This is the reproduction of the project-document regarding the draft framework of the future status of Kosova -drafted under the supervision of the US Ambassador to Macedonia and international mediator for Kosova, Christopher Hill. Its translation was published in "Koha Ditore", Kosova Albanian Daily, on 17 September 199I.
INTRODUCTION
1. All citizens in Kosovo have rights and duties as set forth in this Agreement. In Kosovo, members of each national community have additional rights as set forth below.
2. Federal and Republic organs shall not influence or intervene in the work of the organs of Kosovo acting within their areas of competence. The organs shall not intervene in the work of federal and republic organs acting within their areas of competence.
3. The organs of Kosovo shall follow principles of full respect for human rights, democracy and the protection of the equality of citizens and national communities.
4. The citizens and national communities in Kosovo shall enjoy, without limitation, human and democratic rights and shall be given the choice to be represented in all organs of authority.
5. Every person and national community in Kosovo shall have the right to apply to international institutions, including the European Court of Human Rights, for the protection of their rights in accordance with the procedures of such institutions.
6. The Agreement will be implemented by each side in accordance will applicable procedures.
II. RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF CITIZENS IN THE TERRITORY
1. The rights and duties of citizens in the territory are to be implemented in the legislative, executive and judicial organs established in this Agreement. Those rights and duties are the right to democratic self-government, including:
? The adoption of the organic documents of Kosovo;
? The adoption of regulations on the organization
and procedures of the organs of Kosovo;
? The adoption of budget and annual accounts;
? Cooperation with Federal and Republic authorities;
? Participating in and conducting, consistent
with this Agreement, free and fair elections;
? Ensuring freedom of movement;
? Providing law enforcement, including criminal
investigations, prosecutions, and punishment;
? Regulating and, when appropriate, providing
child care;
? Establishing and regulating the work of medical
institutions and hospitals. Special arrangements will be made for state-owned
institutions.
? Protection of the environment;
? Regulating commerce and privately owned stores;
? Regulating hunting and fishing;
? Planning and carrying out public works of communal
or Kosovo-wide territorial importance, including roads and water supplies;
? Regulating land use, town planing, building
regulations, and housing construction;
? Designing and implementing programs of economic,
scientific, technological, demographic, regional, and social development,
programs for the development of agriculture and rural areas;
? Developing programs for tourism, the hotel
industry, catering, and sport;
? Organizing fairs and local markets;
? Organizing public services of communal and
Kosovo-wide importance;
? Financing the work of communal and Kosovo organs;
? Conducting foreign relations consistent with
the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2. This Agreement shall determine the allocation of these responsibilities among the organs of Kosovo.
3. The organs of Kosovo shall not interfere in the additional rights described in Part 3 of this agreement.
III. RIGHTS OF NATIONAL COMMUNITIES
1. Members of the national communities shall have the additional rights determined by this Agreement. The additional rights preserve and express the national, cultural, religious and other aspects of the national communities in accordance with international standards and the Helsinki Final Act.
2. The national communities shall be legally equal and shall not use their additional rights so as to endanger the additional rights of other national communities or the rights of citizens of the Republic of Serbia of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
3. Each national community shall elect, in accordance with procedures it shall decide, a National Council to administer the affairs of the community in the territory. Each Council will establish its own executive organs and procedures.
4. The additional rights of the national communities
are to:
preserve
and protect their national cultures, including by:
? using their languages and alphabets;
? inscribing local names of towns and villages,
of squares and streets and of other topographic names in the language and
alphabet of the national community, consistent with the decision about
style made by the communal organs;
? providing information in the language and alphabet
of the national community;
? establishing educational, cultural and religious
associations, for which the state shall provide financial assistance;
? enjoying unhindered contacts with their respective
national communities outside the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
? using and displaying national symbols;
? providing for education, in particular for
schooling in their own language and alphabet and in national culture and
history. National communities are encouraged to coordinate curricula with
Republic authorities concerning appropriate subjects (for example, to ensure
that students meet standards in subjects such as mathematics or science);
? protecting national practices on family law
by, if the community decides, arranging rules in the field of heritage,
family and matrimonial relations, tutorship and adoption. Each community
may establish procedures for resolving conflicts in these fields subject
to the agreement of the parties to each dispute. These rules must ensure
that practices are consistent with international recognized human rights.
? the preservation of sites of religious, historical,
or cultural importance;
? implementing public health and social services;
? operating religious institutions in cooperation
with religious authorities.
(ii) to adopt procedures and law for courts of the national communities, as described in this Agreement, and means to enforce decisions of those courts;
(iii) be guaranteed at least one radio and TV frequency, which it shall administer subject to nondiscriminatory, technical standards;
(iv) finance activities of the national communities by collecting charges a National Council decides to levy on members of its own community.
5. Members of national communities will also be guaranteed:
? the right to participate in regional and international
non-governmental organizations in accordance with procedures of these organizations;
and
? equal access to employment in public services.
IV. THE ORGANS OF KOSOVO
1. The organs of Kosovo are the Assembly, the Representative, the Governing Board, the Administrative Organs, and the Ombudsman.
2. The Assembly.
(a) The Assembly shall comprise [......] Delegates. [......] Delegates shall be directly elected under international supervision. The remaining [......] Delegates shall be allocated equally among the national communities, each of which shall elect Delegates according to its own procedure.
(b) Each national community that is more than [......] % of the population shall be guaranteed at least [......] Delegates. If fewer than that number of Delegates of a national community are elected to the Assembly, the difference shall be selected by the Council of the respective national community.
(c) The Assembly shall be responsible for enacting all laws of the territory. Its areas of responsibility are:
? Conduct of relations with foreign entities,
in consultation with Representative;
? Financing activities of the Organs of the Provisional
Government;
? Coordination of policy with Federal and Republic
authorities;
? Coordination among communes or national communities
when necessary; and
? Confirmation of the members of the Governing
Board and judges of the courts.
(d) Decision of the Assembly shall be taken by majority of those present and voting, except as provided in paragraph (e).
(e) When a majority of the Delegates of a national community assert that a proposed decision affects the vital interests of their national community, that decision shall require for approval a majority that includes the majority of the Delegates present and voting from the affected national community. If a majority of the Delegates from the asserting community is not present and voting, the regular voting rule shall apply.
(f) A procedure for resolving disputes over the use of the procedure establishing in paragraph (e) will be agreed.
(g) The Assembly of Delegates present shall constitute a quorum.
(h) The Assembly will decide its own rules of procedure and select officers. Each national community represented in the Assembly shall be represented in the leadership. The presidency of the Assembly shall rotate each term of office among those national communities in alphabetical order but may not be from the same national community as the territorial Representative.
(i) Each commune shall have a local assembly, which shall follow the model of the territorial Assembly.
(j) The President of the Assembly shall be responsible for representing the territory before Federal and Republic organs.
3. The Representative
There shall be a Representative, who shall be directly elected.
(a) The Representative shall be responsible for:
? Representing all persons in the territory of
Kosovo before any international, Federal, or Republic body, with the President
of the Assembly when required by this Agreement;
? Meeting regular with the National Council and
with other representatives of the national communities and other persons;
? Chairing the Governing Board;
? Signing agreement on behalf of Kosovo after
they are approved by the Assembly; and
? Serving on the Joint Implementation Commission
established by this Agreement;
? Meeting regularly with the President of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the President of Montenegro, and the President
of Serbia to discuss issues of mutual concern.
4. Governing Board
Executive power shall be exercised by the Governing board.
(a) The Governing Board shall comprise [ ] Members. Each national community council shall select [ ] Member(s).
(b) The Governing Board shall be responsible for implementing and enforcing decision of the Assembly and of Federal and Republic organs.
(c) Decisions of the governing Board shall require a majority of Members present and voting. The Board shall decide its rules of procedure. The President of the Assembly and the President of the Governing Board may not be from the same national community.
5. Administrative Agencies
Administrative agencies are responsible for implementing decisions of Kosovo and, where appropriate, those of Federal and Republic organs.
6. Ombudsman
There shall be an Ombudsman of Kosovo, who shall monitor the implementation of this Agreement, particularly with regard to the rights of the national communities.
(a) The Ombudsman shall be nominated by the Federal Government from a list of Yugoslav citizens submitted by the [President of the European Court of Human Rights] after consultations with the national communities in the territory. The first term will be four years. Thereafter, the Ombudsman will be nominated by the Federal Government for a two-year term.
(b) The Ombudsman shall have complete, unimpeded and immediate access to any person, place, or information upon his or her request. He or she shall have the right to intervene before any Federal or Republic authority upon his or her request.
PART II: THE COMMUNES
1. The basic unit of government will be the communes. All responsibilities not expressly assigned elsewhere will be the responsibility of the communes. Communes may by mutual agreement form self-administering regions comprising multiple communes.
2. The government shall comprise a Council and such executive bodies as each Council will establish. Each national community is to be represented on the Council in proportion to its share of the regional population or by one member, whichever is the greater.
3. The communes shall have exclusive responsibility for carrying out typical functions of local and regional government, including:
? Child care
? Medical institutions and hospitals, other than
those that are state owned;
? Educational institutions, other than those
that are state owned;
? Environmental protection;
? Trade and independent shops, consistent with
Republic and federal law;
? Hunting and fishing;
? Public works of local or regional importance,
including road and water supplies;
? Land use, town planning, building codes and
housing construction;
? Programs for economic, scientific, technological,
demographic, regional and social development, for the development of agriculture
and rural areas, in accordance with applicable regulations;
? Tourism, the hotel industry, catering, and
sport;
? Fairs and local markets;
? Public services, including fire, emergency
response and (as provided below) police;
? Finances for the commune, including raising
revenues, taxes and preparing budgets;
4. Each commune shall conduct its business in public and shall maintain publicly available records of its deliberations and decisions.
Part 3. Representation of Kosovo in Federal and Republic bodies
(a) Kosovo shall be appropriately represented in Federal organs responsible for developing and implementing defense and economic policies.
(b) Kosovo shall be guaranteed at least (ten) deputies in the House of Citizens of the federal Assembly and (twenty) deputies in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
(c) Each national community in Kosovo shall be guaranteed at least one place in the Federal Government and in the Government of the Republic of Serbia.
(d) Each national community in Kosovo shall be guaranteed at least one judge on the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic and three judges on the Supreme Court of Serbia.
(e) In order to monitor the protection of special rights of the national communities, a Council of the Republic for the protection of members of the national communities shall be established in the Republic of Serbia. The Council of the Republic shall be chaired by the President of the Republic.
V. RESOLVING CONFLICTS AND MAINTAINING PUBLIC ORDER
(1) Dispute Resolution.
(a) National Communities
Each national community may establish its own dispute resolution system for conflicts concerning inheritance, family law, civil lawsuits, as decided by the Provincial Assembly, and for criminal cases as described below. These mechanisms shall have jurisdiction only when all parties to a dispute agree.
Judges shall be nominated by the national community councils and confirmed by the Parliamentary Assembly. They must have qualifications required of judges of the corresponding state courts.
Decisions of the national community dispute resolution mechanism shall be honored by state courts.
(b) Courts in the Territory
The Assembly shall establish common and appellate courts for the territory of Kosovo, with jurisdiction over constitutional, civil and criminal matters not within the jurisdiction of the national community mechanisms established pursuant to paragraph (a).
(2) Police
(a) Police shall be sworn to uphold the law impartially, fairly and with equal treatment for all persons.
(b) All police operating in Kosovo must be trained to internationally-accepted standards for police operations, in particular, with regard to human rights.
(c) Each commune shall establish local police, which shall have membership representative of the commune. The state and border police shall recruit members of national communities so that its composition in Kosovo will be representative of the population.
(d) The local police shall be exclusively responsible for maintaining public order and peace; Federal and Republic police shall not carry out this responsibility. Federal and Republic authorities, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, shall retain responsibility for external security, border police, and the investigation of international and extra-Kosovo crime.
(c) Each commune shall establish a commission to review and make recommendations an all matters concerning the police, including in particular complaints about violations of human rights. Every national community in the commune shall have the complete cooperation of both sides and unimpeded access to any person, place, document, and information it requests.
VI. FINANCING
1. The bodies established in Sections II-IV shall have revenues from their own taxes and a part of the state tax revenue, so that they can carry out the rights and perform the duties established in this Agreement.
2. In recognition of the fact that this Agreement confers new responsibilities upon bodies in Kosovo, Republic and the Federal authorities shall examine how to provide resources necessary for the conduct of its responsibilities. These resources shall include funds (including tax remission), equipment, and training.
3. Federal and Republic authorities shall also facilitate, to the extent of their respective authorities, the delivery of resources from international sources to Kosovo.
VII. CONFIDENCE-BUILDING MEASURES
1. The sides will end violence. State security forces will reduce their presence outside locations of their permanent encampment as the security situation allows, with a view to maintaining a requirements as soon as possible. Alleged violations will be reported to international monitors and will not be used to justify further violence.
2. Each side will encourage all person displaced during the conflict to return to their homes. Federal and Republic authorities will continue to provide building materials and assistance. in cooperation with international assistance organizations, in each community a local commission, representative of all communities there, will assist in the delivery and distribution of food, medicine, clothes, construction materials, the restoration of electricity and water supply, and in encouraging returns.
3. Each side will cooperate with and provide unimpeded access to humanitarian and international organizations; facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance; and expedite the return of displaced persons and refuges to their homes, including by facilitating travel of those persons and international personnel; by rehabilitating or providing shelter; and agreeing to security arrangements that create confidence among the displaced persons and refugees. It is expected that international humanitarian law.
4. Each side will respect its obligation to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law.
5. A joint commission will serve as central coordinating mechanism for monitoring the implementation of these measures, including the operations in Kosovo of civil and special police, of judicial and penal institutions, and forces with responsibility for external security. The commission will be comprised of Federal and Republic representatives, representatives of the national communities in Kosovo, and international representatives (including the KDOM, the Contact Group, and others as agreed). The sides shall cooperate completely with the commission and to provide it with safe, complete, and unimpeded access to all places, persons, and information (including documents and other records) upon its request.
6. An international presence in Kosovo will be responsible for monitoring and observing the implementation of this Agreement and for such other responsibilities as described in this Agreement.
The sides agree to provide complete cooperation as requested by the international presence and to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of international personnel.
VIII. IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD
1. This Agreement shall be implemented as quickly as possible.
2. The sides acknowledge the complete implementation will require the adoption of necessary state regulations and other general acts, of the organic document of Kosovo, political acts and measures, and the elections of establishment of institutions and bodies established by this Agreement. Work will start without delay to complete all legal changes necessary for the full implementation of this Agreement.
3. Each national community in Kosovo is authorized to start exercising the additional rights determined by this Agreement, to the extent possible, immediately upon signature.
4. Within (....) months, there will be transitional elections under international auspices for the elective bodies established by this Agreement.
5. As soon as possible after signature of this Agreement, competent organs shall organize and carry out, under international supervision, an objective and free census of the population in the territory.
6. To facilitate the transition, the organs of the state shall provide the organs of Kosovo with updated all necessary records about the places of residence, citizenship, voters, lists, and other data indispensable for the implementation of this Agreement.
7. The signatories of this Agreement, members of the national communities shall provide active support, cooperation, and participation for the successful implementation of the Agreement.
8. The signatories of this Agreement take the obligation to allow, during the transition period, and in accordance with the nature of the rights and obligations under this Agreements, its adequate implementation even before the adoption and undertaking of all acts and measures fixed in the Agreement insofar as possible.
9. Laws and institutions currently in place in Kosovo shall remain until replaced by a decision of a competent body established by this Agreement.
IX. AMENDMENTS
1. Amendments to the Agreement shall be adopted by signature of the parties.
2. Each signatory may suggest amendments and agrees to consider and consult with the other with regard to suggested amendments.
3. In three years, the sides will undertake a comprehensive assessment of the Agreement, with the aim of improving its implementation and considering proposals by either side for additional steps, which will require mutual agreement for adoption.
X. FINAL PROVISIONS
1. This Agreement is concluded in (...) languages.
2. This Agreement shall come into force upon the completion of the internal process of each side.
For:
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Republic of Serbia
Kosovo
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