Civil society organisations from Kosovo and Serbia have come together to condemn a recent statement by the mayor of Deçan/Dečani, Bashkim Ramosaj, vowing that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on Deçan/Dečane Monastery’s land ownership will never be implemented. The signatories to the statement call for the rule of law to be upheld.
Civil society in Kosovo and Serbia call for the rule of law to be respected in Deçan/Dečani
We, the undersigned, are concerned by the negative and lasting consequences of the recent statement by the mayor of Deçan/Dečani, Bashkim Ramosaj, vowing that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo on Deçan/Dečane Monastery’s land ownership will never be implemented.
All judgments of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo should be upheld. The constitution provides important guarantees to all Kosovo’s citizens, yet such guarantees only have real meaning if court decisions are implemented by physical and legal entities throughout Kosovo.
A failure to implement legal judgments only leads to uncertainty for all Kosovo’s citizens, and only serves to undermine faith and trust in the rule of law in Kosovo.
We urge all those holding elected office to refrain from giving statements which only serve to undermine confidence in the rule of law.
Signatories
- Aktiv
- Civic initiatives (Gradjanske inicijative)
- Center for Peace and Tolerance
- Democracy + (D+)
- Forum for Development and Multiethnic Collaboration (FDMC)
- Gorazdevac Media Group
- Jelena Lončar, Academic, University of Belgrade
- Kosovo Law Institute
- Media Center Caglavica
- New Social Initiative (NSI)
- NGO Be Active 16, Presevo
- The Future, Bujanovac
- Voice of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (VoRAE)
- Vjollca Krasniqi, Academic, University of Pristina
- YIHR Serbia
- YIHR Kosovo
- YUCOM
- Valon Arifi, Civic activist