The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, in honor of the World Day of Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, addressed the UNESCO organization through a letter, to which he presented a series of requests.
Among the requests presented in the letter, signed by President Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu and the Speaker of the Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, is the membership in UNESCO. The head of the executive has announced such a thing through ‘Facebook’.
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Today is May 21, World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, proclaimed by the General Assembly of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Due to the importance of this day, today we addressed UNESCO through a letter that we signed together with the President Mrs. Vjosa Osmani Sadriu and the Speaker of the Assembly Mr. Glauk Konjufca. In our letter we explained the actions of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo for the protection of cultural heritage and the promotion of cultural rights of all communities living in our country. Also, on behalf of the institutions of the Republic of Kosovo we have articulated some concrete requests.
First, we requested that the four monuments of Kosovo that are listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List (Deçan Monastery, Patriarchate of Peja, Gracanica Monastery and the Church of St. Friday in Prizren) be removed from the category “at risk” “As the security circumstances in Kosovo have changed completely since the distant year 2006 when these monuments were assessed as endangered.
Secondly, we have invited them to review the outdated terminology, as UNESCO reports and documents continue to mention the “Autonomous Province of Kosovo” (now the Republic of Kosovo) and the “Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina” ( already State Institutions of the Republic of Kosovo).
Third, we demanded the start of the process to change the state party responsible for these four monuments, removing Serbia and placing Kosovo in this responsibility. Although Serbia is a state party to the World Heritage List for the four monuments in question, it has no real or legal control over them, and consequently cannot fulfill its obligations to UNESCO. We have assured UNESCO officials that, as before, in the future we will be committed to protecting, promoting and developing all Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo.
Fourth, on behalf of the institutions we represent, we have guaranteed that Kosovo is fully ready for membership in UNESCO, a right denied several years ago. We believe that the inability to join in 2015 in the absence of a very small number of votes should not turn into a long-term penalty for Kosovo.
We are willing to become part of the great UNESCO family to bring added value to humanity through our cultural wealth and to become part of the joint efforts for lasting peace in the world. We believe in the universality of cultural heritage, and as such in its unifying potential.
