Dear Ms Mogherini,

To my delight, civil society organizations from Serbia and Kosovo (I count 38 of them) are protesting any division of Kosovo in a joint letter to EU High Representative Federica Mogherini: 

Dear Ms Mogherini,

Civil society organizations from Serbia and Kosovo are urging you to make an unambiguous statement against the division of Kosovo or the exchange of territories between Kosovo and Serbia on an ethnic principle. More frequent mentions of the possibility of redrawing the borders send a very dangerous message to the citizens of Serbia and Kosovo, as well as to the entire region, that there is a real possibility of legitimizing a dangerous propaganda of ethnic ownership over the territory – a principle that has pushed the region on several occasions into bloody conflicts.

Such developments would inevitably produce a chain reaction in other Balkan states and lead to numerous requests for changes in the borders in the Balkans, which opens the door to new conflicts. Also, this would send a message to most Serbs in Kosovo living south of the Ibar that they should move to “their” ethnic state, which could lead to another exodus of the population in the Balkans.

Civil society organizations have been trying for decades to improve contacts and cooperation between the two communities, primarily looking at the welfare of people living in Serbia and Kosovo and the future of the entire region. It is necessary to establish a lasting peace in the region and to accept interculturality and multi-ethnicity as a prerequisite for development. The ethnically clean countries, the outdated 19th-century model, must not be the goals of any policy, nor should they be tolerated and supported by representatives of the international community.

You, like other representatives of the international community, have a special responsibility to prevent this issue from reaching the agenda of the negotiations. All mediators, in particular the European Union and the United States, are obliged to abide by the rules established by the Badinter Commission in 1991. Those rules that recognize the boundaries of the constituent elements of the former federation and deny the ethnic principle of division must extend to Kosovo as a special case in the process of the dissolution of the SFRY.

Civil society organizations invite all actors, domestic and international, to actively oppose attempts to introduce the ethnic principle as the supreme in the building of states in the Balkans. Any state that is based on discrimination and divides citizens on any ground is pre-sentenced to failure. A society that develops on values opposed to respect for basic human rights is condemned to nationalism, isolation, and hopelessness. More and more young people are already leaving our countries, and the territories for which national and political elites are battling today will struggle without the driving democratic forces.

Civil society organizations invite the international community, but above all the authorities in Serbia and Kosovo to devote themselves to the creation of the best possible living conditions for all inhabitants of Kosovo (including the freedom of movement, business and international cooperation) during the negotiations, ensuring that the crimes from the past never happen again (including finding the missing persons as a primary task for both countries) and creating conditions for the development of legal and democratic government systems in Kosovo and Serbia. Only such negotiations are a guarantee for a safe and dignified life for all people, regardless of national or any other differences.

Centar za praktičnu politiku

Građanske inicijative

Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava

YUCOM

Beogradski centar za ljudska prava

Fond za humanitarno pravo

Inicijativa mladih za ljudska  prava

Sandžački odbor za ljudska prava

Kulturni centar Damad

Urban In

Akademska inicijativa Forum 10

Centar za nove medije Liber

Centar modernih veština

Dijalog Valjevo

Generator Vranje

Udruženje žena Peščanik

UG Za zdravu opštinu Stara Pazova

Centar za ljudska prava Niš

Centar za kulturnu dekontaminaciju

Integra Pristina

Syri i Visionit

Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo

GAIA Kosovo

NVO Aktiv

Let’s Do It Peja

CRDP

STIKK

IKS

Kosovo Association Chopin

Lumbardhi Foundation

Centre for Social Groups Development– CSGD

CDF

Trentino con il Kossovo

Kosovo Women’s Network

Kosova Democratic Institute

X40-bunarfest

Numismatic association “Demastion”

Disability Development Centre