28. Feb 2022.

Selaković participated in the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Nikola Selaković spoke today via video link at the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council, and on that occasion said that Serbia was determined to cooperate with all UN bodies in the field of human rights protection and strengthening.
“Serbia is sincerely committed to fulfilling the obligations assumed by ratifying the UN Human Rights Treaties," Selaković emphasised, adding that Serbia regularly submits reports to the treaty bodies, continuously works on implementing the accepted recommendations, and cooperates well with the Office of the High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.
The Minister also reminded that Serbia had established the Council for Monitoring the Implementation of the Human Rights Council Recommendations, noting that cooperation and mutual understanding were the basis for acting in accordance with the principles of universality, objectivity and non-selectivity.
"The events of the 1990s have left a mark on the region I come from. Serbia is trying in good faith to contribute to the achievement of lasting reconciliation by taking a constructive approach in resolving all open issues with a commitment to strengthening regional cooperation," Selaković said, emphasising that Serbia was paying special attention to determining the fate of missing persons.
The Minister pointed out that resolving this issue had often been politicised, and that Serbia was committed to resolving the fate of missing persons. He stated that according to the data of the International Committee of the Red Cross from the previous year, 9,925 persons were still listed as missing in the region, out of which 1,621 in the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija; 1,964 in the Republic of Croatia, and 6,340 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to Minister Selaković, Serbia has been pointing for many years to the importance of finding a lasting and sustainable solution for the issue of persons in protracted displacement, both for the refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and for the internally displaced persons from Kosovo and Metohija.
"Serbia is among the countries with the largest number of internally displaced persons in Europe - these are persons of Serbian and other non-Albanian nationalities, forced to leave their homes in Kosovo and Metohija," Selaković said, noting that sustainable return was estimated at less than 3% primarily due to the security-related pressures on the returnees.
"We believe that, in finding lasting solutions for the refugees and internally displaced persons, it is necessary to ensure equal choice between local integration and return to the place of origin. For that, the elementary requirements must be met in the place of origin in terms of personal and property security, rule of law, and absence of discrimination", the Minister said.
Selaković said that the migrant crisis had further emphasised the interdependence of human rights and humanitarian issues, and underlined that Serbia, as a country on the Balkans migrant route, had taken a highly human approach in providing shelter to the persons who found themselves in the migrant situation, along with providing international protection in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination.
He also stated that a special test for everyone was posed by the coronavirus pandemic, further increasing our collective responsibility for respecting the right to health.
"In the spirit of solidarity, Serbia has selflessly delivered vaccines to other countries, both to our neighbours and to the countries of the African and Middle Eastern regions," Minister Selaković concluded his speech.