Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
December 2, 2002

Having heard the field reports from the present members of the Committee, the Committee decided that, even three and a half years after the arrival of the international community represented by UNMIK and KFOR, the situation in Kosovo and Metochia was not getting better, but just the opposite – worse. That conclusion is based on the facts that today, just like in the past, the remaining Serbs in Kosovo and Metochia are being attacked, killed, wounded, and robbed every day. In addition, churches are being devastated and, which is a recent trend, graveyards are being destroyed and desecrated.

All these mentioned facts as well as the other ones, known to the public, undoubtedly show not only the true intentions of the Albanian extremists to destroy any trace of the existence of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metochia, but also the obvious failure of the mission of the international community to fulfill its promises and obligations which it undertook by the Resolution 1244 – those being to provide peaceful and safe life to everyone, the return of all the exiled into their homes and the respect of the basic human rights of all the residents of Kosovo and Metochia. It is really hard to comprehend the persistent efforts of the responsible people from the international community to give statements about the general betterment of safety in Kosovo and Metochia, thus trying to camouflage the situation which is really hard for the Serbs and to offer some kind of support to the criminals to continue their misdeeds.

The Committee did not just state the difficult situation in Kosovo and Metochia, but it also undertook many concrete activities focused on the Serbian and Yugoslav authorities on one side – expecting from them to engage more and cooperate with the international community so as to protect the rights of all the citizens of Kosovo and Metochia and render greater aid to the Serbs in Kosovo, and on the international community on the other side – requesting and expecting from it to show a full objectiveness in its activities and to engage maximally in the protection of the personal and proprietary safety of all the citizens, regardless of their national affiliation.

The Committee also fraternally and paternally invites the Serbs in Kosovo, and especially the Serbs who are to return to Kosovo and Metochia to persist in staying and existing in this region, and at the same time invites all the people of the good will to help the Serbian community in this holy land.Furthermore, the Committee adopted Bishop Atanasije's proposition that the Memorandum on Kosovo and Metochia should as soon as possible be supplemented with the new data and subsequently publicly broadcast. The proposal that the next session of this Committee be held in one of the monasteries in Kosovo and Metochia was accepted with true joy.