multicultural society, with the full protection of children’ rights and good neighborly relations in the region. Save the Children in SEE would like to send the message to the International community and the policymakers from two negotiation teams and urge them not to forget the children in the current Kosovo Status talks. |
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