The Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (DSRSG) at United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo Robert Sorenson said to RTK2 that, today, fifteen years after the adoption of Resolution 1244, the situation in Kosovo is much better.

On this very day 15 years ago, United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244, by which Kosovo is placed under a UN mandate. The resolution was adopted following the signing of the military-technical agreement in Kumanovo, by which bombardment of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), which lasted for 79 days, ended. The resolution provides for ‘broad autonomy’ within Serbia, whereas sovereignty and territorial integrity is guaranteed to Serbia (FRY).

When asked to compare the situation today with the one 15 years ago, DSRSG Sorenson said that they cannot be compared.

“If we look at what happened in June 1999 and today in 2014, it is almost impossible to compare the living conditions. At that time we had thousands of displaced people, people were afraid for their own lives on a daily basis, there were no functioning institutions. People on both sides were completely divided, influenced by the conflict. And what do we have today? A couple of days ago, elections were held with participation of all communities. I think that is a huge difference compared with 1999,” said Sorenson.

Slaviša Petković, a former minister in the Kosovo government, believes that, with non-implementation of the Resolution 1244, an opportunity was missed to settle some very important issues related to the lives of Serbs in Kosovo.

“Resolution 1244 was the only thing that we, the Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, could hold on to and which offered us a chance to settle the status issue, the problems of displaced and all other existential issues. However, the previous government handed over such competencies to the European Union, and the EU than transferred them to EULEX, thus today 15 years after, Resolution 1244 is only a dead letters on paper,” said Petković.

Political analyst Azem Vlasi claims that both, Serbs and Albanians enjoyed, in their own ways, benefits of the adoption of Resolution 1244.

“Resolution 1244 was very beneficial to Kosovo and for us Albanians, because the suffering of Albanians, of biblical proportions, ended. It was beneficial for Serbia, because rushing into a dangerous adventure, which threatened to isolate Serbia completely from the rest of the international community, also ended. Thus, the big drama was finally over,” said Vlasi.