Kosovo is administrated by the international community through UNMIK. UNMIK is representing Kosovo within the Stability Pact framework and is partaking in its activities. As soon as Kosovo has formed a Government, the Stability Pact is welcoming an enhanced Kosovar participation in its working structure, particularly in those areas which will be in the competence of the new Government. The constituent components of the international administration of Kosovo, the UN, the OSCE and the EU Commission, are also participants of the Stability Pact.
Most of the funding for Kosovo is raised directly and not by means of regional projects involving two or more countries, as is typical for the Pact. This was the case at the latest Kosovo Funding Conference on 25 and 26 February 2001 in Brussels. Therefore, the financial support going to Kosovo under the regional umbrella of the Stability Pact is smaller than the direct funding. In proportion to its population, Kosovo receives similar support as other Stability Pact recipient countries in SEE, which so far amounts to approx. € 50 mn. Some of this money is going to regional projects benefiting several countries at the same time.
Working Table I: Democratisation and Human Rights
Stability Pact projects are regional in nature. Therefore, Kosovo is one of several beneficiaries of the following projects. Financial commitments under Working Table I are approx. € 18.5 mn for 29 projects.
Gender Task Force
The project “Women’s Leadership for Democratic Social Change in the Yugoslav Successor States”, for which € 500'000 have been committed, supports women seeking economic and political leadership roles in a democratic Kosovo.
Human Rights and National Minorities
4 projects for a total of € 2'512'329.
Main funding went to the initiative “Assessing, Advocating
For and Implementing Human Rights in the Balkans and Strengthening the Balkan Human Rights networks: A co-operative Program with Local Human Rights NGOs”, endowed with € 1'042'248.
Ombudsman
A new ombudsman institution has been set up and became operational in Kosovo. The international community has committed € 270'000 for the support of several ombudsman institutions in the region, including Kosovo. As an effective non-judicial means of human rights protection, the ombudsman is a key institution for the promotion of accountability and good governance.
Good Governance
3 projects for a total of € 1'263'900.
€ 0.9 mn went to the project “Taking action after the war: Democracy building and the challenge of difference in South Eastern Europe”. It is a training project with a cross-border approach on democratic practices.
Education and Youth
There are 9 projects either for Kosovo exclusively or with Kosovo benefiting in a regional context, totalling € 5'911'600.
Main funding went to “Contributing to Stability in SEE through Strengthening Local and Regional Structures of Adult Learning” (€ 3'372'000, committed by Germany for period December 2000 to 2003). Other projects include the European School, Youth and Community Network (€ 328'000 committed by Austria).
Media
11 media projects, for a total of € 8'123'478, have been launched in the region in order to develop free, independent and pluralistic media, amongst them the European Centre for Broadcast Media, which is a non-partisan partnership framework for the transfer of professional journalism training over an initial period of 3 years (€ 1'989'596).
Working Table II: Economic Reconstruction
The completion of the US $ 33.30 mn infrastructure project “Urgent Road Rehabilitation” in November 2000 has contributed to the reconstruction and economic development of Kosovo, by improving the main road network.
Ongoing construction in FYR of Macedonia and in Kosovo aimed at improving facilities at Blace border crossing with a financial volume of € 7 mn is benefiting Kosovo. The project is expected to be finished by end of 2002.
Working Table III: Security Issues
A principal priority for the Stability Pact under the Working Table on Security is the reduction of small arms and light weapons (SALW) in Southeast Europe. The Stability Pact through its Regional Implementation Plan to combat the proliferation of SALW will be facilitating the matching of donor resources to defined regional needs.
As UNMIK, together with KFOR, has also started a comprehensive approach to the limitation of the possession of weapons in Kosovo, Working Table III seeks ways to enhance co-operation with UNMIK in this field and on security issues in general. In addition, through the Pact’s Regional Clearinghouse on SALW reduction, links will be established to the Kosovar political entities to encourage greater civil society engagement in small arms reduction.
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What is the Stability Pact?
The Pact is a political initiative to encourage and strengthen co-operation between the countries of South Eastern Europe as well as to streamline existing efforts for assisting South Eastern Europe’s political, economic and security integration in Europe. The Pact does not implement the projects, which were placed under its auspices during the first regional Funding Conference of March 2000. It is an instrument to co-ordinate and possibly accelerate the projects of all its partners, such as the European Commission, NATO and OSCE, the International Financial Institutions, the member states of the European Union, other Stability Pact members such as the United States, Russia, Hungary, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, as well as all the countries of South Eastern Europe and their neighbours. FRY joined the Stability Pact as a full member on 26 October 2000, after the democratic changes had taken place in Belgrade.
Under the Regional Table, its steering body, the Stability Pact has
3 Working Tables:
Ø Working Table I is dealing with Democratisation & Human Rights;
Ø Working Table II with Economic Reconstruction, Development and Co-operation;
Ø Working Table III with Security (one Sub-table Security and Defence, one Sub-table Justice and Home Affairs).
So far, two Regional Conferences have taken place with the most recent one on 25 and 26 October 2001 in Bucharest. On this event, ministers and high level officials from 37 countries and 32 international organisations renewed their commitment to long-term economic and social development for South Eastern Europe. A new set of 27 infrastructure projects secured donor financing of € 2.4 bn.
(For full list, see: http://www.seerecon.org/Calendar/2001/Events/src/isg_report.pdf)
At a first Funding Conference in Brussels on 30 March 2000, € 2,4 bn were raised, which translated in the so-called Quick Start Package, with a total of 244 regional projects. By early 2002, 94% of these projects were started, making it one of the fastest assistance packages by the international community. (For full list, see: http://www.stabilitypact.org/stabilitypactcgi/catalog/cat_descr.cgi?prod_id=73 — One Year Progress Report on the Quick Start Package.)
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