I am very glad to be here today on the occasion of the publication of the Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo’s yearly report on monitoring of war crime trials.

HLC Kosovo’s continuous endeavor and professional monitoring of trials related to war crimes constitutes a key contribution to fulfilling the right of victims to justice.

For Switzerland, the promotion of a victims’ centered approach is indeed essential to societal transformation and thereby to help societies move forward.

Allow me to first welcome that the prosecution of war related crimes constitutes a priority of the Kosovo institutions and that, accordingly, more resources have been allocated to this purpose by the current Government.

I would also like to welcome the fact that, at least so far, there has been no “trial in absentia”, which based on best practices and the Venice Commission opinion should remain the exception rather than the rule. 

Notwithstanding encouraging trends, many challenges remain, as reiterated by HLC Kosovo and translated into a set of practical recommendations.

In this respect, I would like to emphasize scope for improvement in two areas which could bring about significant changes and more rights to the victims.

First, in order to further increase the performances of the responsible institutions and enhance their strength, including by offering further capacity building measures and practical exchange of experiences with countries in the region and other competent institutions.  

Second, the establishment of bilateral cooperation between the judicial authorities of both Kosovo and Serbia would be essential to make real progress. Hopefully the latest developments recently observed under the facilitation of the EU could provide for new opportunities.

Meanwhile, Switzerland is grateful to all partners and institutions committed to tackle war crimes and more generally to deal with the past in an inclusive manner.  

Thank you for your attention