The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Cultural Right, Karima Bennoune, who is currently visiting Kosovo, held a series of meetings with government officials, civil society and international representatives in Kosovo. However, a press conference called for Wednesday did not happen because her visit to Kosovo has not yet ended. She addressed the media only with an informal conversation and did not allow them to record her statement. Bennoune emphasized that she is an independent expert and professor at the Council of Human Rights at the United Nations in Geneva, and added that she would present a report on her visit to Kosovo.
She said that as Special Rapporteur she has the right to visit two countries within a year, within her mandate on cultural rights. Bennoune added that cultural rights include the right to participate in cultural life without any discrimination and that the issue of cultural rights has to do with the issue of human rights, according to international standards, which also apply in Kosovo. “I’m not interested only in cultural heritage and cultural sites, but also in the relationship between people and how they use cultural locations,” Bennoune said.
The Special Rapporteur stressed that the key point of her mission is de-politicization of the issue of cultural heritage, adding that bridges, not walls, should be built through culture. Bennoune announced that she visited the mosques destroyed during the war in Kosovo in 1999 and the Serbian Orthodox churches that were destroyed in the riots of 2004. She stressed that it was very important to bring the perpetrators to justice.
After the end of her visit, Bennoune will finalize a report which will make recommendations for the promotion of cultural heritage and cultural rights.
