April 8, 2025
Merci Monsieur le Président. And thank you, Special Representative Ziadeh, for your briefing. I also recognize the presence of and remarks from the Kosovar foreign minister.
Madame SRSG, we recognize your leadership and UNMIK’s past efforts in Kosovo to foster dialogue and legal reform. But the time to draw down UNMIK has arrived. We recommend UNMIK begin transferring its functions to other UN agencies on the ground better suited for this work so the process toward ultimately terminating the mission is deliberate and gradual, rather than sudden.
The United States is committed to rooting out unnecessary spending in international organizations. UNMIK is a peacekeeping mission without peacekeepers, with 81 percent of its budget going to staff salaries even as the mission has long outlived its original mandate. The United States calls on fellow Council members to revisit UNMIK’s mandate so we may together commence an orderly winding down of its operations. The time to begin this transition is overdue.
As we have said before, UNMIK no longer has a role in the governance of Kosovo, and the mission remains over-sourced and overstaffed.
With respect to future meetings on UNMIK, we strongly urge that they be closed-door meetings, as a closed format would foster a more candid and less performative discussion. We also believe these briefings should be further reduced to annual meetings, given the demands on the Security Council’s time.
Kosovo and Serbia must work to lower tensions, refrain from escalatory measures, and build peace and stability between them and within the broader region as a foundation for a more prosperous future.
The ultimate goal must be for mutual recognition. Normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is essential to stability in the Western Balkans. America and the global community are safer when countries resolve their conflicts peacefully, and more prosperous when they create the climate for expanding international trade and investment.
Je vous remercie Monsieur le Président.